Last week we heard what the people of Nazareth thought of Jesus. They were astonished and amazed by him, but not in a good way. They rejected him, to Jesus' own amazement. Now Mark tells us what King Herod thinks about Jesus. This is the Herod Antipas, who is the son of Herod the Great – and it was Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when he slaughtered the children of Bethlehem. It was also the same Herod here, Antipas, who was in Jerusalem and before whom Jesus stood on trial. So the mention of the Herod name gets us thinking both backward and forward in the New Testament witness.
Herod has
heard of Jesus. Word of Jesus must have been all the talk. The miracles that
Jesus performed – well, Herod reasoned in his superstition that Jesus was John
the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him. And the message of Jesus was
similar to the message of John the Baptist – repent, and believe! And so Mark
gives us a flashback scene – and tells us what led up to this when it comes to
John and Herod.
The story is
kind of disturbing, isn't it? Especially when you have to teach it to children.
It's kind of grizzly. But if you can get past that part of it, you might still
wonder why Mark, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would tell us such a story.
It would
make a pretty depressing movie, I think. There's no happy ending in which the
little guy is vindicated. John, this nobody from nowhere, who had given up the
creature comforts of life to live in the wilderness – John, a voice crying in
that wilderness – whose message was growing and commanding attention. People
were responding in droves, as the Pharisees commented, “all of Judea is going
to him!” And John, the voice of accusation toward Herod – learns that calling
out the king's sin is dangerous business. I guess today some would call it,
“speaking truth to power”.
“Herod you
married your brother's sister! Repent!” And if it bothered Herod, it REALLY
burned his adulterous wife, Herodias. She wanted this voice silenced. She
wanted John out of the picture. And so she had Herod arrest him. Oh, she wanted
him dead, too... but Herod feared to go that far. For he knew, somehow, that
John was a righteous man.
The
conscience is a funny thing, isn't it? You see it in action here with both
Herod and Herodias. Both of them were sinners, just like the rest of us. Their
sin just happened to be more public. But that didn't stop John from speaking
the law to them, from calling a sin a sin. But who likes their dirty laundry
aired out for all to see?
Imagine a
modern day parallel scenario in which a pastor has to call out someone's sin
(however gently, even). Perhaps a couple wants to get married, but has been
living in sin together, and everyone knows it. And the faithful pastor tells
them this is wrong, this breaks the sixth commandment, this dishonors God's
gift of marriage. Ah, but this couple - they're ok with the pastor addressing
sin in general but not getting too specific. They're ok when it's someone
else's sin. When the pastor rails on the sins of the secular, godless world.
But don't point to my sin. Don't shine the light on me! If you've been around
churches long enough you know this sort of thing happens, and it doesn't always
end with repentance and restoration as we hope.
Or the older
person who needs a word of correction about their habit of gossip. Or the
person whose attendance or giving hasn't been what it should. Or the person
who's ok with most of what the Bible teaches, but still wants to hold this or
that teaching at arm's length.
But, hey,
don't kill the messenger! When a prophet, or now a pastor, speaks and warns you
of sin, calls you to repentance, it's not to be a self-righteous so-and-so or
an old-fashioned meanie-pants. This is for your own good. It's the fate of your
soul that hangs in the balance. Luther once advised preachers to preach the law
in such a way that your people will either hate their sin, or hate you. We want you to turn from sin, be forgiven,
and live! We want your conscience to be clear and clean, and your spirit
renewed. And we pastors need to continually hear these same words of law and
gospel that we preach!
Herodias had
probably already silenced her own conscience, but she couldn't quite silence
John's mouth. Herod seemed to be going back and forth, caught between Herodias
and his own conscience. So he compromised and locked John in the dungeon. But
this wasn't good enough for Herodias. She wanted full and complete victory over
the voice of the law. So she waited for her chance, and she used her own
daughter in part of her scheme. And she tricked the king, and got what she
wanted. John's head on a platter.
And look how
this story also shows us, that sin often ensnares other people into its nasty
web. So here, adulterous Herodias even puts her daughter on shameless display
to get her way. She uses her to commit murder, and drags her down with her. Sin
is contagious and infectious, and it always has been, ever since Eve said, “I
gave some also to my husband, and he ate”. You may think your sin is your own
business, but you may not see how it affects others. And Jesus warns us harshly
about those who cause little ones to sin – it would be better to have a
millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea.
You can kill
the messenger, Herodias, but the message remains. The word of the Lord endures
forever. You can quiet and muffle your conscience, you can surround yourself
with people who will either mind their own business or even celebrate your
sinful ways. But it doesn't change the verdict. Just has Herod was afraid Jesus
was John come back to haunt him – our sins can still haunt us, even from years
and years ago.
I remember
one older gentleman who was dying, and made a special point to confess to his
pastor what he called, “the sins of his youth”, things he had done some 60
years ago. It was ancient history. But not to him. They say time heals all
wounds, but the wounded and stricken conscience is another story. David spoke
similarly, “I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.” Paul wrestled
with the evil he hated, but found himself doing anyway. “What a wretched man!”
he called himself.
No, there's
only one way to a truly clean and clear conscience, and it's not by killing the
messenger. It's not by twisting or re-writing the law. It's not by ignoring it.
The only way is forgiveness, and that forgiveness is only through Christ.
John was the
fore-runner of Christ. The last of the prophets who got what prophets so often
did for their work – death. Jesus called it “a prophet's reward”. From an
earthly view, John's story wasn't a happy ending at all. But the spiritual
reality is greater. John was the fore-runner of Christ, both in preaching
repentance and faith, both in bringing a baptism for the forgiveness of sins,
and also in suffering and even dying at the hands of the wicked and powerful.
But while John was the greatest man ever born among men, he wasn't worthy to
untie Jesus' sandal. While John died in faith, for faithfully preaching the
word of God, Jesus died for much more.
You see, in
the cross, Jesus accomplishes the forgiveness of all sins. And yes, that
includes your deep, dark sins. It includes the sins of your youth and the sins
of this minute. It includes the sins that would shame you before men, and the
sins that only your conscience knows. It even includes those sins that God only
knows. While John's head was brought as a trophy on a platter for Herod, Jesus'
cross stands as a symbol of God's love and mercy for the world.
And while
Herod superstitiously feared that John had risen from the dead and appeared
again as Jesus – we know that Jesus really DID rise from the dead, and appeared
to his disciples. But Jesus doesn't come back to haunt us, or to throw sin back
in our face. He conquers death for us. To show us his word is true. To
vindicate his sacrifice as acceptable to God. And to give us a preview of the
resurrection that awaits us – life beyond death for all his people. When he
appears to his disciples the first words out of his mouth are not, “Why did you
leave me when I needed you the most?” or, “Peter, how could you deny me?”. The
first words are, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus brings
peace to the troubled, sore and weary conscience. He brings rest to those who
would labor to earn their own way to God. He brings hope to those in the
despair of a life that is a trail of sin's destruction.
And so, yes,
John the Baptist lives, even though he died. And one day John will rise bodily
with all the other believers, and with you, dear Christian, in the real ending
of the story. For though you die, yet shall you live. Though your sins were as
black as death, Jesus makes them white as snow. Though you face death all day
long, Jesus wins you the crown of life. For Jesus is a live, and because he
lives, we live. Because he declared “it is finished!”, sin really is finished,
and death has no future.
Go in his
peace. Amen.
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