“True to God’s Word” Mount Olive Lutheran Church Season Of Pentecost Sunday Sermon July 14, 2024 – Mark 6:14–29

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday July 14th 2024: Season of Pentecost / Mark 6:14–29 “True to God’s Word”

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends. If it worked once maybe it’ll work again. Last week, reading through the entire Gospel of Saint Mark with the young campers at Camp Lutherland, something stood out that would seldom be noticed if you were only reading through the Gospel in bits and pieces. When you read through the whole thing over a couple days the connections between events start to become more clear. Today we’ll look at some parallels and differences that present themselves related to John the Baptiser and Jesus’ public ministries, their arrests and their deaths; and what that means for you in your Christian life regarding what you think, say and do.   

Not long after Jesus was baptised by John the Baptiser in the Jordan River, John was arrested by King Herod, Saint Mark tells us this near the very beginning of his Gospel but at first Mark doesn’t say why John is arrested, Saint Mark simply says, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”[1] Both John and Jesus were involved in this work. Now calling someone to repentance involves exposing how they are breaking God’s Law and then in no uncertain terms laying out how they are to turn away from their sin and selfish behaviour back to God, back to the earnest desire to follow God’s Law to His glory for the good and benefit of their neighbour. A call to repentance doesn’t leave people wallowing in their sin, it’s an invitation to receive forgiveness and do something about it. The highly regarded John the Baptiser was doing this with everyone who came to see him down by the river, so much so that they believed John to be a prophet like the prophets of the Old Testament, and this was also what Jesus was doing everywhere Jesus traveled in Judea and Galilee. Jesus and John were not in competition with each other; John pointed to the coming Christ, Jesus was is and ever shall be that promised Christ that John was pointing to. They had both become well regarded with most everyone in the land, but not with everyone.

Last week I mentioned that calling people to repentance is a difficult task; because everyone doesn’t willing receive admonishment or correction, everyone doesn’t willing receive godly advice when it is given, at first people don’t always appreciate being called out on their sins. John calling people to repentance eventually got him arrested and in today’s reading we find out why. It was John the Baptiser publicly calling out King Herod and his illegitimate wife Herodias regarding their unlawful relationship that got John arrested.

Listening carefully to the Gospel you may have noticed the conflicted nature of King Herod. On the one hand Herod was open to listening to what John said, while on the other hand Herodias held a grudge against John the Baptiser and wanted to put John to death, so it appears that Herod’s compromise was to arrest John, presumably this would at least keep John out of the public eye and hopefully keep him from pointing out their sins publicly and who knows maybe it would all bow over given some time. But it didn’t. Saint Mark in our Gospel provides evidence that Herodias’ heart did not soften towards John and her desire to have him dead was worth the promise of up to half of everything Herod owned, half of his crown, half of his authority and might: How badly she wanted John the Baptiser dead and all because she and Herod had been called out publicly for their sin of not following God’s design for marriage.   

If it worked once maybe it’ll work again.

John the Baptiser was not the only one who was well regarded by the people and yet had gained some influential enemies. Jesus’ public teaching and preaching had gotten under the skin of prominent and powerful individuals who thought it was their work to run the religious life of the people. So, after calling His Twelve disciples, after casting out demons, healing the sick, even those with leprosy, after forgiving sins and healing a paralytic man and confronting the Pharisees concerning the nature and purpose of fasting and the prescribed Sabbath Day of rest Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath Day and the Pharisees who at fist were perplexed with Jesus shift gears “and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against [Jesus to conspire as to] how to destroy Him.”[2] Remember by this point John was already arrested, he was under lock and key in King Herod’s prison perhaps they could get both John and Jesus locked up. The Herodians were political hangers-on, members of King Herod’s court, or at least they would be men close to Herod who supported him. If John the Baptiser’s public admonishment of Herod and Herodias was enough to arrest John, and once arrested and vulnerable it was enough to lead to John’s death and his head on a platter, thanks to Herodias’ daughter, then maybe lightning could strike twice with this Jesus. The pressure certainly would have been pushed to the breaking point for these men when news of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead[3] spread to them and Jesus started sending out His disciples two by two to also proclaim that people should repent, to cast out demons to anoint the sick with oil and heal them.[4]

When news of Jesus’ miracles and preaching and teaching had reached Herod, Saint Mark tells us Herod was concerned that John was, in some way, back from the dead. This was not the case, John’s head was still severed from his body, but as far as the Herodians and the Pharisees were concerned this concern expressed by Herod could certainly be useful to them. Jesus was aware of these enemies and had “cautioned [His disciples about these men], saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”[5]         

So with John’s mouth silenced, with John beheaded, dead and buried[6] the Pharisees, who had previously been conspiring and plotting with the Herodians about how they could destroy Jesus, came up and in order to test Jesus asking Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”[7] With a careful reading of the Gospel, watching for how all the movers and shakers fit together and how events begin to stack up as everything unfolds; it quickly becomes apparent that this is not a genuine question. This is not some random question of concern, this is a trap. The Pharisees backed by the Herodians would be happy if what Jesus said next warranted Jesus’ arrest and then who knows perhaps a fait not unlike John the Baptiser’s fait. However what Jesus said next threaded the needle and anyone with ears to hear could see that Jesus was providing commentary on Herod and Herodias’ sham marriage, and not just their sham marriage but all sexual unions built on illegitimate grounds, on all such public relationships rooted in selfish and callous desires. Knowing the Pharisees love of Moses and yet knowing their misunderstanding of Moses Jesus answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”[8] With that answered lightning didn’t strike twice, Jesus was not arrested that day and the Pharisees backed by the Herodians would have went away to plot a different approach to bringing down Jesus.

Saint Mark explains that after this interchange between Jesus and the Pharisees the disciples asked Jesus again about this matter. And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”[9] This perfectly describes what was going on with Herod and Herodias. Herod had divorced his first wife, a Nabatean princess,[10] in favour of Herodias, who had formerly been married to Herod’s half-brother Philip.[11] It appears that Herod and Herodias were in cahoots to ditch their spouses for each other, this kind of co-ordinated and orchestrated divorce for the purpose of remarriage is a sin and it falls first under the 10th Commandment where we are taught that “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife,” and that “we should fear and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbour’s wife … or turn them against [their husband], but urge them to stay and do their duty [in their marriage].”[12] If it was Herodias’s idea that she and Herod should divorce each others spouses and marry each other then Herod should have shut it down, and the same thing if it was Herod’s idea, Herodias should have shut it down. This is not about remarriage after a legitimate divorce which came as a result of adultery or abandonment or abuse. This is not about a legitimately divorced man marrying a widow or a widower marrying a legitimately divorced woman. Both John the Baptiser and Jesus the Christ address this evil as a form of sin that leads to adultery and they do so appealing to Scripture and the Law of God found in its pages.

How often have you side stepped conversations concerning God pleasing marriage entirely, changing the topic completely to keep the peace in the family, for fear of possible estrangement and the sad prospect of maybe not seeing your children or grandkids. Have you turned a blind eye to family members perpetually living with their boyfriend or girlfriend with no plan for marriage? Have you become comfortable with their common-law status rarely even praying for the day they would receive the blessing of the Lord in His house over their union? Have you started referring to their boyfriend or girlfriend as their ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ when they are not? Do you say, “I can’t tell them what to do they’re adults” and thereby you wash your hands of their sin? Have you placed family on a pedestal over above God, are you unwilling to find your head on a platter simply for opening your mouth and speaking the truth? Remember not speaking up, not encouraging with the truth of God’s Word is as much a sin as barring false witness. This is what is called a sin of omission. Have you been guilty of this, are you in need of repentance, will hearing this make you want to rather put the preachers head on a platter, will hearing this make you want to crucify the one who confronted you on it? There is forgiveness for these sins; do you not think that Jesus died for these sins? He did, for these and for more. If you’re committing them or you’re aiding and abiding them this is your call to repent and change course, to return to the Lord your God and to remember that He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.[13] Dear ones, for your part, in the face of public pressure to conform to the Worlds acceptance of public sexual sins, be steadfast, hold on to what the Word of God teaches about these things don’t be silent.       

Now Jesus was under arrest and imprisoned for a much shorter period of time than John the Baptiser was. When compared to John the Baptiser Jesus’ time of incarnation was short, less than twenty four hours leading to His Good Friday Crucifixion, and in that incarceration no one was trying to keep Him safe as was the case with John, yet when compared to John Jesus’ death was much more public and humiliating, more painful and excruciating. John’s head was snicked from his shoulders swiftly and quickly, Jesus’ head was beaten and crowned with thorns and lead up to Calvary, to Mount Golgotha. Ultimately it was accusations regarding the words Jesus and John spoke that contributed to their deaths, they would not back down from God’s Word, they would not stay silent in the face of sin and evil. Here it’s important to point out that John the Baptiser’s martyrdom did not atone for your sins, John went to his death with only his own sins on his head Jesus went to His death with no sins of His own upon His head but because of His love for you Jesus was nailed to the cross with every one of your sins upon His sacred head.[14] John the Baptiser did not walk out of his grave three days after his death as Herod feared but Jesus did rise from the dead. This resurrection from the dead on that first Easter Morning now becomes the promise of the resurrection of the body for you and for John the Baptiser.

As you consider what is your head worth to you, as you think about what your life is worth to you remember what Jesus teaches us as Christians after John’s death and leading into the death He knew He was going to face at the cross, “calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, Jesus said to them, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”[15] This promise is as much for John the Baptiser as it is for you. Then Jesus continues giving a warning that is as much for Herod and Herodias as it is for you and me, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”[16] Jesus was willing to suffer all even the humiliation of death on the cross in order to save you, the fear of death or public condemnation did not stop Him from speaking the truth, for his part John the Baptiser was willing to suffer death in order to be true to God’s Word, you therefore can be encouraged to do the same. Does it mean that every time you call someone to repentance you will face death? No, yet when you do you will always be faithful to the one who is ever faithful to you, Christ Jesus your Lord. Amen.    

Let us pray: Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Mark 1:14–15
[2] Mark 3:6
[3] Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
[4] Mark 6:12–13
[5] Mark 8:15
[6] Mark 6:29
[7] Mark 10:2
[8] Mark 10:3–9
[9] Mark 10:10–12
[10] Phasa'el daughter of King Aretas IV Philopatris
[11] Herod Philip II (27 BC – 33/34 AD), both he and Herod Antipas (20 BC – 39 AD) were sons of Herod the Great (72 BC – 4 BC) who was King when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
[12] The 10th Commandment, Luther’s Small Catechism, Concordia Publishing House 2017, Page 15.
[13] Psalm 145:8
[14] 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
[15] Mark 8:34–35
[16] Mark 8:36–38

Photo Credit: Massimo Stanzione - Beheading of St John the Baptist from wikimedia commons.