WHEN Bad Things Happen Transcript

This has got to be the worst birthday party ever. Herod in a flashback. I mean, if we were looking at the gospel of Mark and like we've talked about Mark and I've mentioned before, and I keep mentioning it because it's important to remember that Mark has a story to tell. He goes from one thing to the next, immediately following forth, and going and going.

It doesn't take a lot of time to reflect and look back. He's telling you what Jesus is doing. He's telling you what it means. He's trying to get the people hearing his story to know who Jesus is and why it matters. And so we get a little bit of John the Baptist in the beginning, but then we quickly turn to Jesus.

I mean, it moves on from John in the wilderness, and as soon as he baptizes Jesus, the story turns to almost exclusively to Jesus and what Jesus is doing. And so this section feels weird in the context. It feels weird to be talking so much about John the Baptist and his death. In a story that's meant to tell us who Jesus is. 

And yet here we are. In a flashback. We hear that, that, that people have been hearing the news about what Jesus is doing and what Jesus is saying. And the amazing deeds and, and the power of it all. And it has people wondering, who is this man? Indeed, we all are wondering as we read the gospel, who is this Jesus, and what is he here to do, and how does he do these great things, and why does he have this power? 

And like us, and like them, We don't get it right. We're taking guesses. We know the story, and so we at least have the right answer to say. But in the time, they didn't. So some thinks he's, he's, he's John the Baptist, uh, resurrected. Or he's Elijah, come back. Because if we remember in the Old Testament story, Elijah doesn't die.

He's taken up into heaven on a chariot. There's this expectation that Elijah will come back. And then we get this big old flashback of the worst birthday party. Herod is throwing his party, and this is a familiar story trope from the Old Testament where a king is throwing a party and then something happens and then the king makes this foolish proclamation, Make a promise, or ask me of anything and I will give it to you. 

Now, Herodias daughter has been sexualized over time, I think she is a young girl and she's just dancing, she's celebrating this party, it's not a seductive dance, it's not like that thing, but it's enough to make Herod happy. And, so, this makes a little bit more sense when he's shocked, because he doesn't expect her to ask for what she asked for. 

I have like some stories on, uh, some videos on YouTube, you may have seen them, I don't know, you may have heard of it, it's the credit card challenge, have you heard of this one, where you get a kid standing next to a wall, like right next to the wall, you put a credit card against the wall and say, if you can catch this with your head, You get to buy anything you want up to five hundred dollars. 

Most of these videos go as you can picture. The credit card slides down, the kid slams their head against the wall, everybody laughs, including the kid. But every once in a while, much to the shock to the parent or uncle of whoever's doing the challenge, the kid manages to catch it. And if they didn't put a limit on the spending, then they're really unsure what they're going to do. 

And I think this is what has happened to Harrods. Herod's having some fun, it's a girl, he expects her to ask for something that a child, a young girl would ask for. But she turns to her mother, says, what should I ask for? And Herod becomes powerless. Because in the stories of the Old Testament, the same thing happens, where the, the, the king in the court makes a promise in front of a bunch of people and And they can't back out of it. 

And Herod can't back out of this promise. He, he loses face, he loses prestige, he loses honor if he backs out and doesn't give this girl what she wants. And so he does. And the story moves on with John the Baptist being beheaded in prison, the head being brought on a platter, and that's why everybody's wondering if John the Baptist has been resurrected and is now perplexing Herod even further. 

And we hear that John is placed in the tomb. The question I kept asking as I was preparing and reading this message, this, this passage is what did John do to deserve this? Why did John die? It wasn't anything he had done. He was doing the will of God. He was out in the wilderness proclaiming the good news.

People were flocking to him into the wilderness to be baptized and to repent. He was doing what God wanted him to do and he was successful at it. And he was so successful at it that the one who killed him eventually, while he didn't like exactly what he was saying, he liked it enough, he was intrigued enough that he liked to listen to what John the Baptist had to say. 

Why did John die? Why do bad things happen to good people? How many times have you asked this question of yourself? You see someone who has followed, who's, who's never done anything wrong, they've always done the right thing, they've always chosen God, they're honest and upstanding people, they're loved by all, and something tragic happens to them. 

And we're left with the question of why. Why did this person get into that accident? Why did this person get murdered? Why? And we get fixated on that question, and we sit on it, and we wallow in it until we cannot spend time on it anymore, because the answer is not forthcoming, and the desire to have the answer is so great that we simply have to move on. 

Have you ever been there? Have you ever experienced it yourself? Being stuck in this why, asking over and over again, why did the God allow this? Why did this have to happen? Why did this happen to this good person? We are okay. When bad things happen to bad people, we're less okay when good things happen to bad people. 

We're really, really okay when good things happen to good people. That all makes sense to us, to some degree. Back in the 80s, a rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi Kushner wrote a book called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. And it's book, and his title is often quoted, misquoted in the title, and that Y becomes when, or sorry, that when becomes a Y. 

But I think that book, and I think the message that we need to hear from the gospel reading today is we need to recapture the when. What do we do when bad things happen to good people? What do we do when the world doesn't make sense? What do we do when we don't get the answers that we desperately want because we're trying to make sense of the world? 

John the Baptist is killed by Herod. His head put on a plate and his body placed in a tomb. He did nothing to deserve it. He did everything right in God's eyes. And so they're left with the question of what, of what are we going to do next? It's an interesting part of this story that John the Baptist had disciples that followed him, that learned from him like Jesus did. 

It's an interesting part of the story that as John the Baptist claims Jesus is the Son of the Most High and the Voice from Heavens proclaim it. This is my son, that those disciples stayed with John the Baptist and didn't just say, Oh, okay, I'm just going to change sides over here. And he still has disciples, because his disciples are the ones that take the body and put it in the tomb. 

And they're left with the question of what they're going to do. Next, and why this happened. Jesus himself is the perfect example of this question, and we try to make sense of it. Jesus, as the Son of God, was perfect and blameless in all ways. He did nothing that deserved being placed on the cross. He did nothing to deserve the floggings that he received.

He did nothing to deserve all of the bad things that happened to him. And yet they happened. The disciples for a couple of days. Followed in the why. Why did this happen? Why did this happen to Jesus? Why in the world would he let this happen? And Jesus came back after the resurrection and told them what they were supposed to do next. 

The message isn't that bad things won't happen. The message isn't that if you become a Christian, bad things are less likely to happen. The message is that there is still hope, and even not knowing the answer why. There are too many things in our life, there are too many things in this world that happen.

And we do not and will not know the reason why, on this side of heaven, as much as we would like to. And when people come to us, as Christians, of people of faith, who have clinged on to Christ, and who have this belief that all things will be made right and redeemed, and people come to us asking the question why, if all we try to do is answer that question, chances are we're stabbing in the dark at, or perhaps really causing problems. 

But what if when they came to us, instead of feeling powerless because we can't answer their, their question of why, instead of feeling powerless and unable to give an answer from our faith, because even those in faith don't know the reason, what if we transformed it into a question of when, what are you going to do when bad things happen? 

Now that this tragic thing has happened in your life, now that you are facing this This difficult reality, whatever it may be, what are you going to do next? And this is where our faith can shape us and help us and speak to people in their pain. Because it is the when and the what, it is in the living of the next step, that redemption and healing can happen. 

When we get stuck in the why, when we get stuck trying to figure things out, when we stuck and refuse to move forward until the why becomes so great that we just have to move on completely, or give up our faith, if we honestly look at our next steps of how we're going to live in the face of that tragedy. 

Say, Christ, how do you want me to live? Now, every situation is different, and I can't give you a checklist, okay? When this bad thing happens, do this, this, this, and this. I just can't do it. There's not a checklist. There's not an easy answer. Just like there isn't the word question of why. But what there is, what there is, is a path forward. 

One relying on trust in God that, that he will bring all things to fulfillment. That nothing in this world happens will be left unanswered. That at the end of days, in some cosmic way, that we will have no way of understanding. All of the wrongs of the world will be made right. And again, we have no idea what that's going to look like. 

But we can have faith that it's going to happen because the one who saves us, the one who died for us, promises us that. So first and foremost, recognize that the way things are aren't the way things that are, aren't the way things are always going to be. In the midst of your pain, in the midst of your sorrow, there is light. 

There is hope. It may not be experienced in this lifetime, But it will come. And in the living, in the doing, going out, out each day, how we treat others in response to our tragedy and our pain, how we look at the world, do we clam up and cold, become cold and close ourselves and become rock hard? Some people do when tragedy strikes.

I understand that, especially if they've been hurt by someone else. Or do we remain open or find a way to reopen ourselves so that we can rebuild relationships? Make sure that we feel the love that God wants us to feel. Make sure that we do not turn stone cold. And we do that by being willing to be hurt again. 

Being willing to turn to those around us, be willing to open and not blame someone else for what's happened to us. Especially what they're not to blame. And finally, when we take steps, baby steps at first, big steps a later, whatever they may be. When we live out that life that is honoring to God, even in the midst of our tragedy and pain. 

When we remain open, when we seek out others, when we seek to grow and love and find transformation. We experience the redemptive work in our own lives. God at work in our world and at work in our lives because God is transforming what has happened to us into something, something better, something more hopeful, something that can bless others. 

Some of you may have gone, one example of this is some of you may have gone through cancer treatments. You've been diagnosed, you know somebody who has. Now, one thing you can do is kind of close up and stick in that why, why did this cancer happen? Why is this happening to me? Why, why, why? And that makes sense to ask those questions. 

But at some point you've got to decide, what am I going to do next? When this bad thing happens, how am I going to respond? And there are people who have taken their experience of going through cancer, their experience of going through whatever disease or difficulty they've gone through, and they are a voice and a help to those who then go through it themselves. 

The cancer example is support groups. Of calling groups of prayer groups to say, you know, I've gone through this, I've asked the same questions. I felt the same pains. I'm gone through the same sickening treatments. I've wanted it all to end. I've been there and I'm here for you grief groups when you've lost a loved one and you've lost a spouse and you open yourself up and you welcome other people who have experienced the similar pain to come in and say, I am walking on this journey with you.

Because I've been there before. Those who have recovered from, are recovered from addiction. One of the most powerful things about AA and NA and all of that is people along all parts of the journey, whether they have just, uh, got high that day and they're like, I just needed to come back or they've been clean and sober for 20 years, they're still going to meetings and they share stories of their struggles and their pains. 

And their successes and the most transforming the, one of the biggest reasons for that transformation in these groups is they're willing to share the stories and go along each other's journey, being brutally honest with each other. But there are people that I say, I have been there. I have walked this journey and you can too. 

This is what I believe the role of faith can be. This is what I believe the church can be. If we reclaim what it means to tell our stories, that when this bad thing happened, when I was in this place, when I was feeling lost, when I was feeling in despair, when I was feeling alone, when I was feeling unwanted and unloved, when all of the world seemed to conspire against me. 

This is how I clung to my faith. This is how I recaptured my faith. This is how I lost it for a time, and this is how I got it back. And when we share those stories, not only with one another, with others going through those same things, when we recognize that our journey wasn't from here to here, or here or here, wherever you would like to say you are in your faith journey, it hasn't been a straight line. 

There's been rises, there's been falls, and back up again, sometimes not quite as high as it used to be before it falls again. But now it's back to where I am now. Wherever that may be. When people recognize the spiritual journey, their faith journey is not a straight line, where not all good things have happened and everything has been hunky dory and great, and that's why I have faith.

When people see that we have faith, In spite of the bad things, in spite of the tragedies, in spite of the suffering, in spite of the questions that we still don't have answered, in spite of all of that, then people can see their own journey. And when they begin their own journey with Christ, and they feel that first glimpse, They feel that first pain when they have the question of why is this happening?

I'm following Christ I'm live trying to do what he wants me to do and this bad thing has happened when they see that somebody else Who's sharing their honest story has had dips and has had pains and had suffering in the midst of their faith They can say, you know, it's not a sign that I do not have enough faith.

It's not a sign that God is angry with me Sometimes it's just a sign that life has happened or sometimes it's the decisions of somebody else, like John the Baptist, who's put to death, he's in prison, minding his own business, and enough as it is. One because of a dance of a girl, and his, her angry mother, and a powerless leader who wants to save face. 

All of that's happening in another part of the castle, or in the, in the court, and then John is put to death. We can't explain it, but we can find a new way to live. And sharing that story helps other people on their journey. 

And the church will grow. Our faith will grow. Our community will flourish. When we take the stories that we have, and connecting with people who have gone through the, who are now going through the same thing, and telling them, and showing them, and walking with them, to find that new way of being. That new way of living, that life and hope and redemption if possible. 

If we can do that, we can be a transforming presence in our community and around the world. Amen.