The Death of John the Baptist

Resume

The runt of a litter is one that is smaller than the rest by reason of some deprivation in utero or genetic defect, and may struggle to survive as a result.

For many years scholars regarded Mark as the runt of the litter of 4 gospels, thinking it to be an abbreviation of Matthew and Luke, with which it shares a lot of material - so like the smallest piglet or puppy it struggled for attention

That has now all changed with the realisation - accepted by most - that it was the first of the gospels to be written so was no abbreviation at all.

It is also afforded more respect in its own right these days for its distinctive theology, not least in respect of the concept of discipleship - which features large in today’s passage

It is perhaps helpful to step back, as we move from written sermonettes to more normal circumstances, and survey this shortest - and superficially simplest of the gospels

Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark does not begin with a genealogy or birth narrative, but rather explodes into action with the ministry - then imprisonment - of John the Baptist, that imprisonment being the cue for Jesus entering the stage, calling his disciples, and embarking on his public ministry

The story is told at a rattling pace throughout the first 8 chapters. Focussing largely on Galilee in the north, a sense of pace is injected with the frequent use of the word ‘immediately’

The narrative is designed to emphasise the authority of Jesus - over demons, over disease, over the wind and the waves, and over death itself.

But the narrative is marked by another important feature: repeated instructions to people who are healed to keep quiet (often disobeyed). It is known as the ‘messianic secret’ and is thought to be on account of the mistaken expectations Jewish people had - that when he came he would be a political or military deliverer who would drive the hated Romans into the Mediterranean and restore them to the top of the pile.

The fulcrum of the gospel comes in ch 8 with Peter’s confession ‘you are the Christ’, which - like the story of John’s death - is immediately preceded by an enquiry about who people thought Jesus was.

From that point, Jesus begins the journey south and 3 times over speaks of his sufferings, death and resurrection - to the incomprehension of the disciples.

Another change occurs: far from keeping a lid on expectations and keeping a low profile, he does and says things that seem provocative.

First there is what we call ‘The Triumphal Entry’ in ch 11 which attracts the adulation of the crowds but probably also the envy and annoyance of the authorities.

Then in ch 12 he tells the parable of the tenants. And whereas in the first half of the gospel the disciples are so slow to understand the parables that he has to explain them to them, here we are told that the hostile authorities ‘perceived that he had told the parable against them’

Then, knowing that Judas is resolved to betray him, he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas knew - and Jesus knew Judas knew - was a place Jesus habitually went - and of course he is arrested.

He is taken before the council and the High Priest, and at first it all seems to be going really well. The prosecution case is falling apart as the witnesses are all at odds with each other.

In frustration, the High Priest turns himself into prosecutor and demands an answer to his question, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’

This is the moment when any competent defence counsel would say ‘exercise your right to silence’ - but no! Jesus draws from a famous passage in Daniel 7 to make an unambiguous claim to be the Messiah. No messianic secret any more! This is immediately condemned as blasphemy and the path to crucifixion is stepped upon.

So what is going on?

Superficially, Jesus gets caught between the wheels of the Roman and Jewish authorities.

But when we look beneath the surface, we realise that it is Jesus who is in control. He acts and speaks to bring things to a head - to virtually goad them to do what he had come for - to suffer, and die.

And the reason for that is that his purpose and plan was hidden from them in plain sight in the OT scriptures - that he would go into death, yes, but then do something the principalities and powers knew nothing about.

It was not to be like Lazarus, or Jairus’s daughter, who would step into death and then step back to the same life they had before.

No, he was going to step into death - and then out on the other side, beyond the reach of death and beyond the reach of the powers, visible and invisible, who had hounded him to the cross.

This was what Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 2:8 ‘ None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory’

Little did they realise that in crucifying Jesus they were signing their own ultimate death warrant.

John’s death

The story of John’s death is the ‘meat’ of another Markan sandwich

It comes in between the accounts of the disciples being sent out, and the account of their return to relate what they had been doing to Jesus.

Mark chooses to insert in between this retrospective account of how John met his end.

Why does he do this?

Well, in these ‘sandwiches’ the central part is the main point or clue and this is no exception.

The disciples may have been on a bit of a high after their first tour of preaching and healing. This incident is surely meant as a sobering corrective.

We last heard of John in 1:14 where his arrest marks the beginning of Jesus’s ministry in Galilee.

Herod was part of a dynasty with an ignoble history and this one - Herod Antipas - was a chip off the old block.

He had become infatuated with his brother’s wife, dumped his first wife, and married her.

And at a psychological level, what then happens is fascinating.

Herod was a man desperate for popular recognition as ‘King’ and that probably lay behind this great feast for the high & mighty

But he was to learn that when you put one foot wrong, circumstances can often conspire to take you into conduct and decisions you never foresaw when you put that first foot wrong

He is irritated by John’s behaviour in calling him out - but has enough respect for him to listen to him frequently.

But while an angry king is one thing, a calculating and cunning woman out for vengeance is quite another.

Perhaps anxious that her new husband’s baffled respect for John might cause him to dump her as he had done with wife number 1, she waits her moment.

And when her daughter from her first marriage performs an exotic dance for the crowd, Herod makes a rash promise that leads to the demand for John’s head.

Herod almost certainly knew his wife was behind it. And though he had a way out of it, he compounds a series of sinful decisions with yet another thanks to the pressures his own actions and ambitions had brought upon him.

He has his wife on one side, her daughter on another, the crowd he wants to impress on the other, and he caves to it.

Application

Calling out evil

John ‘had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife’

Is this telling us that we should follow his example and call out evil whenever we see it?

There are those who would use the passage this way, but are they right?

No, for these reasons:

It is a description, not a prescription. It is describing what John did, not prescribing what we should do. If there was specific teaching - eg in the epistles - that we must do so, this could illustrate that teaching, but there isn’t.

We are not John the Baptist.

We may not have the necessary knowledge, wisdom and insight to do so

Having said that, we should be open to the possibility that occasions may arise when we have to take a principled stand. If we think we are in such a situation, we should pray for grace to handle it well.

Remember the promise of Mark 13:11

The perils of acting against conscience

Herod knew he should not have dumped his wife for Herodias

That he should not have imprisoned John

That John was a righteous and holy man

That Herodias’s attitude to John was evil

He found that one act of compromise led to another, and another, and another

Hendriksen quotes from another author: “The worst forms of functional mental disorder arise from a repressed conscience”

There are no halfway houses when it comes to the gospel

Herod was fascinated by John, respected him, protected him - albeit in a strange way

He probably thought he was getting away with steering a path between commitment and rejection

But inevitably the crunch time came and he had to go one way or the other

It’s the call of Joshua: ‘Choose this day whom you will serve’ (24:15)

Throughout Mark there is an emphasis on crowds - 32 times they are referred to, and often describing their amazement - but amazement and commitment are 2 very different things.

The crowds that strewed his way at the Triumphal Entry were calling for his death only days later

The cost of discipleship

Coming in between the sending out of the disciples and their return to tell Jesus all they had done and taught, this is a sober reminder that discipleship will be costly

John’s distinguished role as the forerunner of the Messiah did not insulate him - not only from death, but even from a gruesome end at the bidding of a wicked and opportunistic woman

Had we written the script, we may have had John ending his life peacefully surrounded by fellow believers, before being whisked to paradise on chariots of fire, but it was not so

Discipleship will cost us too - at the very least in terms of time, money, mental - physical - emotional energy - perhaps a measure of stress, distress, anguish, disappointment that we would not otherwise have faced

We may be the butt of jokes behind our backs or even to our faces

Discipleship doesn’t come with promises of pain-free ease and success, as the prosperity gospel preachers would have us believe

It does come with the promise that we were reminded of last week, that as we honour the commision to make disciples of all nations - ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’