Mark 6:14-32, “Herod Believes John The Baptist Has
Risen From The Dead / Jesus Debriefs The Twelve After Their Missions Trip”
By
1.
INTRO:
2.
In our last study, we looked at verses 1-13 of chapter 6 of Mark.
2.1.
We saw in that
story that Jesus went back to the city of
2.2.
We also discussed
Jesus sending His disciples out on an intern mission’s trip to preach the
gospel, cast out demons, and heal the sick.
We saw that this was part of their training, and we looked closely at
the instructions that Jesus gave to His disciples before sending them out,
because these instructions had many lessons we need to learn.
3.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verse 14-32 of chapter 6 of Mark.
3.1.
We will look first
at this very interesting and sordid story of king Herod who because of a guilty
conscience is superstitious when He hears stories about Jesus and the things He
was doing, and he believes that John the Baptist whom he had had murdered, has
risen from the dead.
3.2.
We will look at
the progression that sin takes in a person’s life and see lessons that we can
learn from this very disturbed man’s life.
We will see that Herod’s conscience cannot be quieted and that he acts
very superstitiously when he hears of Jesus and the rumor that Jesus might be
John the Baptist (whom he had beheaded) risen from the dead. We will look ahead at Herod’s life from later
on in the gospels when he interviews Jesus, after His arrest, and we will see
that Herod’s conscience cannot be quieted until a point in time in the future
when God gives him over to a depraved mind.
3.3.
We will look at
how Jesus debriefs the twelve when they return from the short-term mission trip
that they took. We will see how that
they recount everything that had happened to Jesus, and we will discuss the
things Jesus said to them, and also the things He did for them.
4.
VS 6:14-16 - “14 And King Herod heard of it, for
His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the
Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at
work in Him.” 15 But others were saying,
“He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of
the prophets of old.” 16
But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded,
has risen!”” – When reports about the
incredible miracles that Jesus was performing had spread out people wondered if
John the Baptist had risen from the dead, and when Herod hears these rumors he
is scared to death that John, whom he had beheaded, has risen from the dead
4.1.
Rumors about the
works of Jesus had spread far and wide at this point in time, and people were
trying to explain the things that Jesus had been doing. Some of the popular rumors were that Jesus
was a ‘prophet’ and perhaps that he was ‘Elijah’ whom Malachi
(Mal. 4:5) had prophesied was to come in the future, or perhaps Jeremiah, as
Matthew recorded (see Matt. 16:14), or the prophet to come that Moses spoke of
(see Jn. 1:21). One rumor was that Jesus
was John the Baptist resurrected, as John had become well known and was
considered by the common people to be a great prophet.
4.2.
The Herod in our
story today is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, and he is the
tetrarch (quarter ruler) of
4.3.
The New Bible
Dictionary includes this also about Herod Antipas:
‘Herod
the tetrarch’ (Lk. 3:19, etc.), who bore the distinctive name of
Antipas. He was Herod’s younger son by Malthace, and inherited the Galilean and
Peraean portions of his father’s kingdom. In the Gospels he is conspicuous
chiefly for his part in the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist (Mk.
6:14–28) and for his brief encounter with Jesus when the latter was sent to him
by Pilate for judgment (Lk. 23:7ff.). Jesus is recorded as having once
described him as ‘that fox’ (Lk. 13:31f.). He was the ablest of Herod’s sons,
and like his father was a great builder; the city of
4.4.
The Wycliff Bible
Commentary says the following about the scandalous marriages of the Herods: “The
marital relationships of the Herods were scandalous. Herodias was the wife of
her half-uncle, Herod Philip I, but she left him to marry another half-uncle
his brother, Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was already married to the daughter
of Aretas, king of Arabia, but he sent this wife away.”
4.5.
So, our story
today is a story about what a guilty conscience does in a person’s life. Herod is a man who is haunted because of a
terrible sin that he committed in calling for the murder of an innocent man,
and his conscience cannot be quieted.
But, the man he killed, John the Baptist, was not just any man. He was a great man, just as Jesus testified
of him: Matthew 11:11, “11 Truly I say to
you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than
John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he.”
It was an angel of the Lord in Luke 1:17 who testified to Zacharias of
the son who was to be born to his wife Elizabeth in their old age, that he
would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. Malachi had testified that Elijah would
return before the great day of the Lord, and Jesus testified that John the
Baptist was Elijah (not literally but spirit and power of Elijah). Herod picked the wrong man to murder for now
he was haunted by what he had done, and he was fearful of the future.
4.6.
There are many
novels that have been written and movies filmed that detail what a guilty
conscience does to a person. I read “Crime
And Punishment” by Dosteyvski, for instance, when I was in high school, and
it is a story about a young man who commits a horrible axe murder and then is
hounded by his conscience the rest of his life, and this guilty conscience
eventually leads him to a completely self-destructive lifestyle.
4.7.
A person’s guilty
conscience cannot be quieted until they either allow Christ to forgive their
sins and wash their conscience clean, or that tragic day when the Lord gives
them over to their life of sin and a depraved mind. We read about how this progression in sin
occurs in a person’s life in a few places in the scripture, including:
4.7.1. Psalm 81:8-14, “8 Hear, O My people, and I will
admonish you; O
4.7.2. Romans 1:20-26, “20 For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they
are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew
God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in
their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God
for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed
animals and crawling creatures. 24
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so
that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions…” Paul then goes on in this Romans passage to
describe the horrible sins that people commit who have been turned over by God
to the lusts of their flesh.
4.7.3. Paul wrote to pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 about
people whose conscience was seared over as with a branding iron, “1 But the Spirit explicitly
says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention
to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience
as with a branding iron.”
4.8.
In the gospels,
we see this tragic progression of sin in the life of Herod. Initially, Herod enjoyed hearing John the
Baptist preach, but then he refused to repent of his sins as John called him to
do. Then, when John rebuked Herod for
having his brother’s wife, instead of repenting, and at his wife’s urging, he
had John locked up. Still Herod liked
hearing John preach, and he feared John because he knew John was a righteous
and holy man. But, he continued to
harden his heart to the Lord and had John beheaded when Herodia’s daughter had
danced erotically before him and his friends and then asked for John’s head
after he promised to grant her any wish up to half of his kingdom. Later, we see in Luke chapter 23 that Jesus
is arrested and brought before Pontius Pilate, and then when Pilate realizes
that Jesus belongs to Herod’s jurisdiction and Herod is in Jerusalem (again
this is Herod Antipas), Pilate sends Jesus to Herod to be interrogated. Herod initially is happy to see Jesus because
he had wanted to see Jesus perform some miracle, yet we see in Luke 23:11 that
he treated Jesus with contempt and mocked Him and sent Him back to Pilate after
putting a gorgeous robe on Him.
Tragically, Herod’s heart is completely hardened to and by God at this
point in time, and he has a seared conscience and depraved mind.
5.
VS 6:17-29 - “17 For Herod himself had sent and
had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his
brother Philip, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not
lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to
put him to death and could not do so; 20 for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was
a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was
very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. 21 A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday
gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of
Galilee; 22 and when the daughter of
Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests;
and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it
to you.” 23 And he swore to her,
“Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “What
shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and
asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a
platter.” 26 And although the king was
very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests,
he was unwilling to refuse her. 27
Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back
his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison, 28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to
the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about this, they
came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.” – Mark tells us the story of how though Herod had enjoyed hearing John
the Baptist preach but after John had condemned him for his adulterous
marriage, he imprisoned him for this, then, when his wife’s daughter had
performed a sensual dance before him and his friends and he had promised her
any request she might have, that she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a
platter, and, he granted her this wish
5.1.
We see in our
story that Herod had the highest class of people brought to him for an evening
of wining and dining, ‘his lords and military commanders and the leading men of
5.2.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary says the following about where John was imprisoned by
Herod, “according to Josephus, this prison was at the fortress-palace of
Machaerus near the northeastern shore of the
5.3.
Wycliff’s Bible
Commentary says, “Herod’s palace at Machaerus was also a fortress and as
such would have contained a prison. Thus the execution scene was not far
removed from the banquet room. It
appears that Salome remained in the dining hall until John had been executed
and they brought his head to her. The apparent calmness with which she
made the request and then carried the gory dish to her mother is
indicative of the calloused nature of the girl.”
5.4.
In these verses
we get a glimpse into the character of this king named Herod, Herod
Antipas. Herod was a man who if he were
not married to the woman he married (Herodias) he might have become one of
God’s people and served the Lord. Herod
enjoyed John’s preaching but was ‘perplexed’ with a moral choice when it
came to obeying John’s charge to repent of his sins and turn his life over to
God. He was conflicted and being pulled
by God and Satan in two different directions.
Because of his lusts, Herod married the wrong woman, and when this wife
of Herod’s had heard that John the Baptist had condemned her for her adultery
with Herod Antipas, she ‘held a grudge’ against John and determined to
try to put John to death. Herod was
influenced in an ungodly way by Herodias and as a result hardened his heart
against the Lord and allowed this wicked plot to be carried out in murdering
John the Baptist.
5.5.
This hardening of
his heart against the Lord by Herod is a consequence of his sinning in not
repenting at the preaching of John the Baptist.
In the thirty-second chapter of Numbers, verse twenty-three, when Moses
is telling the children after they had crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness
and getting ready to cross over into the promised land, he warns them that if
they didn’t go into the land and conquer all of their enemies that they were to
“be sure and know that their sins would find them out’. Whenever we who are Christians allow
compromise and sin into our lives, we too will find that our sins will find us
out. We will suffer huge consequences
for our sins, just as the scripture promises will happen to us whenever we sin:
Colossians 3:25, “25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of
the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.”
5.6.
Today, even amongst
those who claim to be Christians there is such a tendency to compromise with
the world and allow sin to dominate.
Many of those who claim to be Christians live their lives contrary to
what the scripture says we are to live, and they have no burning desire to live
a life that is pleasing to God in all that they do. I think that within the churches there are
very few who truly are saved, for becoming a Christian means that your
lifestyle and choices are going to change.
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 7:13-14 that the gate that leads to
eternal life is narrow with few on that path, and, one must strive to enter
into it, “13 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is
wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter
through it. 14 “For the gate
is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find
it.”
5.6.1. Oh Christian, I ask you today if there are things in
your life that you know from God’s word are not pleasing to God, yet you are
not willing to repent of those things?
If this is the case, I want to warn you that you too are hardening your
heart towards the Lord, and this is a very dangerous thing to do because of the
progression of sin that happens in our lives.
5.1.
There are only
two things that will quiet a person’s conscience after they have committed
sins. Either they will come to receive
Christ as their Lord and Savior and thus have their conscience completely
cleansed. Or, they will end up being
turned over by God to have a depraved or reprobate nature.
5.2.
Because of his pride in not wanting to seem weak before
his friends and not follow through with the promise he had made to Herodias’
daughter to give her anything she asked for, he did an act that was much more
evil than not keeping his word. He had a
righteous and holy man of God who was innocent murdered, and in the process he
caused his heart to be hardened even harder against the Lord.
5.2.1. We as Christians must not
bow to the peer pressure that we face, sometimes even amongst the church. We need to do what God wants us to do even
though many among even those who call themselves Christian, are going a
different direction and compromising their walk. We must be people who live to please God and
please Him alone.
5.2.2. We as Christians also
need to be careful who we hang out with for the scripture tells us not to be
bound up with unbelievers (whether in marriage or business), and this is
because we can be corrupted by too close of an association or by having to
submit ourselves to the opinions and decisions of a non-believer we are bound
together with: 2 Corinthians 6:14, “14 Do not be bound together
with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness?”
6.
VS 6:30-32 - “30 The apostles gathered together
with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come
away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there
were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to
eat.) 32 They went away in the
boat to a secluded place by themselves.” – The
apostles gather together with Jesus and tell Him all that they had done and
taught, and He told tells them to come away by themselves to a secluded place
and rest, and they went away to such a place in a boat and rested up
6.1.
We saw in the
first part of this chapter that Jesus had sent out the twelve to perform an
intern mission’s trip, and we concentrated upon not only what they were called
to do but also Jesus’ instructions given to them. Now here, we see their return and we want to
consider Jesus’ debriefing of the twelve upon their return.
6.2.
Notice that the
twelve are here first called ‘apostles’, and this makes sense because
the word means “one who is sent out” and they were just now returning
for the first time from having been sent out.
Prior to this they had been referred to as the “disciples”.
6.3.
Notice that it
says here that the twelve reported to Jesus ‘all that they had done and
taught’. The twelve told Jesus about
every healing they had performed (and attempted) as well as everything they had
taught. The twelve surely had a
different perspective on their trip before talking to Jesus. But, as they talked with Jesus about this,
they saw things they should and should not have done or said, and they were
able to learn from their experience.
6.4.
How important it
is for us as Christians to talk to Jesus about all of the things in our life,
to tell them to Him. Whenever we do this
we too come away with a different perspective about our lives and the decisions
and choices we make. We may not feel
convicted about a certain attitude, habit, or act that we did, but when we talk
to Jesus about it we suddenly realize how sinful and wrong it really is. How our lives would be so different if we
just talked with Jesus about everything in our lives…
6.5.
Ministry is very
draining upon a person for it engages their total person and requires much
preparation of heart and mind. We must
seek the Lord and His leading and will when we teach or pray for healing and
restoration for people, and this takes a toll.
This is why Jesus tells the twelve to, ‘Come away by yourselves
to a secluded place and rest a while.’
6.5.1. Those who are involved in fulltime ministry need more
rest than people in other fulltime careers due what it takes out of them.
6.6.
In the gospel of
Luke there is recorded a subsequent mission’s trip upon which the seventy
disciples had been sent out by Jesus, and it is interesting to read the rebuke
and admonition that He gave them upon their return as they were bragging about
how that the demons had been subject to them in Jesus’ Name: Luke 10:17-24, “17 The seventy returned with
joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I
was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 “Behold, I have given you authority to
tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and
nothing will injure you. 20 “Nevertheless
do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that
your names are recorded in heaven.” 21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy
Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and
intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was
well-pleasing in Your sight. 22 “All things have been handed over to Me by My
Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father
is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” 23 Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,
24 for I say to
you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and
did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not
hear them.””
6.6.1. We Christians need to learn to beware of getting to
caught up in our press clippings of how the Lord is using our lives. We need to focus not upon how greatly we are
being used but upon Christ and giving thanks to God for saving our souls and
giving us the free gift of eternal life.
7.
CONCLUSIONS:
7.1.
Are you being careful not to become bound together with unbelievers
because of how they can adversely affect your spiritual life and choices?
7.2.
Have you determined
not be influenced by your peers and the people close to you such that you do
not do the will of God and go with the flow of this world through the gate that
is wide?
7.3.
Have you talked with Jesus and told Him everything that you have been
doing?
7.4.
Are you hardening your heart to
God by not being willing to repent of areas of your life that you know are
wrong?