Our readings today tell of the lives of various kings.  But I want to concentrate on just two - King Herod and the Lord as King.  These two kings represent two worlds, two experiences of life, two different views of the world and how we experience it.

King Herod gives us a rare insight into the world of power in Jesus' day.  Kings had the power of life and death.  Kings could make decisions based on their own whims and wishes.  Yet they were also sensitive to the opinions of powerful others, and they made decisions according to the impact they would have on powerful friends.  Herod himself, seemed to be an insecure man.  His father became King, not because of royal blood but because of his skill in battle.  He called himself 'King of the Jews' though the Jews resented his leadership.   Both Herod and his father presented themselves as a Israel's messiah but no one really believed that.  What was worse, this Herod, had taken his brother's wife and married her.  No Jew could accept that sort of behaviour, particularly not from their King.  And yet, John the Baptist kept talking about it.  He used it to demonstrate that Herod was not the messiah.  Rather, God would send someone else.

And here we see the weakness of Herod.  His wife had insisted that something be done about John.  But Herod was not prepared to kill him.  So he compromised by imprisoning him instead.  Herod didn't like John's criticism, but he was fascinated by John's teaching.  And so this weak man had the power of life and death over him.

As the story moves on we can sense the impending disaster when we come to Herod's birthday party.  All the powerful leaders were there.  No doubt, Herod wanted to use the opportunity to impress his guests. 

But then the party turned seedy.  Herodias' teenage daughter was used to impress the guests with her dancing.  And Herod himself was caught in the trap.  He made wild promises of the gifts he wanted to give her.  She had no idea how to respond and so she asked her mother.  And Herod was caught.  The execution that Herodias had always dreamed of was now demanded, by the daughter, and delivered.

How Mark describes the next scene seems to anticipate Jesus' own execution.  John's disciples came to the palace, took John's body and placed it in a tomb.  And Herod must have thought that would be the end of the story. 

But not long after, Herod heard of another preacher who was rapidly growing in popularity.  People wondered who he might be.  He was not just a teacher.  He seemed to come with extraordinary powers.  He cast out demons, the lame could walk, the deaf could hear.  This new prophet could even raise the dead.  It seemed inadequate to just call him a prophet.  He had these supernatural powers.  So perhaps he was one of the Old Testament prophets come back to life.  Perhaps it might even be Elijah. But Herod thought he knew better.  This was no Old Testament prophet.  This was John the Baptist - back from the dead.  How else could you account for these amazing supernatural powers?

Later on, at the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him.  Again, the same list of alternatives was given - some say one of the prophets, or perhaps even Elijah back from the dead.  No ordinary man could do the things Jesus was doing.  There was something otherworldly about him.  So who was he?  It was only when he pressed the question further that Peter made his confession - he believed Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the true King of Israel.

Yet look at the kind of world Jesus had come to.  It was a world ruled by the likes of Herod - a world where the most corrupt held the power.  It was a dangerous world, where Jesus would exercise his mission.  It was a broken world, a world where human life held little value.  John's own death acted as a warning to where Jesus' own ministry would end.  Yet this was the point of Jesus' coming Jesus came into the world as we experience it, a world we know so well. 

Now where you live, where I live may not be as bad, it may not be as dangerous as the world Jesus experienced.  Yet when we read the gospels, when we read the stories of the people, when we see the way the crowds behaved, the way the officials operated, it is a world we easily recognise.  Today, we see people coming to positions of power who have no right to be there.  We see North Korea developing nuclear weapons and missiles while their people starve.  We see famines in one country while another has an abundance of food.  We see world leaders concerned about climate change yet no leader prepared to take the first step.  We have an American president elected on the slogan: "Yes, we can!" while many politicians cynically respond with: "No, you can't!"  It is a dangerous world, a broken world, a world so often out of control.  And the creator of this world became a part o fit and subjected himself to all its dangers until it took his own life.  And yet, that is the point of the story.  Jesus entered the world - as it is, to address the issues - as they are.  He came to his world in order to address the brokenness, the jealousy, the violence and ultimately the death. 

We read in Ephesians 1 of another King, a King not ruled by his own passions or the passions of anyone else.  Jesus came in power to receive his rightful kingdom.  He came in peace to bring peace.  He came in weakness to save the weak.  And with the coming of this king we have the other story for our world, a story that's told in Ephesians 1. We read of a King who has all power, a king not concerned for his power base.  Rather, a king who looks at the world the way it is and has a plan for that world, a plan to transform it with blessing and love. 

Yet it was a plan that was in place before the creation of the world.  God knew from the very beginning what he intended to do.  And in spite of all that has happened to us, and what still might happen, he has a plan to reconcile us to himself, and to give us new life through his spirit. So we are able to view the world through two perspectives.  We can look at the world the way it is, and we can be discouraged by all that's wrong.  We can be discouraged by the way power is used and abused.  We can be discouraged by the greed, the selfishness, the wanton disregard for our neighbour.  We can look at the world with its brutality and we can give up hope.  Or we can look at the brutality of the cross and see in that one dreadful, unjust event the faint glimmer of a new world coming into being. 

As we meditate upon the cross we can have the assurance that there is no suffering we will endure that Christ has not known already, no rejection and pain where he cannot say, 'I've been there, and I know what that's like.'  No experience of death that he has not already endured.  And yet, through that dreadful death came resurrection life.  Through that death came a transforming reconciliation for a broken world.  This, of course, doesn't mean we won't suffer.  It's no guarantee of a perfect life, a life free of pain.  But what it give us now is the down payment, the deposit which guarantees our future life, sharing in a new creation, a new heaven and earth, and in the meantime, the opportunity to live as people of that new creation in our broken world; to offer the love, that God has blessed us with, to offer the reconciliation that we enjoy in Christ, the chance to share with a lost, confused and staggering world, the way back - to love, acceptance and forgiveness.