Mark 6:14-29

The Death of John the Baptist

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’ll be honest. When I accepted to preach this weekend, I thought the text was going to be about the feeding of the 5,000 because that is also from Mark 6. And I was excited because that is such an amazing and important miracle. But instead, when I opened the text, I found out it was the sad, depressing, and gruesome story of the death of John the Baptist. But this text is clearly important to St. Mark because it is longer than both the baptism and temptation of Jesus in Mark’s gospel combined. So, it got me wondering. Why did Mark spend so much time with this story? Why did he feel the need to interrupt his narrative on Jesus with the beheading of John the Baptist? And why did Mark spend so much time telling us about a wicked King – King Herod.

This King Herod was one of the sons of King Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when He was a baby. This King Herod was like his dad – a ruthless bloodthirsty King. King Herod had a wife Herodias who was the former wife of (pause) - his brother Philip. So, John the Baptist accused them of having an unlawful marriage. It’s not hard to see that such an accusation would anger Herodias – the now remarried widow. And so, Herod, as a result, had John the Baptist put in prison.

And on Herod’s birthday, he held a feast for nobles and other important people in the surrounding area of Galilee. For entertainment, Herodias’s daughter came and danced for everyone in the banquet. Her dancing pleased Herod and all of his guests. So, Herod promised to give her whatever she desired. And after consulting her mother Herodias, the daughter asked for the head of John the Baptist. So Herod, knowing this was wrong, but having made an oath, and being in the presence of nobles, granted her that wish. And as the Gospel passage says, the head of John the Baptist was served on a silver platter, hence the phrase “to serve ones head on a platter” …and John’s disciples took his body and buried him.

This was the King of God’s people living in “the promised land.” Certainly not a Son of David as God had promised would always rule over His people. Certainly not a “Good King.” How could God have allowed a wicked King to have taken the head of His most holy prophet?

Herod was supposed to rule over the Jews. And what you would expect from a ruler who lives out their vocation in a righteous way, is that they would follow the customs and laws of the Jews, rule in a fair and just way, and do what was right by their people.

But right off that bat, we see that Herod was an adulterer. That is why John the Baptist was there in the first place. Herod associated himself with the strong and powerful by inviting the nobles and military leaders to his banquet. And, when difficulties come up, he was weak and unable to deal with them properly. He gave into peer pressure, and he presided over the death of another for his own gain.

Herod did not have to do any of these things that he promised. He could have simply refused to have John the Baptist killed – albeit to his own detriment. But nonetheless, he could have let the innocent man, John the Baptist live. But he didn’t do that. He had John killed because of the oath he made to his “step-daughter-niece?”, and the peer pressure that he faced from all the people in the banquet.

It’s easy for us to read this passage and see how Herod really was not that great of a ruler. And as I meditated on why Mark gave so much attention to this King Herod, I could not help see some of the Herod in me, and in our own lives. He gave into peer pressure, he associated with higher ups, and he tried increasing himself at the expense of another. And He murdered the innocent, holy prophet of God Almighty – the very cousin of Jesus. So, although we are not King Herod, we do come face to face with some of the same issues and problems.

Peer pressure is a real thing that each one of us face. Maybe it is more noticeable being younger and in school, but it is still something that adults face. It makes us do things that maybe we know are wrong and that we wouldn’t normally do. Skipping class, or buying things that are unnecessary to keep up appearances, associating yourself with certain political parties and ideologies, or more severely, drugs, alcoholism. The list goes on and on. But it is something that we all face at some point in our lives.

And like Herod, we also try to associate ourselves with people who are “higher up” than us to make ourselves look better and more important. There is a common phrase in business that goes, “It’s not about what you know, but who you know.” But this not only applies to the business world but to pretty much everywhere else. The more “important” people you know, the better it makes you look.

We’ve all been in situations where, at the expense of another, we have presided over our own gain. Perhaps we haven’t “murdered” anyone – but Jesus reminds us if we merely speak badly towards others or about others we “murder them in our hearts.” We talk bad about someone so that we could get a job or position over another. Or have someone else be the butt of a joke to make ourselves look better. No, my name isn’t “Herod,” and neither is yours. But in reality, there is a little Herod in each of us.

Sometimes the only way to understand what something is supposed to be is to see what it is not. I were to define what a good baseball team is, I could answer by saying “not the Seattle Mariners.” This narrative of the death of John the Baptist and the description of Herod as a ruler provides an important contrast between the rule of Herod, and what a Good King is NOT - and the rule of Jesus, and what a Good King IS. Herod’s not-so-great example of Godly Kingship indirectly points us to the gracious and Godly reign and rule of Jesus Christ. He shows us what a gracious King Christ is. For example, Christ associated himself with sinners and outcasts, rather than nobles and other important leaders.

And through Christ’s human nature, he was subject to the sufferings and hardships of humanity. This is most apparent in the garden of Gethsemane where he prays and asks for the cup to be removed from him because he knew the gruesome death of the cross was coming. But even though Christ knew what he was going to face, he still submitted to the will of the Father.

Most importantly, instead of looking to increase himself over the expense of another, Christ gave Himself up so that everyone else would increase. The entire picture of what it means to be a king is flipped on its head through Jesus Christ. On the one hand, there’s Herod, who has his palace, his important friends, and cares more about himself than other people. And on the other hand, there’s Jesus, who was beaten, and mocked and crucified. And his throne was the cross where above him was a sign that read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The king of kings was humiliated so that he could save and redeem His own people.

Jesus certainly could have taken everything for his own glory. He is God and could have ruled over the nations and the world in a way that would be similar to how we as sinful human beings would. And He was even offered that position, by Satan in the wilderness. St. Luke records in his gospel that Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the earth. But Jesus refused. Because, unlike King Herod, that is not how God rules over his people. That is not how Jesus rules over us, His people. (for emphasis)

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ rules graciously over us. So graciously, that he took our place on the cross. We were the ones that deserved that death, but he took our place. Instead of receiving glorification at the expense of another, Jesus humiliated himself so that we, his people would be glorified by his death. That is how faithful God is to us, and to his people. That he would send his only son to die on the cross for the whole world. For a world full of sinful people. That we would receive His righteousness and eternal life.

And because Christ is our Lord, and because he gives us his righteousness, we don’t have to worry about unjust rulers in our lives. Because Jesus showed us that He is the true King. He has not only forgiven us for all the times we have acted unjustly, in his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered all kingdoms – even the kingdoms of sin, death and Satan which are way more powerful than Herod’s kingdom. And all power and authority has been given to Jesus. He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and lives and reigns at the right hand of God. And we know that Jesus is our true King of Kings and LORD of LORDs. So, keep following the true King. And if something or someone tries to get in your way, lift your eyes to the Lord and turn your attention to Him. Spend time in prayer. Read Scripture. Because the Kingdom of His Grace will be sufficient for you today and forevermore.

In Jesus name, Amen.