Losing Your Head for God - Mark 6:14-29
Losing Your Head for God - Mark 6:14-29
By Pastor Lee Hemen
January 24, 2010 AM
It is humorous that when some folks try and share their faith today, they end up endorsing what amounts to neo-paganistic superstition. From walking spiritual mazes to Christian chanting has become the latest in fashionable religious practice in some circles. Quasi forms of spirituality have always been used by those who feel guilt over their lack of sincere faith since the Garden of Eden. Take for instance one recent public service announcement where one starlet grandly announces that she believes in many differing forms of spirituality. What she is tacitly confessing is her lack of any kind of concrete faith. One wonders why. It could be a shallow attempt to excuse a life of ungodliness. Often, those who are caught up in a lack of faith desire to make excuses by trying to convince others that their own brand of spiritual superstition is just as valid as Biblical Christianity.
Here in Mark’s gospel we find the very same kind of thing occurring between John the Baptist and King Herod. We should not be surprised because in the battle of good verses evil there has always existed a tension between those who stand tall for the Lord and those who want to hide behind their superstitions. When God’s people do decide to take a stand for him, they will face persecution by those who become uncomfortable being confronted by their own lack of faith. Let’s look at what occurs when one loses his head for God.
READ: Mark 6:14-29
The activity of Jesus and his disciples had attracted the attention of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. He was not actually a “king” but rather a tetrarch (a ruler of a fourth part of his father’s kingdom) of Galilee and Perea under the auspices of Rome from 4 BC to 39 BC. Herod was not only interested in what Jesus was doing but he also had an odd fixation to John the Baptist. John ends up suffering for his stand of righteousness when Herod’s superstition belies his faith. So, it isn’t surprising that here in Mark’s gospel we discover that in losing your head for God…
I. We find superstition confronted by righteousness! (Vv. 14-16)
1. Godly living makes ungodly people uncomfortable! Interestingly, we discover three popular superstitious opinions about Jesus’ activity: 1) “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead,” 2) that Jesus was “Elijah,” and that 3) Jesus was “a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” Despite other opinions Herod, troubled by his own guilty conscience, remained convinced that Jesus was the man he had beheaded. Herod believed John the Baptist had risen from the dead and was using miraculous powers! Herod’s guilt causes him to confess, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” It is a classic example of superstition being confronted by righteousness. We find the same kind of confusion with the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate’s wife concerning Jesus’ trial: “While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: ‘Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”(Matthew 27:19) Romans put a big emphasis on dreams. We also find superstition later with several of the disciples and “a man named Simon (whom) had practiced sorcery.” Simon believes,
but still holds onto his own greedy superstition, and “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 8:18-19) Peter and John rebuked him and his superstitious faith. We find in Mark that John ultimately loses his head because of Herod’s superstition. It is the sad fact that one can lose their head for God when we find superstition confronted by righteousness.
EXAMPLE: People of Jesus’ day were extremely superstitious, including many of the religious Jews of the time. We would like to think otherwise but we discover this to be true when Jesus confronts his disciples as he walks across the Sea of Galilee and they immediately think he is a ghost. We find it with the disciple Thomas when he offhandedly alludes to the popular mystery religions of the day and Lazarus’ death when he “tells the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’” (John 11:16) Nowadays we find it portrayed in TV shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Whisperer, and Medium which feed people’s superstitious appetites. From New Age mumbo jumbo to apocalyptic scenarios of the earth ending in 2012, we find a smorgasbord of superstition. Interestingly when people’s favorite superstitions are confronted with the gospel truth, folks get angry. People like their superstitions instead of righteousness. John the Baptist found this to be true with Herod. Herod liked John as long as he served to feed his own convoluted superstitions. Tragically, John loses his head when Herod’s superstition is confronted by John’s loud-mouthed righteousness.
Why would normal people with good educations, in good financial situations, and seemingly to have it all in life want to give credence to superstitions? Yet we find this to be true repeatedly, especially today in our world of “easy believism” that if we just think about Jesus we are okay. The reasons for this have not changed from Jesus’ day. In fact, we find that one can lose their head for God when…
II. We find pride confronted by personal sin! (Vv. 17-20)
1. Personal pride often motivates people to continue in and justify their immorality! In kind of a Jezebel vs. Elijah narrative, Mark draws a parallel with John the Baptist and Herodias, Herod’s ungodly and immoral wife. Mark explains that, “For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his Brother Philip's wife, whom he had married.” (Mark 6:17) What had occurred was the fact that John had confronted Herodias’ personal sin and therefore her pride. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian of that era, Herod had first married a daughter of the Arabian king, Aretas IV. Then he became enamored with his half-niece Herodias (daughter of his half-brother, Aristobulus) who was married to Herod’s other half-brother Philip. She divorced Philip and Herod divorced his wife so that they could marry one another. John, being John and a righteous man, continually reminded the people and the ungodly couple of their immoral behavior by repeatedly denouncing their marriage as unlawful and carnal. Which, it was by Jewish standards. We find the same kind of anger in our day when people are confronted with their ungodly standards of living together outside of marriage, divorce, and premarital sex. Pride often pops up when personal sin is confronted. “So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.” However, Herod’s superstition, as we mentioned before, “protected” John. Herod both “feared” and “was greatly puzzled” by John. Herod almost sees John as some kind of mystical talisman. Herodias was under no such delusions. Her anger was directed at John and her pride flared up over the exposure of her personal sin. “Herod’s conflict between his passion for Herodias and his respect for John showed his vacillating moral weakness.” (BKC) We should not therefore be surprised that we could lose our heads when our faith confronts others and exposes their personal sin just as John did!
EXAMPLE: Recently we watched as Tiger Woods’ life and marriage fell apart because of his own personal sin and pride. The politician John Edwards’ marriage has suffered because of his personal sin and pride in trying to cover up an illicit extramarital love affair that resulted in an illegitimate birth. Edwards even tried to get a close friend to say the resulting child of the affair was his instead of Edwards! Edwards refused to tell the truth because of his pride and confess his own sin. The Cardinal’s slugger Mark McGwire tearfully admitted to his personal use of steroids in setting his homerun record, and even more “common folk” can get caught up in the pride of personal sin. Mayumi Heene, a Colorado housewife, admitted that she and her husband Richard faked their son’s runaway hot air balloon flight simply for media attention. Here in Mark, we find Herod’s pride confronted by personal sin and John ends up losing their head over it.
When we read the pages of Scripture, we find that those who stand tall for the Lord are immediately confronted by evil. The same holds true for all great Christian missionaries, preachers, and servants of Jesus Christ. In fact, as soon as we give our lives to Christ, whether we like it or not we become foes to evil. This is what happened with John the Baptist when he lost his head for God. He was confronted by the wily wickedness of a wanton woman. Here, in John’s predicament, we discover that one will lose his head for God…
III. When evil is confronted by sacrifice! (Vv. 21-29)
1. Evil is always vigilant and it never sleeps! Like a lion waiting for its prey, evil always waits for the right time to strike and devour its prey. Here in Mark’s gospel we discover that Herodias did as well: “Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.” (Mark 6:21) Herodias knew Herod would not only be in a good mood, but he would also be forced to go through with whatever plot she concocted because of the audience he had. She is truly the epitome of immorality because she uses Herod’s own lust. She also uses her own daughter Salome to dance suggestively in front of Herod and his male guests. Salome’s skillful and provocative dance pleased Herod so much that it led him to make the girl a grandiose and rather rash offer as a reward. He arrogantly promised her anything she wanted and sealed it with his personal oath: “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” Herod had no kingdom to give and it was all drunken braggadocios on his part. However, he could not back down in front of his men. Being the immature teenager Salome immediately inquires of her wicked stepmother, “What shall I ask for?” The trap was set and sprung, Herodias’ moment had arrived and she knows what she wants. She wants “the head of John the Baptist.” Mark tells us, “The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.” His distress was not deep enough to keep him from an ungodly act: The sacrifice of John. The executioner is called and John’s head is delivered on a platter. Evil seems to have won, however, later when Agrippa, Herod’s brother becomes king, Herod is falsely accused of treason by Agrippa in Rome and both he and Herodias are banished to Lyons in Gaul where they end their days. Evil is rewarded by more evil because a righteous man is sacrificed. In John the Baptist, we find evil being confronted by sacrifice.
EXAMPLE: A statue of a man displayed at the Holocaust Museum, in Israel, many are surprised to find it there. In fact, few have ever heard the tale concerning the person it represents. It is of a Japanese diplomat from WWII named Chiune Sugihara. Consul-General Sugihara was stationed in Kaunas, Lithuania in March of 1939. In July 1940, as the Germans advanced on Lithuania, all diplomats were instructed to leave their embassies. Only a Dutch consul and Sugihara remained behind. The Jews of Kaunas and the surrounding areas were desperate for passports to leave the country, but obtaining visas proved almost impossible. Eventually, they sought help from Sugihara. Seeing their
desperate situation, Sugihara had to probe his conscience. He asked permission from Japan to issue visas three times and was refused. At the end of July, against the expressed commands from his superiors in Tokyo, Sugihara and his wife spent four long weeks writing visas by hand almost day and night, totaling nearly three hundred a day! Of the almost 6,000 Jews with Sugihara visas, most ended up in Kobe, Japan until after the war. Sugihara was a rarity in his country, a Christian, and one who valued human life. He was fond of saying, “I may have to disobey my government, but if I don't I would be disobeying God.” When he was finally ordered out of the country by Japan he literally threw hand-written visas out of the window of the train as he left. Fifty-four years after their decision, Mrs. Sugihara said, “human life is very important, and being virtuous in life is important as well.” This was a decision that would ultimately save the second largest number of Jews in World War II but Sugihara lost everything because of his decision. It is a story about when evil was confronted by sacrifice.
Conclusion:
We find superstition confronted by righteousness; we find pride confronted by personal sin; and we find evil being confronted by sacrifice. John the Baptist’s life and death should encourage all of us to live our lives first and foremost for the glory of God without concern for the consequences. Beware though; you just might lose your head for the Lord!
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission...
By Pastor Lee Hemen
January 24, 2010 AM
It is humorous that when some folks try and share their faith today, they end up endorsing what amounts to neo-paganistic superstition. From walking spiritual mazes to Christian chanting has become the latest in fashionable religious practice in some circles. Quasi forms of spirituality have always been used by those who feel guilt over their lack of sincere faith since the Garden of Eden. Take for instance one recent public service announcement where one starlet grandly announces that she believes in many differing forms of spirituality. What she is tacitly confessing is her lack of any kind of concrete faith. One wonders why. It could be a shallow attempt to excuse a life of ungodliness. Often, those who are caught up in a lack of faith desire to make excuses by trying to convince others that their own brand of spiritual superstition is just as valid as Biblical Christianity.
Here in Mark’s gospel we find the very same kind of thing occurring between John the Baptist and King Herod. We should not be surprised because in the battle of good verses evil there has always existed a tension between those who stand tall for the Lord and those who want to hide behind their superstitions. When God’s people do decide to take a stand for him, they will face persecution by those who become uncomfortable being confronted by their own lack of faith. Let’s look at what occurs when one loses his head for God.
READ: Mark 6:14-29
The activity of Jesus and his disciples had attracted the attention of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. He was not actually a “king” but rather a tetrarch (a ruler of a fourth part of his father’s kingdom) of Galilee and Perea under the auspices of Rome from 4 BC to 39 BC. Herod was not only interested in what Jesus was doing but he also had an odd fixation to John the Baptist. John ends up suffering for his stand of righteousness when Herod’s superstition belies his faith. So, it isn’t surprising that here in Mark’s gospel we discover that in losing your head for God…
I. We find superstition confronted by righteousness! (Vv. 14-16)
1. Godly living makes ungodly people uncomfortable! Interestingly, we discover three popular superstitious opinions about Jesus’ activity: 1) “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead,” 2) that Jesus was “Elijah,” and that 3) Jesus was “a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” Despite other opinions Herod, troubled by his own guilty conscience, remained convinced that Jesus was the man he had beheaded. Herod believed John the Baptist had risen from the dead and was using miraculous powers! Herod’s guilt causes him to confess, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” It is a classic example of superstition being confronted by righteousness. We find the same kind of confusion with the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate’s wife concerning Jesus’ trial: “While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: ‘Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”(Matthew 27:19) Romans put a big emphasis on dreams. We also find superstition later with several of the disciples and “a man named Simon (whom) had practiced sorcery.” Simon believes,
but still holds onto his own greedy superstition, and “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 8:18-19) Peter and John rebuked him and his superstitious faith. We find in Mark that John ultimately loses his head because of Herod’s superstition. It is the sad fact that one can lose their head for God when we find superstition confronted by righteousness.
EXAMPLE: People of Jesus’ day were extremely superstitious, including many of the religious Jews of the time. We would like to think otherwise but we discover this to be true when Jesus confronts his disciples as he walks across the Sea of Galilee and they immediately think he is a ghost. We find it with the disciple Thomas when he offhandedly alludes to the popular mystery religions of the day and Lazarus’ death when he “tells the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’” (John 11:16) Nowadays we find it portrayed in TV shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Whisperer, and Medium which feed people’s superstitious appetites. From New Age mumbo jumbo to apocalyptic scenarios of the earth ending in 2012, we find a smorgasbord of superstition. Interestingly when people’s favorite superstitions are confronted with the gospel truth, folks get angry. People like their superstitions instead of righteousness. John the Baptist found this to be true with Herod. Herod liked John as long as he served to feed his own convoluted superstitions. Tragically, John loses his head when Herod’s superstition is confronted by John’s loud-mouthed righteousness.
Why would normal people with good educations, in good financial situations, and seemingly to have it all in life want to give credence to superstitions? Yet we find this to be true repeatedly, especially today in our world of “easy believism” that if we just think about Jesus we are okay. The reasons for this have not changed from Jesus’ day. In fact, we find that one can lose their head for God when…
II. We find pride confronted by personal sin! (Vv. 17-20)
1. Personal pride often motivates people to continue in and justify their immorality! In kind of a Jezebel vs. Elijah narrative, Mark draws a parallel with John the Baptist and Herodias, Herod’s ungodly and immoral wife. Mark explains that, “For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his Brother Philip's wife, whom he had married.” (Mark 6:17) What had occurred was the fact that John had confronted Herodias’ personal sin and therefore her pride. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian of that era, Herod had first married a daughter of the Arabian king, Aretas IV. Then he became enamored with his half-niece Herodias (daughter of his half-brother, Aristobulus) who was married to Herod’s other half-brother Philip. She divorced Philip and Herod divorced his wife so that they could marry one another. John, being John and a righteous man, continually reminded the people and the ungodly couple of their immoral behavior by repeatedly denouncing their marriage as unlawful and carnal. Which, it was by Jewish standards. We find the same kind of anger in our day when people are confronted with their ungodly standards of living together outside of marriage, divorce, and premarital sex. Pride often pops up when personal sin is confronted. “So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.” However, Herod’s superstition, as we mentioned before, “protected” John. Herod both “feared” and “was greatly puzzled” by John. Herod almost sees John as some kind of mystical talisman. Herodias was under no such delusions. Her anger was directed at John and her pride flared up over the exposure of her personal sin. “Herod’s conflict between his passion for Herodias and his respect for John showed his vacillating moral weakness.” (BKC) We should not therefore be surprised that we could lose our heads when our faith confronts others and exposes their personal sin just as John did!
EXAMPLE: Recently we watched as Tiger Woods’ life and marriage fell apart because of his own personal sin and pride. The politician John Edwards’ marriage has suffered because of his personal sin and pride in trying to cover up an illicit extramarital love affair that resulted in an illegitimate birth. Edwards even tried to get a close friend to say the resulting child of the affair was his instead of Edwards! Edwards refused to tell the truth because of his pride and confess his own sin. The Cardinal’s slugger Mark McGwire tearfully admitted to his personal use of steroids in setting his homerun record, and even more “common folk” can get caught up in the pride of personal sin. Mayumi Heene, a Colorado housewife, admitted that she and her husband Richard faked their son’s runaway hot air balloon flight simply for media attention. Here in Mark, we find Herod’s pride confronted by personal sin and John ends up losing their head over it.
When we read the pages of Scripture, we find that those who stand tall for the Lord are immediately confronted by evil. The same holds true for all great Christian missionaries, preachers, and servants of Jesus Christ. In fact, as soon as we give our lives to Christ, whether we like it or not we become foes to evil. This is what happened with John the Baptist when he lost his head for God. He was confronted by the wily wickedness of a wanton woman. Here, in John’s predicament, we discover that one will lose his head for God…
III. When evil is confronted by sacrifice! (Vv. 21-29)
1. Evil is always vigilant and it never sleeps! Like a lion waiting for its prey, evil always waits for the right time to strike and devour its prey. Here in Mark’s gospel we discover that Herodias did as well: “Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.” (Mark 6:21) Herodias knew Herod would not only be in a good mood, but he would also be forced to go through with whatever plot she concocted because of the audience he had. She is truly the epitome of immorality because she uses Herod’s own lust. She also uses her own daughter Salome to dance suggestively in front of Herod and his male guests. Salome’s skillful and provocative dance pleased Herod so much that it led him to make the girl a grandiose and rather rash offer as a reward. He arrogantly promised her anything she wanted and sealed it with his personal oath: “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” Herod had no kingdom to give and it was all drunken braggadocios on his part. However, he could not back down in front of his men. Being the immature teenager Salome immediately inquires of her wicked stepmother, “What shall I ask for?” The trap was set and sprung, Herodias’ moment had arrived and she knows what she wants. She wants “the head of John the Baptist.” Mark tells us, “The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.” His distress was not deep enough to keep him from an ungodly act: The sacrifice of John. The executioner is called and John’s head is delivered on a platter. Evil seems to have won, however, later when Agrippa, Herod’s brother becomes king, Herod is falsely accused of treason by Agrippa in Rome and both he and Herodias are banished to Lyons in Gaul where they end their days. Evil is rewarded by more evil because a righteous man is sacrificed. In John the Baptist, we find evil being confronted by sacrifice.
EXAMPLE: A statue of a man displayed at the Holocaust Museum, in Israel, many are surprised to find it there. In fact, few have ever heard the tale concerning the person it represents. It is of a Japanese diplomat from WWII named Chiune Sugihara. Consul-General Sugihara was stationed in Kaunas, Lithuania in March of 1939. In July 1940, as the Germans advanced on Lithuania, all diplomats were instructed to leave their embassies. Only a Dutch consul and Sugihara remained behind. The Jews of Kaunas and the surrounding areas were desperate for passports to leave the country, but obtaining visas proved almost impossible. Eventually, they sought help from Sugihara. Seeing their
desperate situation, Sugihara had to probe his conscience. He asked permission from Japan to issue visas three times and was refused. At the end of July, against the expressed commands from his superiors in Tokyo, Sugihara and his wife spent four long weeks writing visas by hand almost day and night, totaling nearly three hundred a day! Of the almost 6,000 Jews with Sugihara visas, most ended up in Kobe, Japan until after the war. Sugihara was a rarity in his country, a Christian, and one who valued human life. He was fond of saying, “I may have to disobey my government, but if I don't I would be disobeying God.” When he was finally ordered out of the country by Japan he literally threw hand-written visas out of the window of the train as he left. Fifty-four years after their decision, Mrs. Sugihara said, “human life is very important, and being virtuous in life is important as well.” This was a decision that would ultimately save the second largest number of Jews in World War II but Sugihara lost everything because of his decision. It is a story about when evil was confronted by sacrifice.
Conclusion:
We find superstition confronted by righteousness; we find pride confronted by personal sin; and we find evil being confronted by sacrifice. John the Baptist’s life and death should encourage all of us to live our lives first and foremost for the glory of God without concern for the consequences. Beware though; you just might lose your head for the Lord!
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission...
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