Read Mark 6:14–29
Questions from the Scripture text: Whom did Herod think Jesus was (Mark 6:14)? What had Herod done to him (Mark 6:16)? What had John the Baptizer said to Herod (Mark 6:18)? Who wanted to kill him for that (Mark 6:19)? Why couldn’t she (Mark 6:20)? What had Herodias done to please Herod (Mark 6:22)? What did He swear to her (Mark 6:23)? Whom did she ask for advice about what to ask for from Herod (Mark 6:24)? What did Herodias ask for (Mark 6:25)? How did the king feel about this (Mark 6:26)? But what did he do and why (verse 26)? What had John’s disciples done with the body (Mark 6:29)?
What may happen to faithful servants? Mark 6:14–29 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that faithful servants of Christ may, in this life, find themselves brutally and treacherously murdered.
The way we get the account of John’s beheading is by a sort of flashback, in which we are learning why Herod might think that Jesus was actually John the Baptizer, resurrected. Herod had a strange esteem for John. He didn’t lie and pretend in order to try to get the king to like him. He told it like it is. “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18). Herod knew him to be just and holy (Mark 6:20). Obviously, something about John’s character had struck a chord with Herod that he could think that Jesus was John, resurrected back to life.
It also seems that his disciples’ earnestness to retrieve and bury the body—even without a head!—had left an impression upon Herod (Mark 6:28), so that he now thought that John had risen. Burial is a way of saying, “he’s not done with this; we expect resurrection.” Christ’s burial was the same way: an expectation of resurrection. And I hope that your burial will be as well, dear Christian.
So Herod was impressed with John. This wasn’t a faker. This was a just man, an upstanding man, a righteous man, a holy man. In fact, Mark 6:20 tells us that Herod did many things to protect John, and that he heard him gladly. That should be terrifying. How few of us “would do many things” in order to “hear gladly” a faithful preacher, who isn’t afraid of offending us with the truths of God’s Word?
On the one hand, many of us will have to admit to being less zealous to hear faithful preaching than Herod!! On the other hand, even those with this zeal may fall into great wickedness. Let us beware of worldly pleasure such as feasting our eyeballs upon a dancing girl. Guard the eye-gates of your hearts, men!
And let us beware of pride similar to that, in which a man could be so impressed with himself and his property, that he considers it half-disposable. Let us beware of its evil twin, immodesty, in which a man makes display of himself by grandiose gifts and rash vows. The presence of his guests contributed to his ordering this horrific act (Mark 6:26).
Finally, as this passage interrupts the successful mission of the disciples, let us see here that the Lord’s servants may suffer brutal execution, even in the midst of the advance of the kingdom. Even if we were holy, just, and effective as John, we ought to entrust ourselves to the providence of God, knowing that such things happen to faithful servants in this life.
How can you strengthen yourself against peer pressure? In what situations are you in danger of lust entering your heart through the eye-gate? What have you suffered, as a faithful servant of Christ? What might you yet suffer?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for the grace by which You keep men like John faithful. Forgive us for how we have been like Herod: self-indulgent, lustful, proud, and ready to do evil out of the fear of men. Forgive us also for how we have expected more comfortable providence than John endured. Grant that we would keep ourselves pure, and that we would be confident in the coming of Your kingdom, we ask through Christ, AMEN.
Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH509 “Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me”
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