As we begin today, I want us to keep two questions in our minds: 1) what are you willing to lose your head over? 2) What are you willing to take someone else’s head over?
Any time the Bible mentions something more than once, we automatically know that it is significant. When we read through this story of the beheading of John the Baptist, it is important to note that Mark and Luke both give accounts of this event as well.
Mark 6:14-29, gives us a great amount of detail about the circumstances surrounding the night when John the Baptist was beheaded; even more so than the account we have here in Matthew 14:1-12. Luke, on the other hand, only gives a passing mention of it in his Gospel (Luke 9:7-9), but in so doing, he focuses on the residual fear Herod is experiencing as a result of his execution of John.
One more thing to take note of here: both of the other accounts place this story chronologically when Jesus is ministering in Galilee and soon after the disciples return from their first “mission”. I mention this now in passing since the chronology of the Gospels was something we discussed last time. This fits in exactly as we discussed.
Our passage today begins with speculation about who Jesus is. People were saying, “He is Elijah,” or “He is a prophet of old,” even, “He is John the Baptist raised from the dead.” This latter is the one that the guilty conscience of Herod made him believe. Funny how a guilty conscience can torment a person.
It never occurred to most people that Jesus might be unique and totally different than anything or anyone they had known or heard of. Many people today want to try and fit Jesus into a construct (hypothesis or paradigm) they are familiar and comfortable with. “He was a good and moral man.” “He was a good teacher.” “He was the wisest and most caring man who ever lived.”
While people may be comfortable with those explanations of who Jesus was (is), they are really only kidding themselves. He was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord – those are the only choices there are when you really read the Gospels.
Another point in this, however, is an amazing positive that should make us think. When people considered Jesus, even though they may have done so only in passing until they were able to fit Him into a box in their mind, was that He made them think of someone great. Who do we make people think of? Do we remind them of anyone noble, anyone gracious, anyone gallant? Do people think of us and say, “He/She reminds me of Jesus”?
Let’s go on.
When we read this story, there are several questions that come to mind. Some are important, some perhaps not so important. But the key question I believe is this: Why is this event mentioned in three of the four Gospels and why is there so much detail about it in two of them?
A second question we will need to answer once we answer the first, or perhaps as an aid in answering the first question, is this: What is the practical application of this story?
As I read through this description of the actions and the words of the key players, and even the thinking of a couple of them, I cannot help but wonder about the significance of this much detail. Obviously, whatever is included in the biblical accounts of things are important elements for us to see and understand. I think there is a great deal exposed here that we need to take a close and personal look at.
Secondly, whenever the words of someone are quoted in the Bible, those words carry significance because they have been included and we need to identify what that significance is. Words quoted are words to be remembered.
Thirdly, whenever the motivations of the heart of any of the characters in these little dramas are brought into focus for us, we can rightly assume that we are to examine our own hearts and motivations. It is the motivations of our heart that God examines; for it is from these that our actions proceed.
When I was preparing this week for our time together today, I wasn’t sure how to approach presenting this section of the Scriptures. It is a story that many of us are familiar with. It is a story that does not directly involve Jesus or His teachings, and it is a story that seems incongruous within the context of what we have been studying in recent weeks.
I wondered why that was. I wondered why this story, why this account of these events, and why at this time. Is there a change taking place? Are things going to be different from this point forward and this story serves as a break in the current flow as well as an indicator of what is to follow? And what does the death of John the Baptist have to do with any of that anyway?
Having read several times the Gospel accounts of the party that led to the beheading of John the Baptist as well as the aftermath of that death, I decided that I needed to review what the rest of the 14th Chapter of Matthew covers, as well as the next chapter or two in Matthew, and Mark as well. Perhaps there would be a clue there.
What I found was subtle, yet it was also grand in its sweep. For it is from this point forward that Jesus begins approaching the hour of His death in Jerusalem. This section of the Gospel accounts, here and in Mark, is the dividing line, the turning point of the Gospel.
In the following passages we will see the feeding of the five thousand, we will see Jesus and Peter walking on the water, we will overhear Jesus vilify the Scribes and Pharisees for their strict adherence to their traditions that have nothing to do with the heart and mind of God, we will peek in on a conversation that Jesus has with a Gentile to whom He gives the blessing of the kingdom that the Jews thought was exclusively theirs, and we will encounter several other major miracles and events.
It is as if Jesus’ ministry gets a booster shot from John’s demise. Remember that John himself said, “He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:3).”
Taking a harmony of the Gospels at this juncture we see two very striking events take place not very long after this, events that mark a definite turn in the ministry and mission focus of Jesus: we have the famous “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” statement of Simon Peter recorded in Matthew 16:16, and we have the Mount of Transfiguration event when three of the disciples see for just a minute the glory of Jesus Christ that He held before He became a man, and that is recorded for us in Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.
So, with all of this in mind, let us return to our story and see if we can get a better understanding of its significance as well as it application.
There are four players mentioned in this little drama that is about to unfold as recorded by Matthew. They are: King Herod (Antipas); his “wife” Herodias; her daughter, Salome; and, of course, John the Baptist.
The interactions of all of these people is quite complex. Anytime you have the righteous interacting with the unrighteous, there is a clash of cultures. And, among the unrighteous, there are always dramatic clashes of wills and agendas amongst those who do not know Jesus Christ.
Herod and his crowd were, for the most part, the unrighteous – and flagrantly so. John the Baptist, on the other hand, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” as Jesus had said of Him in Matthew 11:11.
When we see the courage of John in openly and brazenly confronting Herod and his “wife” about their sin, we are reminded of how Jesus told His listeners one day that John was not a “reed shaken by the wind”. John was not a man to bow before adversity, but one who would stand for the truth no matter where he was or who he was in front of. This story proves that out. Can the same be said of us?
So, what do we know of Herod? Quite a lot, actually. I am not going to go into a great amount of detail, but there are some basic things that I think will be helpful for everyone to know in order to understand the character of this character better.
This Herod, Herod Antipas, was one of five sons of Herod the Great by four different mothers. Herod the Great is the Herod we met back in our study of the birth of our Lord when we were in Matthew 2. You remember Him – he is the one who had all of the little boys age two and under put to death with the sword to try and prevent his throne from being threatened. A family trait, no less.
The Herods were not Jews; they were Idumean, which is Greek for Edomite. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Even though Esau was the firstborn, Jacob received the birthright and was through him that the children of Israel were established and the Messiah was to come. Esau long sought to usurp his brother’s place.
The Herods were of this lineage. They had converted, through forced circumcision about 67 BC., to Judaism and had risen to power and prominence after the Romans had conquered and begun to rule Palestine. Many scholars, including Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, believe their maintaining their supposed Jewish faith was a political move made to secure a place of rule over the Jews; how much more accepting would they be of a ruler who was of their own faith?
This would be a good time to note that, from the time of the Romans up until the 1960’s, everyone who lived in the area we know as Israel was called Palestinian. They were only distinguished by whether they were Jews, Syrians, Arabs or some other nationality. Eventually, to be Palestinian was to be Jewish, and it was a derogatory term. Palestinian is not a real people group, despite what the Syrians and the media have tried to sell us for the last forty years.
The entire Herodian family was a treacherous, lecherous, conniving, murderous lot. They were so filled with greed and intrigue that it is a wonder they accomplished anything of note. They were all great builders, like their father, and the temple that stood at the time of Jesus, which Herod had begun to have built and that was completed after his death, was even grander than the temple that Solomon had built. They were given to poisoning each other and murdering each other in other ways in order to gain or maintain power and control. Four different Caesars had to deal with Antipas and his siblings.
Herod Antipas had an older half-brother named Aristobulus. Aristobulus had a daughter named Herodias who married another of Antipas’ half-brothers named Philip I. Philip and Herodias had a daughter named Salome. It seems obvious from our story today that Antipas lusted after Salome. This, too, was a family trait, it seems. Just one of example of this is in Acts 25:13, where we see Agrippa II, the nephew of Herodias, consorting around with his sister Bernice as if she were his wife.
These were just a few of the reasons the Jews hated the Herods and resisted them so often and so strenuously. The Herods had killed thousands of them over the years, but still they resisted. The righteous seem always to strain against the rule of the wicked and unrighteous.
Herod Antipas had been married to the daughter of Aretas, the king of Arabia Petraea. He traveled to Rome to visit his brother Philip, where he met and “fell in love” with Herodias, his brother’s wife (and the niece of them both). He agreed to leave his wife if she would leave Philip. The deal was struck and off they went.
Herod Antipas, much like all the Herods, was a worldly, lusty individual. He built palaces and made decadent displays of his wealth. He loved luxury and gave great feasts with dancing shows whenever there was a birthday of note – especially his own. He held normal decency in contempt and thought nothing of the conventions of the people he was given to govern.
On top of this, he was cunning and he was covetous. In Luke 13:32, we hear Jesus refer to him as “that fox”. Herod wanted to be named king instead of tetrarch, and went to Rome at the urging of his wife in order to convince Caesar to make him king. The plan failed. He ended up being exiled. Herodias went with him.
Have you ever done a bad thing and had someone just blurt it out, right in your face and in front of other people? How did you feel? Did you want to say or do something to that person to shut them up, maybe embarrass or silence them in order to blunt the sting of what they were saying?
Then you know the blow to the pride that Herod and Herodias suffered when John the Baptist bluntly said of their coupling, “It is not lawful for you to have her,” pointing to Herodias. Everyone knew it – everyone knew the facts, just no one had the courage or maybe no one was so foolish as to throw it in their faces. These were not people who were accustomed to being challenged or chastised, especially in public and especially by an underling. Even worse, this underling was a Jew and completely underdressed to even be in the palace.
When we see Herod’s reaction to John in the two accounts of Matthew and Mark, we see that Herod loved to listen to John speak, despite him pointing out their sin. John’s message was simple and straight forward – repent and be baptized. But he had to be well-versed in the Scriptures and be very attuned to people. He had had a large following before Jesus came on the scene.
In fact, there were still followers loyal to him and who remained close to him, trying to care for him while he was imprisoned. They were near-by when he was killed and they took his body right away to be buried after his execution.
Herod seems to be at odds with himself. On the one hand, John has openly chastised him without any reluctance to do so. Yet Herod likes to listen to John speak about spiritual things. He hates him and wants to kill him, but he is also fascinated by what he says. Herod is also afraid of another rebellion from the Jews if he were to kill John, a man who was held in high esteem by the people.
Even those who are trapped in a life of evil and outright wickedness have a tendency to be captivated by talk of spiritual matters – perhaps because they are closer to the edge than those who are simple sinners. They may ridicule and even curse the messengers of grace, yet there is something in them that keeps bringing them back.
On the fateful night in the passage we are studying today, Herod is throwing another of his lavish drunken parties. The wine flows freely, the food is piled high and is seemingly limitless, and the other fleshly lusts are being fed by the erotic dancing of girls and young women. Herod’s foibles run rampant and he convinces Salome, his step-daughter, to dance for him.
He is so captivated, so enthralled by her that he makes a stupid, stupid vow – in front of witnesses. He tells her that she can have anything she wants from him, up to half of his kingdom, just for the asking. She was floored – she didn’t know how to respond. As surrounded by the greed and intrigue of this family as she had been her whole life, she was speechless when she faced this drunken Herod.
Perhaps she saw something in his eyes that made her see the reality of who and what he really was. She runs to her mother. Mommy has a great idea. I’m sure Mommy was seething at this point. She could not be unaware of Herod’s desires. Here was a perfect opportunity to get rid of the man who was causing them so much grief. If her husband didn’t have the courage to get rid of the trouble maker, she would just help him along.
And she loathed John. Mark 6:19 tells us, “Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so.” She was so angry at John that she wanted him dead. His reproof of her immorality was a criticism she was unwilling to bear. Have you ever been so angry at what someone has said or done to you that you actually wanted to do them violence, or at least hoped that something evil and destructive would happen to them?
It is a normal reaction for unregenerate people – even people who have come to know Christ may still have some residual unforgiveness in their hearts that has a portion of their heart held captive. It is our nature to want to seek vengeance for a wrong suffered.
I have felt these things. I am going to admit to you that I have even recently been overcome by a shocking discovery: there are people that I have wanted to be sent to hell because I feel they deserve it most. In fact, I even felt that I would rather see Hitler in heaven than these people.
So, I can identify with Herodias. My advantage is, I also know Jesus Christ and He changes my heart. He has shown me that He died for those people at the same time and in the same way and with the same love that He died for me. He has shown me that He loves them just as much as He loves me. He has shown me that I need to learn to love them the same as He does.
And, like it or not, that is what I am going to pursue.
Enough on that; I hope that perhaps this will help you examine your own heart and open a door that has remained closed and barred in your own life far too long.
It is interesting to note that the conversation between Herodias and her daughter, which is given in finer detail in Mark 6:24, goes like this: “And she went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ And she said, ‘The head of John the Baptist.’"
Salome is a quick study. Look at her presentation of this request to Herod (verse 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.’"
Herod is trapped. He has been in internal combat over John the Baptist. Fascinated by John and his insight into spiritual and moral matters, yet at the same time angry and hateful over having his own depravity and sinfulness pointed out so clearly, Herod loved to listen to John, despite how it made him look and feel. The internal battle will soon be over, thanks to Herodias and Salome – or, will it?
Herod complies with the request, much as he doesn’t want to. Strange how even evil and immoral men can have a line of personal morality that they will not cross. For Herod, breaking a vow in front of his guests was a moral infraction he was not willing to make. So reluctant was he to look foolish in front of his guests that he was willing to sacrifice an innocent man to preserve his “reputation.”
Ever done that? Ever let someone else suffer so that you wouldn’t have to? Ever kept silent when someone was paying a price they shouldn’t have to pay so that you could maintain your position or reputation – your “image”? Think about that one carefully. I think you might be surprised at how easily and how often we can be guilty of that.
When we look at this tragedy, we see just how devastating a thing pride can be. We see just how destructive the sin of pride and self-preservation can be, especially to those around us. We see how our love of our image can outweigh what we know to be expected of us by God. We see how personal comfort and well-being can be more vital to us that standing on the truth that God has revealed and made known to us and that He has told us to proclaim to the world.
And, we see how unconfessed and unforgiven sin can eat away at a mind and a soul to the point that fear overtakes and rules a life. Herod is the perfect picture of this. He knew that John the Baptist was dead – he had seen the man’s severed head himself. Yet, when he hears about the miraculous power of Jesus Christ, his guilty conscience immediately convinces him that John the Baptist has risen from the dead and is going to exact vengeance upon him.
A guilty conscience can so lie to us! Have you ever done a bad thing and felt so guilty about it that you knew – you just knew – that people could tell by looking at you? Ever been so overwhelmed by guilt that you didn’t dare stand against the wrong of someone else for fear that your own sin would be exposed?
Or perhaps you are like Herod in another way: perhaps you have become so accustomed to playing to the gallery of those in the world that it is their opinion of you that matters most. It is easy to say, “I don’t really care that much about what other people think of me.” I think we are easily deceived in this. People’s opinions of us have greater control over what we say or don’t say and what we do or don’t to than we want to admit.
We need to keep in mind what the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Here is where we find the application for our lesson today; there is a different gallery that we are supposed to play to. The gallery the writer to the Hebrews refers to is the lives of those he details for us in Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith”, as it is sometimes called.
We need to look at these characters – those mentioned in our passage today and those mentioned Hebrews 11 – and we need to think about their actions, examine the motivations of their hearts, and ask ourselves: Which am I most like? Which of their tendencies do I have? What needs to be changed in me and made different about me? Whom should I become like?
Not long ago I read about an article a preacher wrote for a magazine for preachers. In it, he spoke of how many preachers sell out their call and conform to what the world and their congregations want instead of what they know God’s Word says.
The magazine received dozens of angry letters, many of which demanded a cancellation of that particular preacher’s subscription – each felt grossly insulted and deeply offended by the tone, the timber and the accusations made in the article. Each of them wanted nothing more to do with that magazine. Ironically, the author of the article had never met nor did he know anything about any of those men.
How is God speaking to your heart right now? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you? Listen…respond…change and be changed.
Let’s pray.
