Sunday 12 July 2009
- Bible Book:
- Mark
"King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, 'John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.' But others said, 'It is Elijah.' And others said, 'It 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.'" (v.14-16)
Background
This passage from the Gospel of Mark has as many twists andturns as a small mystery novel! But it's worth the patientunravelling. The Herod who is mentioned in this passageis not the Herod ('the Great') whoslaughtered all the innocent male children in his jealous attemptto kill the infant Jesus (
Herod Antipas had despatched the prophet John the Baptizer, becauseJohn had spoken out about Herod's wrongdoings - such as marryinghis brother's wife. The grisly account of John's death is,interestingly, the only narrative in Mark's Gospel that is notdirectly about Jesus (
It's something like the old adage, 'The only thing worsethan notgetting what you want is ... gettingwhat you want'. Yes, Herod had killed John the Baptizer, but Johnhad prophesied that "The one who is more powerful than I is comingafter me" (Mark 1:7). In Jesus we have the 'one' coming after John- and Herod's tiny kingdom would be shaken and changed more than hecould ever have imagined.
To Ponder
Do you ever want something so much that, likeHerod, you forget about the unintended consequences? What wasit?
John had called people to expect and listen forthe authentic word of God (meaning Jesus). Are there people youknow of who do the same?