"So Close, But Yet So Far!"

"...yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her..." Mark 6:26

Have you had a “so close, but yet so far” experience in your life?  The cliché gets applied to just about everything from elusive romance, to war and peace in the Middle East, a near victory in athletics, a broken marriage, a grieving child.  I ran across this melancholy poem written by a ten year old child about her grandfather who took his own life.

On that misty morning in November your eyes looked cold and blank – you seemed so close, but yet so far.  You made it easy for yourself, but hard on us - you seemed so close, but yet so far. 
We laughed and joked the day before - you seemed so close but yet so far.
When the news came I cried - you seemed so close, but, yet so far.
You had taken your life and my fun with you - you seemed so close, but yet so far.
Now three years have almost passed since that cold November day, but you still seem so close, but yet so far. 

I wonder how many lives could be sub-titled “so close, but yet so far.”  Ask yourself, when has it taken expression in your life. “So Close, But Yet So Far!”  The line between joy and sorrow, success and failure, regret and satisfaction, life and death can be a very thin line. 

It was my senior year in high school.  I played on the varsity basketball team.  It was the regional semi-finals. We were involved in a very close game with one of our arch rivals.  There were 30 seconds left, and the game was tied.  We had the ball out of bounds.  We executed a trick play that we had practiced the week before, and it worked perfectly.  Receiving a perfectly thrown pass, I broke for the basket.  There was nothing in front of me but empty court.  I went up for the lay-up shot – a shot I had made a thousand times before without even thinking about it – only this time I missed it!  “So close, but yet so far - so close to being the hero of the game, but yet so far!”

A distraught man came to me several years ago.  He had been up for a very significant promotion as a corporate executive.  He had worked hard for it; prepared himself; felt he was the perfect candidate; had a flawless work record and high annual evaluations. He didn’t get the promotion. He was distraught.  His dream turned to ashes before his eyes.  So close, yet so far.

Our Gospel for this morning could very well be entitled “so close, but yet so far.”  Herod almost did the right thing – almost, but not quite – and he wasn’t merely shooting lay-ups!

It’s a soap-opera-like story.  Jewish law forbade a man from marrying his brother's wife, and that's  exactly what King Herod had done -  forsaking the holy law.  Intriguingly, even though John had made a pronouncement of judgment against Herod and his wife, nevertheless Herod seemed to be mysteriously drawn to John.

Apparently Herod had conflicted feelings for John. On the one hand, Herod feared John, but on the other hand, he did what he could to protect John from potential enemies. On the one hand, Herod was confused and puzzled by John's message, but on the other hand, he liked listening to John's preaching. Perhaps down deep Herod recognized that John spoke the truth - God's truth - and that's why he was paradoxically drawn to him.  Perhaps in Herod’s mind by putting John in prison he was really helping to protect him from harm.

When you read this you can almost get the feeling that Herod was ready to face the sordid truth about himself, and embrace the glorious truth of God.  Who knows? 

But a fateful day came when Herod would had to choose; choose between John and his reputation in front of his guests; choose between John and his own wife; choose between the right thing and the wrong thing; choose between life and death; choose between being a coward and being a hero; choose between the bad news about himself and the good news of God; choose between turning toward God or turning away from God!

Herod's wife had been looking for an opening for a long time to even the score with John. He was a threat to her cushy situation.  Her opportunity came!

It was Herod's birthday party. The wine and booze were likely flowing freely. His daughter came out to dance, and he was so stirred by the sensuality of her performance, and he was just drunk enough, that he promised her the stars - anything she wanted!  She ran to her mother, "Oh mother, what should I ask Daddy for?"  Like a cat, poised and ready, mother pounced, "The head of John the Baptizer!"

Mark tells us when Herod was "deeply grieved!"  Of course he was grieved.  Grieved not only for John, but for himself because Herod was "so close" to doing the right thing, but he was about to be "so far!"  Herod stood at a crossroad!  And then Mark says, "Yet out of regard for his oaths and for his guests, he did not want to refuse her."

Let me paraphrase that verse. "Yet, because Herod was coward; and did not wish to jeopardize his reputation in front of his drunken political allies and invited VIP's; because Herod wanted to save face and not risk the scorn of his so called friends; because he dared not upset the delicate and complex balance of power and favor that existed between he, his wife and his daughter, he chose to go along with the whole ghastly escapade, and he placed the order for John's head to be immediately delivered on a platter!"

Within a few minutes the head of prophet, who was the forerunner to the Messiah, the cousin of Jesus, the voice of God "crying in the wilderness" was delivered to Herod's wife's soaking in a pool of its own blood!

This is an ugly story, and not only the ugly because of the horrific scene of the beheading and the uncivilized parading of John's bloody head on a platter through the palace halls. I'm also referring to Herod, watching him reduced to nothing, dehumanized, because of his inability to turn away from the tangled web of lurid commitments that were preventing him from truly being God's person, from truly breaking away from the evil threads that were preventing him from turning and embracing God and God's truth - a truth that could have set him free! Herod had his chance! Herod had an incredible opportunity to be God's person and do God's glorious thing; and yet all we can say and the bottom line is that he came "so close, yet so far."

It's also not a pretty story for one more reason. It's not pretty because it is also a story about us! This story is about you and me! This story ultimately gets very personal and confrontational. I believe a part of the reason Mark remembers to tell it in his gospel is to remind his readers (us) how powerful, seductive and horrific the forces are that would hold us back from turning and embracing the good news of God; hold us back from turning toward God! It's about us when we get so entangled with all of our political, social, financial, emotional, and material involvements they actually hold us back and prevent us from turning and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ and his kind of life! This story is about us when we cave into to pressures and influences and end up making compromises, compromises that dehumanize ourselves and others; compromises that push the Gospel of Jesus Christ away; compromises nail Jesus to the cross all over again!

Last week 21 of us joined thousands of other young people and adults from all over the United States for the ELCA National Youth Gathering.  We were inspired every morning and evening, day by day with powerful music, creative programming and incredible speakers. We were moved to laughter and tears and everything in between.

I was reminded of how easy it is to believe and witness in an environment where thousands of others are standing next to you singing the same songs; laughing, crying and cheering together to the same inspiring speakers; responding to the same stimulating programming.  It's easy to believe in that kind of hyped-up setting; easy to affirm Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior when thousands of others are affirming Jesus next to you; easy to do the right thing when so many others at that moment are doing exactly the right thing right along side you; easy to be bold and brave for Christ's sake when so many others are being bold and brave.

But in real life we often stand alone: in our peer group, in our workplace, at our school, even in our homes.  Many times the only thing standing between good and evil, compassion and enmity; love and hate; forgiveness and resentment; belief and unbelief, heroism and a cowardice; truth and falsehood is you - and you feel so alone! 

M. Craig Barnes in his book Hustling God  talks about Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus - Judas the traitor.  He makes the point that when Judas reached his crossroad, for whatever reason, he chose to become a traitor.   Shortly after, Judas reached a point of remorse confessing, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”  We are told that Judas even “repented.”  To repent means “to turn.”  The problem was not that Judas didn’t repent, but the problem was to whom he turned.  In his shame, Judas turned to the chief priests who had used him as their evil instrument.  He tried to make his sin right by giving back the money, but the chief priests were too self-righteous to contaminate their treasury with blood-money.   This was Judas’ fatal mistake.  He turned to the wrong place – the wrong people. He believed there was no forgiveness for him, no power that could redeem him.  He didn’t see that the very one whom he had betrayed was also the one who had the will and power to make him whole – so in despair he went out and hanged himself.  “So close, but yet so far.”

Jesus is waiting for you to turn toward him in every situation of your life, no matter how tough, rough or hopeless a situation it may be!   When you find yourself standing alone at the crossroads, the Good News is that Jesus has already turned toward you – beginning with your baptism - and what Jesus brings is God; the very presence of God!  He brings the warm, wonderful embrace of God. He's there with his arms outstretched waiting to bring you into His joy and purpose; His love and grace!  Don't turn away!  Don't allow other commitments, other involvements, other pressures, other influences seductively lure you away; to pull you away; to prevent you from turning fully toward the One who brings God!

Let it not be said of you or me when it comes to Jesus Christ and turning toward His embrace, "So close, but yet so far!”