Herod's Conscience Versus Christ's Compassion

Introduction

Looking at our text today, we have an interesting amalgamation of events. We have:

Herod finally hearing the news of Jesus

An explanation of both how and why John the Baptist (Baptizer) was murdered

Jesus’ response to hearing the news of John the Baptist’s death

Most Bibles, including my ESV, essentially draw a line at v. 12, usually beginning the narrative of Jesus feeding the 5000 at v. 13. I’ve chosen to draw the line at 14, because that concludes the section on John the Baptist. Also, Matthew adds in v. 15 of this gospel another narrative shift using the word “Now” again.

I’m not trying to say that I think the translators of the ESV, KJV, NIV, or CSB have made a mistake, though. Those translations all draw the line because of the shift of character from John the Baptist to Jesus. But what I want to see is that juxtaposition of Herod’s response to hearing about Jesus, and Jesus’ response to hearing of what Herod had done to John.

Let’s read:

Matthew 14:1–14 ESV

1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Point 1: Possessing a conscience does not imply God’s regenerating work in a sinner

In verse 1 and 2 of chapter 14, we encounter one of the strangest theories recorded in the Bible. We see a man, wracked by his guilt over something he had done, concoct one of the most easily verifiably false notions anyone could have thought of Jesus in His time of earthly ministry.

Hearing of Jesus, Herod says: “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Now, you and I can just flip over to Matthew 3, Mark 1, or Luke 3. We could even turn to John 1:26-27. We certainly have it easier than Herod to verify that Jesus’ ministry began before John the Baptist was killed. After all, for a person to be “raised from the dead,” you’d think that the ministry of this person would begin after they were killed, right?

But, even though Herod couldn’t just flip some pages to see if his claim were true, all he would’ve had to do is ask someone around him how long Jesus had been doing miraculous works… Maybe he could’ve found someone who had been at Jesus’ baptism by John!

All Herod had to do was investigate this claim of his to see that he was wrong. But he didn’t… Why? Because he was struck with a guilty conscience, and that appears to have paralyzed him from finding out the truth.

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Now, is Herod’s guilt causing him to be irrational? Yes, it is. Which is ironic because when we use the word “conscience,” the Latin meaning of those two root words “con” and “scientia” mean: “With Reason.”

When we, in English, use the word “conscience,” we tend to think of it meaning “with moral reason.” A “conscience” is a person’s “moral compass.” It’s that thing inside us that tells us we’ve done something wrong, producing in us that gut-wrenching effect of knowing we’ve done something reprehensible.

Herod, possessing a self-knowing of his wrongdoing, must’ve felt that feeling we all feel where our insides feel all squirmy and angry. He felt a deep sense of shame, though instead of producing regret that made him seek out this Jesus, the miracle-worker that he thought was John resurrected; instead, Herod made a theory that had him hide from Jesus.

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Do people often do this when they feel shame? Yes, they do.

Actually, I knew a woman who would often complain about her cat and the destructive things it did to her furniture and her house. This cat would pee on anything and everything, claw up anything with fabric, and would randomly attack her as she walked down the hallway.

This lady was in a small group I was a part of, and when I’d ask if she wanted help rehabilitating the cat, she always said no. One day, I cornered her, pointing out that if wanted to stop the problem then she should actually stop the problem… But what she said to me surprised me so much that I almost ran out of words.

She told me that she deserved all the problems her cat created, and that her cat was actually the reincarnation of her mother.

You see, her and her mom had problems, and when her mother was dying in the hospital, she refused to visit her. Sometime after her mother died, she got this cat and the cat was extremely mischievous. She became so convinced that the cat was her mother, that she convinced herself that she needed this punishment.

Instead of seeking the truth, the truth that her cat was (1) not her mom and (2) able to be rehabilitated, she was paralyzed by her guilt and kept suffering.

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The shame produced by a person’s conscience does not always lead them to a knowledge of the truth, it does not always make them do the right thing, it doesn’t always mean that God is working on that person.

I have often heard such nonsense. That as long as a person feels guilty, condemned by their actions, that God is definitely working on them. If that were true, the Apostle John wouldn’t have written these words in 1 John 3:21: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”

A person who is “condemned” by their heart will recoil from the gospel. They will, like Herod, find excuses to investigate the truth and see the goodness of Jesus.

The person regenerated by God’s grace will, instead, respond more like David in 2 Samuel 24:10, who realized his wrongdoing by doing a census of the people of Israel. The regenerated person will say, like David, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

Friends, possessing a conscience does not imply God’s regenerating work in a sinner, it simply implies that the person has the moral rationalizing of a creature made in God’s image. It means that this person bears the mark of Adam, who on eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, has had his eyes opened and began to know good and evil.

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Shame of conscience can, like Adam and Eve, cause an unregenerate sinner to hide from God, not run to Him.

Do not be like Herod when you are confronted with your sin and wrongdoing. Do not run from the truth, producing corrupt theories and refusing to investigate the way of grace in Jesus Christ.

Herod reappears and even tries to turn Jesus into a spectacle or show in Luke 23:6-12, but Christ refuses to dance like a monkey and do miracles on command. We also should not craft a Jesus in our making, thinking of Him like a genie at our beck and call.

When you see the sin in your heart, may you be reassured before God by having the Holy Spirit work the shame out of your heart and onto the cross. Run to Jesus! Don’t concoct strange theories like Herod, or make up odd theories about cats!

Run to Jesus and feel the warmth of His blood, shed at Calvary’s hill to bring you forgiveness of sin!

This will not happen just through guilt of conscience, but only happens when we investigate who Jesus truly is and avoid creating imaginings of the true Creator.

Point 2: Guilt over being convicted can lead people to further acts of malice and self-preservation, like Herodias did in forcing the murder of John the Baptist

Now, continuing our theme of conscience, we see another reaction to a guilty conscience in 14:3-11.

What is happening in these verses is a woman named Herodias who has married Herod forces Herod to kill John the Baptist. Why? you rightfully ask? Because John the Baptist has been announcing the sinfulness of the marriage between Herod and Herodias.

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You see, Herodias was the wife of Herod’s brother, Phillip. And somehow Herod has taken her as his wife.

John the Baptist was rightly declaring that this was a sinful act as a prophet of Yahweh, the Lord God. He was “exposing the works of darkness” as Paul puts it in Eph. 5:11. He was remembering the Law where it says: “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness” in Lev. 18:6. And, even more poignant, he was remembering Lev. 18.16: “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.”

John the Baptist was pointing out that unrighteousness in God’s chosen nation of Israel, even the unrighteousness of Gentile rulers, would ultimately pollute and corrupt God’s people.

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Now, I want to point out that Herod was actually a really good ruler for Israel. He wasn’t as harsh as his grandfather, Herod the Great, who murdered the children in Israel for fear of the coming Messiah (Mt. 2:16-18).

This Herod is famously known for being concerned with his own pleasure, and was a full-blown engager in the philosophy of Hedonism. But, he had realized that he was well-served when his subjects were happy, so he strengthened the economy and gave the Jews lots of freedom.

But, when he did things that were not righteous, most of the Jewish leaders would hold their tongue because they did not want to speak out against him and get trouble.

John the Baptist, however, knowing that God’s people are supposed to stand up against unrighteousness in their midst like the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and even moreso the minor prophets like Amos and Joel, took a stand against Herod’s act of sin with his sister-in-law.

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Herod, then, silenced John the Baptist by throwing him in prison, but that wasn’t good enough for Herodias. She wanted him silenced forever, not simply silenced behind bars, because John’s disciples were still allowed to visit him in prison and John still had a voice.

So, when her own daughter, Herod’s niece, dances seductively before Herod and his guests, she seizes the opportunity. In his hedonism, offers to give her gifts up to half his kingdom (the maximum he could give away and still be a ruler). The girl consults her mother, and her mother says, “Tell him to give you John the Baptist’s head on a platter” (v. 8).

The girl obeys her mother, requests it, and Herod grants the petition.

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Here we see the reason for Herod’s guilty conscience, but we also see the hardening of Herodias’ heart.

Guilt over being convicted can lead people to further acts of malice and self-preservation. This is a primary evidence to how we can know whether or not a person is in the process of being regenerated , whether or not their sin devolves further or they begin to see repentance as a good and beautiful thing.

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Some applications from this section, before we hit our final point:

1. We are to call out the evils and unrighteousness of our culture like John the Baptist

This is not normally an issue for us. Eph. 4:11 is a popular verse, and with the advent of news outlets and the Internet, it’s not hard to dig up dirt on basically anyone.

But, remember that Herod was a leader in good standing with the religious elite of John’s time. He was, in essence, a lesser of many evils. John the Baptist did not pick sides, he did not decide to ignore the evils of one wicked man for the “benefit” of his nation.

Instead, John knew and deplored the evils of even those who had benefitted his country.

Therefore, we should be like John and abhor the evils of all the wicked in our world, even if we agree with them politically.

This consistency is exactly why many who, like me, did not shy away from hating the unrighteousness in the life of former-President trump were accused of being liberal. Even if we agreed with his political decisions, we denounced his evils.

I’m sure that many of you have the proverbial “but, but, but” forming in your head. Resist that urge in the Lord. We must be like John the Baptist and call out sin and wickedness in our rulers, friends.

To quote the biblical commentator, Matthew Henry: “We must witness against the sins of others, and endeavor to convince them of their sinfulness in our words.”

Be consistent like John the Baptist showed us.

2. Guilt can produce a more wicked heart, so do not rely on guilt as a weapon of reformation.

Herod and Herodias both had guilty consciences. But, instead of turning to the redeemer and listening to the words of His prophet, they sunk deeper and deeper into depravity; even killing a righteous man.

We should not use guilt as a weapon for reformation, like Herodias did to Herod by making him honor his promise to her daughter.

Point 3: God, even when mourning, shows compassion on the sinner who comes to Him in need

Our final section and point is found in Jesus’ actions of verses 13-14.

Matthew 14:13–14 (ESV)

13 Now when Jesus heard this [that is: the news of John’s murder], he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Now, I want to make clear that I am not ending this sermon saying: “BE LIKE JESUS.” I am not saying that.

What I want us to do is look at the compassion of Jesus, here.

Jesus, struck with sorrow, goes off to be by Himself. He is “with moral reason,” His conscience causes Him to go off to mourn the loss of another prophet in Israel.

Instead of letting Him be by Himself, people follow Him. Now, a normal person would probably respond by chasing them away.

“Go away! I want to be by myself” the average person would say.

But, this is not what God does. God, even when mourning, shows compassion on the sinner who comes to Him in need.

Imagine the first person to come up to Jesus as He sits by Himself in that boat. Perhaps Jesus has tears in His eyes, and this person comes up to Him and says something like, “Hey Jesus, I know you’re busy, but could you heal me? Could you take my ailment? I am suffering and I need you.”

Then Jesus, in His divine nature, “has compassion on then and healed their sick.” Jesus, here, has divine compassion on the needy, even if He is doing something that the normal person couldn’t be interrupted during.

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I’m not saying to “be like Jesus.” Instead, I am saying LOOK AT JESUS! Look to Him, friends! God is mourning the evils of His day, He is mourning the evils of OUR day! His eyes and gaze are not averted. He knows even more fully than you the hearts of the wicked in this world!

But even in God’s hatred and sorrow over sin, you can still interrupt Him!

When is a good time to reach out to God with your troubles and needs? ALWAYS.

Jesus is, right now, at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, willing to be interrupted and approached.

Even though a storm is approaching Louisiana, or has maybe already hit, God is not too busy to hear our prayers! His hand is bringing destruction, but we can still open our mouths in prayer to Him!

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How wonderful, kind, and compassionate God is that He might be willing to hear us when He would be otherwise occupied.

Conclusion

Therefore, I close with one final conclusion. If you are feeling guilty in conscience, if you have done a wicked evil, if you have unconfessed sin that you’ve been too ashamed to bring before God, do not be like Herod who hid from the Savior, but go to the Savior who is willing to be approached and interrupted.

Even the news of the unrighteous death of His righteous cousin could not deter Him from working His mission of glorifying His Father on earth.

How much more is He willing to intercede for us, providing salvation and repentance, glorifying His Father still today. Go before this gentle and compassionate Savior today, friends!

We are all filthy sinners trying to assuage our guilt with broken and filthy righteous deeds. God should hide His face from us, rejecting us and telling us to go away… Yet, He doesn’t do that.

We are free to do like the prophet Isaiah prays in chapter 64:8-9 and pray: “8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.”

Let’s pray:

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Friends, do not hide from the pains of conscience and harden your hearts against God. Do not let your guilt drive you into greater unrighteousness. Instead, go to Him who gladly and compassionately receives you.