Mark 6: 14 – 20
Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend John
14 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 15 Others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.” 16 But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” 17 For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 21 Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. 22 And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” 23 He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” 24 So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!” 25 Immediately she came in 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.” 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, 28 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 of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke we find their reports on this same situation. So, let us see what they have to say.
Luke 9: 7 – 9, “7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. 9 Herod said, “John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?” So he sought to see Him.
Matthew 14:1-12, “14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 10 So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
By most historians findings the Gospel of Matthew was written before Mark and Luke penned their Gospels. You will notice here that Luke only gives a brief explanation regarding the arrest and execution of John the Baptist. Don’t forget he did not know John personally like the others so years after this event he does not give this the attention as Matthew and Peter.
Matthew was an apostle who was also called Levi. Our Lord approached him while he was working as a tax collector and instructed him to leave his profession and become the Lord’s follower. Matthew had over three years of personal interaction with our Precious Lord. He was an eyewitness to this entire awful occurrence with Herod arresting and killing John the Baptist.
Mark was Peter’s step son in the faith. Peter was a disciple before Matthew. He also knew firsthand Herod’s action taken against John the Baptist. He was also in the Lord’s inner circle and witnessed more fantastic displays of the Lord’s Power and Authority. Peter rehashed all that he knew about his life walking with the Lord to Mark who wrote down all the information as inspired by our Wonderful Holy Spirit.
Luke probably never saw the Lord, yet he was an excellent investigator. He probably was able to talk to Peter, Matthew, Mark and the other Apostles about this situation.
Matthew and Peter had personally known John The Baptist while Luke didn’t. His murder by the hands of Herod was imbedded in their memories. This is why they spoke about this in more detail. Later on as time had passed in Luke’s investigation of all that was previously written by Mark and Matthew, he was not moved as they were to report of what happened to John The Baptist. To a large degree you can see he just listed some information regarding this tragedy and went on to focus on more incidents of our Lord Jesus Christ - The Messiah.
Now, if you are a man or woman who wants to gather as much information regarding the historic truth of the Word of God, then the following information is for you. You are aware that there are other sources of information that is not Holy Scripture. There was a guy by the name of Flavius Josephus. He was a Jew who was a great historian. He traveled with Titus, the general of the Roman army and reported on the events that occurred right after our Lord’s time on earth. He unlike Luke gave a lot of information about Herod and his execution of John The Baptist.
The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-c.100) describes in his Jewish antiquities 18.109ff the destruction of the army of the Jewish leader Herod Antipas. Many people thought that this was a divine punishment, because Antipas had ordered the execution of a just man, John the Baptist.
‘About this time Aretas, the king of the Arabian city Petra, and Herod Antipas had a quarrel. Herod the tetrarch had married the daughter of Aretas [called Phasaelis], and had lived with her a great while. But when he was once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, who was his brother indeed, but not by the same mother (this Herod was the son of the high priest Sireoh's daughter). Here, he fell in love with Herodias, this other Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. Antipas ventured to talk to her about a marriage between them; when she admitted, an agreement was made for her to change her habitation, and come to him as soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also was that he should divorce Aretas' daughter. So Antipas made this agreement and returned home again. But his wife had discovered the agreement he had made before he had been able to tell her about it. She asked him to send her to Macherus, which is a place in the borders of the dominions of Aretas and Herod, without informing him of her intentions. So, Herod sent her thither, unaware that his wife had perceived something.
Earlier, she had sent to Macherus, and all things necessary for her journey were made already prepared for her by a general of Aretas' army. Consequently, she soon arrived in Arabia, under the conduct of several generals, who carried her from one to another successively. She met her father, and told him of Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the first occasion of the enmity between him and Herod, who had also some quarrel with him about their limits near Gamala.
So both sides raised armies, prepared for war, and sent their generals to fight. When they joined battle, Herod's army was completely destroyed by the treachery of some fugitives, who, though they were from the tetrarchy of Philip, had joined Aretas' army. So Herod wrote about these affairs to the emperor Tiberius, who became very angry at the attempt made by Aretas, and wrote to Lucius Vitellius, the governor of Syria, to make war upon him, and either to take him alive and bring him to him in bonds, or to kill him and send him his head. This was the charge that Tiberius gave to the governor of Syria.
Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God as a just punishment of what Herod had done against John, who was called the Baptist. For Herod had killed this good man, who had commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, righteousness towards one another and piety towards God. For only thus, in John's opinion, would the baptism he administered be acceptable to God, namely, if they used it to obtain not pardon for some sins but rather the cleansing of their bodies, inasmuch as it was taken for granted that their souls had already been purified by justice. Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late.
Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death. Now the Jews thought that the destruction of his army was sent as a punishment upon Herod and a mark of God's displeasure with him.
14 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 15 Others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.” 16 But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!”
Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great. He married the wife of his brother, Philip. He was tetrarch of Galilee during Jesus’ life on earth. He was known as a frivolous, vain and arrogant ruler who committed many atrocities. Jesus warned His disciples against Herod in Mark 8:15, “15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Some of the Pharisees were beginning to care about our Lord Jesus. They asked Him to leave because Herod will kill Him. To this The Lord Jesus responded by calling Herod a fox as reported in Luke 13:31-32, “31 On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” 32 And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’
When Herod first heard about our Lord Jesus Christ, he was certain that John the Baptist rose from the dead. He had to behead John to fulfill a rash promise he made and may have been hoping that perhaps there is some way that John could come back from the dead. Perhaps he felt that if John had come back from the dead, Herod could amend that harm that he allowed to be done to him. In the game of golf some players allow the ‘Mulligan Rule’. If a player makes a bad shot, than he or she can hit another ball. In effect they get a ‘do over’. This is the incorrect of Herod. Herod had order the beheading of John The Baptist but clearly the one who was not clearly in his right mind was Herod. He created in his mind that John The Baptist had come back to life.
This is the man who couldn’t handle the fact that John the Baptist had the audacity to put him in his place for marrying his brother’s wife and reprove him for many other atrocities. His arrogance prevented him from listening to a crazy looking prophet who lived in the wilderness and ate honey and locusts for breakfast, lunch and supper. He wanted to get rid of John but decided to put him in prison instead because he was aware that John was revered as a prophet by the people. He didn’t want any unnecessary trouble with them. Even though Herod despised John for correcting him, he did respect the man.
17 For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
However, when he celebrated his birthday surrounded by many important guests, he allowed the excitement of the moment to get the better of his judgment and made a rash promise to the daughter of Herodias. Remember this is the daughter of his brother’s wife whom he seduced into leaving his brother and then married her..
21 Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. 22 And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” 23 He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
The daughter could have anything she wanted since she put on such a fine display of dancing for him and his guests. This dance wasn’t one you might see on regular TV. It was so seductive that you might miss what he offered her. Remember, he stated that she could have up to half of his kingdom. Do you realize who at the time held the 50% that Herod was willing to give away? It was the woman who was behind the scene who schemed the whole plan. It was Herodias. He was so aroused by her daughter, that in effect, he was offering the young girl a marriage proposal. She could if she wanted take her mother’s place as queen.
24 So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?”And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!” 25 Immediately she came in 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.”
Herod didn’t expect her to ask for the head of John the Baptist to be presented on a platter. Since Herod didn’t want to lose face in the presence of his all-important guests, he granted her request.
26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, 28 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 of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
We read that then John’s disciples went and gathered his body and buried it. Upon hearing this, the Lord left Herod’s territory. So, even though Herod wanted to see the Lord, it would not happen until after our Lord Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and sent to Herod by Pilate.
We can learn a few things from this portion of Scripture on how we should live our lives. For one thing in following John’s example we should not allow someone’s powerful position to prevent us from taking a stand for what is right. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like we do.
John didn’t allow the fact that Herod was a ruler to stand in his way. He went to the man and told him that what he is doing is wrong. He was punished for doing that, but he never lost the respect of the people and even of the ruler himself. It is better to suffer for doing the right thing than to suffer for doing the wrong thing which we are instructed in Peter’s first epistle chapter 3verses 14, and 17 and 18 “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”…it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
A good thing to take away from Herod’s action is to be careful and consider the implications that will happen before making a promise to anyone.
Herod was carried away by the thrill of the moment and made a promise without considering the possible consequences. As a result he had to behead John the Baptist against his better judgment. It is not wise to make promises when we are on an emotional high. Don’t let your temporary emotions get you into long-term trouble.
If you make a promise without considering it’s full consequences, swallow your pride and admit it. State your case to the one you are indebted to because of your promise and humbly ask for a way out of it. Don’t allow your pride to stand in your way of admitting a mistake.
In the book of Proverbs 6:2-5 we read this instruction, ““You have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”
The last point I want to point out from this portion of the Lord’s Holy word is scary. We have the possibility of falling more deeply into depravity if we do not adhere to obeying the Lord’s direction.
The sad reality is this, ‘If we reject the truth, we are in danger of developing all sorts of distorted and false hopes.’
Herod rejected the truth when John the Baptist came to him, but yet he hoped that John will be come back from the dead after he beheaded him. When we reject the truth we are wide open to deception, lies and delusions that will take us even further from the truth of God. This also sets the stage for much disappointment in our lives as the things we hoped would come true turn out to be false hopes founded on delusions.
I end with this awesome words of instruction that the apostle Paul wrote to his adopted son Timothy in his first epistle chapter 6 verses 3 through 5, “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”
