On “The Cost of Discipleship”
By: The Rev. Pete Martin
Today’s gospel reading on the execution of John the Baptist reminds me of one of the foundational books for me as I was finding my faith – “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In this book written in 1937, Bonhoeffer makes a clear distinction between what he called cheap and costly grace. According to Bonhoeffer,
...”cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Cheap grace, Bonhoeffer says, is to hear the gospel preached as follows: "Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness."
The main defect of such a proclamation is that it contains no demand for discipleship. In contrast to costly grace,
...costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a person to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."
However, as today’s gospel reading can attest, sometimes the yoke is not so easy and grace is more costly than we imagined.
In today’s gospel, we see the story of two men. One man was a king while another was respected as a holy man. One man attained his position of power through nepotism and knowing the right people while the other was the son of an Old Testament prophet who was taught to speak the truth, regardless of consequences. Both men knew one another, although they had never spoken to one another. One man would be resigned to a footnote in history as a man who was involved in the murders of two of the most important people in history while the other would be forever loved for his steadfast beliefs and his willingness to speak the truth, even when it was dangerous to do so.
King Herod Antipas was born close to the time that John the Baptist was born. He was the son of King Herod the Great, who built the second temple in Jerusalem. Herod Antipas had a half-brother named Herod the second which, as we know from the gospel, was married to Herodia. Herod Antipas ruled the area of Galilee including the River Jordan which is where he knew of John. He ruled as a client state of Rome and is said to have had a good relationship with Pontius Pilate.
During a visit to Rome to see his half-brother Herod II, he saw and fell in love with Herodia, Herod II’s wife. Herod II was killed during a battle which cleared the way for Herod Antipas to divorce his own wife and marry Herodia. Since this action was against Jewish Law, it brought Herod into conflict with John.
John the Baptist was born into the house of his father, Zachariah. This was an old and well-respected lineage among the Jewish faithful. According to the Book of Luke, John was a relative of Jesus. Biblical scholars believe that John was aligned with the Essenes – a sect of Judaism which preached communal living and constant prayer. By the time John meets Jesus at the River Jordan, John already has a large group of followers and is revered among the masses.
When John hears of Herod’s marriage to Herodia, he makes speeches condemning the marriage and criticizing Herodia and Herod as sinners. As such, he resembles a New Testament version of Elijah, a prophet who has no hesitation to call out anybody, when necessary. In fact, in the Book of Matthew, Jesus describes John as “Elijah who is to come”.
History has judged these two men very differently. Herod is considered a weak ruler and just seven years after John’s murder, the Romans forced Herod into exile in Gaul (modern-day France) where he died shortly afterwords. On the other hand, John is viewed as a prophet to the faithful in Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam and the Church of Latter Day Saints. Many Biblical scholars state that John had a profound influence on the spiritual beliefs of Paul and that those beliefs are expressed in many of his letters. Finally, with the exception of Jesus and Mary, John is the only Biblical figure who is celebrated both on his birthday and the day of his death.
So what can we take away from this gospel reading this morning. Well, I would say that the first thing is that adversity displays character (or lack thereof). When faced with a dilemma, John chose to choose the path of honesty and integrity. He did not allow fear to separate him from expressing what he believed. When Herod was faced with a dilemma, he chose political expediency over what he knew was right. Second, doing what is right is rarely easy. Again, John could have taken the path of least resistance and turned the other way to what Herod was doing but that was not the way of a prophet like John. He was fully aware that what he would say would put him in conflict with those in power and he did it anyway. On the other hand, Herod subjugated both himself and his country to the ferocity of the Roman Empire which only caused him to be discarded by this same empire a few years later. Finally, Jesus through word and example, demonstrates discipleship and therefore, expects us to do likewise. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, there is a cost to discipleship. Are we willing to pay that cost? Are we willing to speak truth to power and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves? Are we willing to leave our comfort zones long enough to be God’s hands and feet in the world? I pray that we go on our paths with courage and resolve and see God wherever we are. Amen.
