Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Mark 6:14-29

Theme: Dealing with life’s pressures.

All of us have experienced the pressures of life.

Periodic pressure is normal, but people-pressure can be the most difficult to deal with.

It is far more difficult than pressure from our circumstances or schedules, or even responsibilities.

To some degree, all of us feel compelled to respond to people-pressure.

Whether you’re a sixteen year old teenage girl dealing with a boyfriend pressuring you for sex or you’re a middle-aged, mid-level manager dealing with a boss pressuring you for greater productivity, people are constantly expecting us to acquiesce to their demands.

How do you respond?

Do you allow yourself to be manipulated by the pressures of other people's expectations and demands?

Are you able, in the midst of that pressure, to think clearly and make the right decisions?

Do you act according to a biblical worldview, or do you simply react to those around you?

Tonight’s message is about a man who succumbed to people-pressure and in doing so, lost his last shred of integrity.

The story we have before us is a sad commentary of how we can become so entangled in the web of human relationships and people-pressure that we ultimately decide to do not only what we don’t want to do, but we do what we know is evil.

Verse 26 is the tells us the sad tale:

Mark 6:26 "The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her." NRSV

You may remember from our last Sunday night together, that Jesus has sent out his inner circle of twelve apostles to continue His mission in the villages and settlements throughout the northern part of the Galilee region.

The have set off to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God and to heal the hurt and the broken.

We will hear of their report in vs. 30 of Mark, chapter six.

In between, Mark puts the story of the execution of John the Baptist.

Within this passage, we are able to catch an astonishing glimpse of family life with the Herods.

It begins with Herod Antipas catching wind of what Jesus has been doing in the region up to the north of where his palace is.

“They went out and preached that people should repent.

13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known.

... .””

(Mark 6:12–14, NIV84)

Word has reached him of the things that are being said and done by Jesus, who has become well-known in the area as a teacher and miracle-worker.

Many are not quite sure what to make of Him.

Some of the people think that Jesus is actually Elijah, who has returned to herald “the day of the Lord.”

Other people are not quite so sure, and think he might be one of the other prophets of their tradition.

There is also a section of the population who seem to think that Jesus is actually John the Baptiser who has come back from the dead to continue his work.

Herod Antipas is terrified that John the Baptiser has come back to haunt him, and to wreak vengeance on him for Herod’s part in the murder.

People-pressure forced Herod to do what he knew was not right; yet he did it anyway.

People-pressure can do that to us as well.

Let’s look at these verses together.

I. THERE ARE THOSE WHO PRECIPITATE THE PRESSURES IN OUR LIVES

1. the key player in this soap opera is Herodias

2. now, you’ll have to indulge me for a few minutes while I tell you a little bit about the Herods

a. their family history plays a role in why John is beheaded and Herod Antipas believes that Jesus may be the prophet come back from the dead

3. the Herods are one of the most dysfunctional families in the annals of history

a. this family is a script-writers dream

4. Herod the Great — King of Israel when Jesus is born — has three sons who reach adulthood

a. Aristobulus IV

b.

Herod Philip

c. Herod Antipas

1) all three are half-brothers, Herod the Great is their father, but each has a different mother

5. Aristobulus is Herod’s son by Mariamne I (Herod’s 2nd wife — there were 10 altogether)

a. he marries Bernice, who is his cousin, and they have a daughter named Herodias

6. Herod Philip is Herod’s son by Cleopatra (not Caesar’s Cleopatra, Herod’s 5th wife)

a. he becomes a wealthy, private citizen living in Rome

b.

Herod Philip marries Aristobulus’s and Mariamne’s daughter, Herodias

1) so his niece becomes his wife

c. together, Herod Philip and Herodias have a daughter, whom they name Salome

7. Herod Antipas, is Herod’s son by Malthrace (Herod’s 4th wife)

a. Antipas becomes the Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, is married to the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea who is also named Malthrace,

b. on a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas meets Herodias who is his niece and sister-in-law

c. well, they get the ‘hots’ for each other and Herod Antipas divorces his wife Malthrace (which sparks a war with the King of Nabatea), Herodias divorces Herod Philip

1) the two love-birds then head back to Palestine

d. so here is the picture — Herod Antipas is willing to divorce his wife because he was lusting after a woman who was both his sister-in-law and his niece!

ILLUS.

This whole affair scandalized even the Romans, and the Romans were hard to scandalize!

8. it’s hard to keep such intrigues and scandals a secret, and soon everyone in the Roman Empire is buzzing about the news

a. when Herod brings Herodias back to Jerusalem (her daughter Salmoe in tow), John the Baptiser blows the whistle and airs their dirty laundry

1) John confronted him and thundered, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

b.

Herodias doesn’t like it one bit

v. 19, "And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to kill him; and could not do so..."

1) John has now publically embarrassed her and the entire Herodian household now goes to war with Israel’s most popular prophet

c. the reason she could not put John to death was because Herod understood a deeper truth than did his wife

1) in verse 20 we are told, "For Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe.

And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him."

9. so Herodias had to keep her anger inside and wait for just the right time to make her move

a. the opportunity arrives in the celebration of a family observance – Herod’s birthday

vv.

21-28 "A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.”

And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head.

And he went and had him beheaded in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother."

NASB95

b.

Herodias sets him up by giving him a birthday banquet

1) she made the guest list out and invited just the right people

2) she used her daughter to entice her stepfather with a lascivious and sensual dance

3) Herod is consumed by his drunken lust for his own step-daughter and, as a result, makes a very foolish promise

4) he promised to give her whatever she wanted, up to half of the kingdom

c.

Salome then goes to her mother to ask what her request should be

1) her mother, without hesitation, says, "The head of John the Baptist."

d. when Herod hears Salome’s request, the foolishness of his oath dawns on him

1) he regrets saying what he has said, but because of all those guests who had heard him and who were silently looking on, he felt compelled to do what his conscience told him not to do

2) he yields to people-pressure and gives her the head of John the Baptist

II.

THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE USED AS PAWNS TO PRESSURE OUR LIVES

1. in Salome, we see someone who is a pressure-pawn

a. it doesn't seem that Salome had any problem with John the Baptist