The Death of John

Introduction

Last week we saw Jesus rejected in his hometown and then sending out the twelve apostles to proclaim his message. This week we get a short aside about the death of John the Baptist, the guy that prepared the way for Jesus and baptized him at the beginning of his ministry.

In this aside we see that there were struggles with the identity of Jesus as well as seeing that all are accountable for sin and face the difficulties involved with that.

Lets begin with reading the passage here tonight.

Mark 6:14–29 ESV

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

John was a great guy, Jesus even says in Matthew 11.11 “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” What a statement. We see that John was calling out the king for sin even though he was not a Jew, this shows that all are under the moral law of God. John was a terrifying man to the king because good is a scary thing to evil. Herod threw him in prison for calling him out and was eventually tricked by his wife that he got in sin to kill John and because he was so concerned with the opinions of his guest he went through with it and killed him. This foreshadows how they will treat Jesus, if they kill the one that prepared the way for him how much worse will they treat him.

Tonight we see The discussion of who Jesus is and we will contemplate who we think he is. We will also see how sin is a problem for all no matter what the people around us think or say.

Lets pray then begin to think about who Jesus is.

pray

Who Jesus is

In the beginning of this recount of John the Baptist’s death we see that there is speculation about who Jesus is. This is a recurring question that seems to come up as we study the book of Mark and it is the theme of camp this year. The main purpose of this story is for us to see that John has died because he is an important person in the Christ story, his death prefigures the eventual death of Jesus. Mark leads it in with this bit of information though, who others thought Jesus was.

Mark 6:15–16 ESV

But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

These were some of the theories about the identity of Jesus. People did not know what to make of Jesus so they tried to associate other things with him.

Elijah

First was Elijah, Elijah was a prophet from a tiny region that not many people of the time had even heard of. He boldly faced the rulers and brought about judgment. He was also a man that did not die but was rather taken up into heaven by God. It had been prophesied that he would return to usher in the savior, they thought that Jesus was him. Though it is good that they recognize Jesus as legitimately from God they still did not understand who Jesus was in this. The prophecy about Elijah was fulfilled in John who was the main character of tonight.

It says in Mark 9.9-13 “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”” John the Baptist was the fulfillment of this, not Jesus.

The question still remains of who Jesus is.

prophet

The other thought was that Jesus was just another prophet. This still recognized that he was sent from God but misses who Jesus is completely. In a way Jesus acts as a prophet as he is described as the final prophet, priest, and king. This was still lacking though, there were lots of prophet throughout the time of the Old Testament and primarily they pointed towards Jesus but now he is here.

Resurrected John

The final part of the guesses on who Jesus was is that he was John risen from the dead. We are about to look more at the story of the death of John but here they are thinking that Jesus was him. They did recognize John in this section as a righteous and holy man which is characteristic of Jesus but that is not who Jesus is.

Who do you say that he is?

Through the book of Mark we have seen a lot of different beliefs and thoughts about who Jesus is. Many times we have just seen them sitting wondering who he is. Later in the book of Mark we see him ask Peter who he says that he is, we see this in Mark 8.29 “And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.””

The apostles eventually get it and someday everyone will but for many it will be to late. Who do you think Jesus is? Some random guy, a good teacher, or the savior of the world.

Sin problem for all

We need to know who Jesus is for the sole reason of the sin problem that we have. We see that John was in prison because he called out the king for his sin. This is what started out the journey to his death, it ended with the kings wife that was a part of the sin working to find a way to end his life.

The king was not a Jew but we see that he was still responsible for his sin, we are all responsible for our sin. Sin is the big problem that separates us from God and the reason that Jesus is needed in the first place.

calling sin what it is

John was not afraid to call out sin. We are all responsible for it so we should be clear about it. It is easy to overlook sin or not think deeply about whether our actions are sinful or not. We need the boldness to tell others and ourselves when sin is present. I have friends that will tell me and I will tell them when we see them in sin and it has led to some times of conflict in friendships but it eventually led to a deeper friendship and we were both able to grow through the experience.

Think here if the king would have listened to John and repented then desired to learn more, it would have changed the course of the kingdom. Rather he listened to him but never heeded his warnings till one day he orders his death.

Beliefs of others

So we have talked about who Jesus is and our problem of sin and now we see the final major point in this story and what holds so many back from following Jesus, what others think. Herod in his drunkeness gave his daughter whatever she wanted and after talking to her mom she ask for the head of John the Baptist. Herod doesn’t want to do this though but he had many distinguished guest and he did not want to break this oath. Because of this he killed John.

Herod was concerned most with the thoughts of others and he let them affect his thinking. In the book of Matthew we see that many are on the path of destruction leading to hell. That means that many are enemies of Christ and don’t think you should follow him. many have beliefs that you should not do the right thing. Will you worry about the beliefs of the many or will you worry about what God is actually calling you to.

The fear of being looked down on holds so many back from following Christ, they are more concerned with the opinions of man than of God and because of this they forfeit their soul.

Conclusion

In the end we need to think about what we truly believe. This is what our eternity hinges on. Do you believe that Jesus is who he says he is? Do you believe that sin truly is a problem? Do you believe that the opinions of man matter more than God? These are the deep questions that you need to be asking yourself.

The problem of sin and the identity of Jesus is what puts together the entire gospel. Sin is the problem that separates us from God and Jesus came to bridge that divide so that we can be back in right relationship with him. We do this by putting our faith in him and turning away from your sin.

There is a day of judgment coming and could be here in any moment, you may think that you have time but the reality is that you might not. I have friends that have dies in accidents that they did not know that they were going to have. Some day Jesus will return and there will be lots of people that thought they had time.

John prepared the way for Jesus and was willing to die for it. Jesus came and willingly died for our sins. Who do you think that Jesus is?