Mark 6: 7-30
John's Passion

Scripture Reading:

Prayer: 

Intro: It may seem strange to encounter this gruesome story about the execution of John sandwiched between the sending and return of the 12.  It is a sad and shocking story and it may seem to be a digression as though Mark is simply filling space.  But there is more here.  I believe this story concerning John’s execution teaches us something about proclamation and hearing and about the cost of discipleship in the Kingdom of God.  And John’s fate especially informs and prepares us for the sort of opposition which is in store for Jesus.  After all, this is not the last execution we will read about in Mark’s gospel. 

We know that some of the local religious leaders, especially among the scribes and Pharisees, already hate Jesus because he preaches differently than they do and because he has power which threatens their traditional authority structures.  But do you remember what happened back in chapter three after Jesus healed a man (with a withered hand) in a synagogue on the Sabbath? 

(Mark 3: 6) The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

The Pharisees sought the Herodians in order to plot the death of Jesus.  Now if you are unfamiliar with Jewish politics of the day and this is your first time reading Mark’s gospel then you don’t know who these Herodians are when you first read that the Pharisees were plotting with them.  (It is thought that Mark’s original audience was the church in Rome which included many Gentiles unfamiliar with Jewish ways.  So they would not have understood either.) But, here in chapter 6, Mark takes the opportunity to introduce you to the royal house of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great.  Those people plotting against Jesus are associated with the House of Herod the tetrarch and puppet-king of Judea who beheaded John the Baptist at the request of a girl.  It’s not a pretty picture (but it is an accurate one). 

***The gospel of Mark depicts a world that is caught up in a satanic collusion against the Kingdom of God.  There is not simply one group raising itself up against Jesus, but many.  There are a variety of people who despise God’s kingdom from different angles in the story.  They bring opposition from different perspectives, but they seem to oppose Christ for the same reasons – because they find in him a threat to their own power, to their own pride, and to their own kingdoms.  It’s the same with the demons as it is with the Pharisees, as it is with the Herodians, and even as it is with Jesus’ family and friends who were scandalized by his presence in Nazareth.  Spiritual and religious, political, social, and familial forces oppose God’s Kingdom because he disrupts human agendas. We live in this world also. 

And, still today, the world system often accepts nothing less than the heads of those who stand up for the reign of God. 

I want to further explore our text today, as we have done before, by reflecting on different characters prominent in the story. 

In turn we will consider the Disciples, Herod, and John. 

1. The Disciples

In his book The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell makes the claim that “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” Gladwell finds that insight from epidemiology and the spread of disease can help us to also describe sociological trends and psychological shifts.  He explains how societal trends function like the spread of disease in that they operate through “contagiousness”, where “little causes can have big effects”, and most importantly, “change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment” – that’s the tipping point.  Gladwell says, “We need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that sometimes big changes follow from small events, and that sometimes these changes can happen very quickly.” 

It seems that the sending out of the 12 is something of a tipping point in Jesus ministry as the Christ of Israel.  Perhaps provoked by the stubborn unbelief among those who knew him best at Nazareth, and being soberly reminded that his days are numbered in Israel, Jesus shifts from keeping the disciples with him to sending them out to preach.  It’s a shift from training to application.  And the tone and context suggest urgency.  Tom Wright and other commentators have suggested that Jesus instruction about taking only staff and sandals and leaving behind other provisions (food and money) has more to do with timing than with learning dependence and faith.  It will teach the disciples about faith and dependence on God to travel like this, but the reason why they must travel so light is because time is of the essence.  Jesus has been trying to keep the buzz about his ministry at a minimum by silencing people, but his opposition is increasing, and he wants the call for repentance to go out in Israel in order for his ministry to be fulfilled.  The twelve represent a symbolic new Israel (a new 12 tribes) who not only proclaim repentance in testimony to the light of God in Christ, but also cast out demons as a sign to everyone in Judea that the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God is at hand.  The Kingdom movement, and the sowing of the seed, expands here as the 12 go forth – and they are sent forth with urgency because opposition to Jesus is on the rise. 

Illustration:  If you read Paul Revere’s own description of what happened in the Boston area on Tuesday night, April 18th, 1775 you will learn there were at least two other circuit riders who went out to alarm the countryside about the British movements.  And that it was about 10 o’clock when Revere himself was summoned in great haste to set off for Lexington and to sound the alarm that the British were coming by sea.  He quickly arranges for two Lanterns to be set as a signal in the North Church Steeple, but before he catches his boat and mounts his horse Revere says this, “I then went Home, took my Boots and Surtout [sic]…”   He doesn’t mention that he grabbed any food or money for the journey (he didn’t bring trail mix along for the ride); it’s an urgent sort of mission which requires only his boots to get going – like the disciples who take only sandals and a staff. 

Urgency – Malcolm Gladwell uses Paul Revere as an example of the sort of person who pushes a tipping point over the edge at the moment when momentum is ripe.  He was very well connected in the surrounding communities and he was known as a leading agitator in the movement for liberty.  The role of the disciples here is something like that of Revere’s ride.  They are not trained orators at this point (though they have been taught the meaning of the parables), but they are men connected at the center of a revolutionary movement of repentance in Israel begun by John the Baptist, as forerunner, and carried forward by Jesus Christ who now sends these 12 out as urgent heralds bearing signs of the New Kingdom (in the surrounding darkness). 

The application here is twofold.  One – there are times and circumstances which call for great urgency in the kingdom of God and in our own lives and we should be mindful of such times which call for special faith dependence in stepping forward.  The church is not always in the mode of going out with no provision like this, but we should always be prepared to do so.  Are you prepared for radical shifts in God’s dealing with you and his calling for you?   After keeping you close for a season – protecting you, comforting you, training you – are you willing for God to send you out on a more dangerous mission?  Are you willing to shift and cooperate, by faith, when God’s tipping points strike your life?  It’s clear that the disciples did not have perfect faith and understanding of Jesus yet, but they were still willing to go out on his command - to minister and to proclaim based on what they do understand and already do believe about Jesus.  God is committed to your participation in his ongoing Kingdom movement.  He works with imperfect faith and imperfect training.  And he’s happy for you to learn on the job about how he blesses those who trust him.  Despite their obvious limitations, the 12 represent the Christ and his Kingdom, and they themselves become a blessing to those who receive them and a curse to those who do not (shaking the dust from their feet).

(Soon-Trained vs. Well Fed) 

The Disciples represent the good soil, the ones who hear the Word and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.  Having received the Word, they are now plowing new ground in keeping with repentance – but as we come to Herod we are reminded that everyone does not hear so well. 

2) Herod (is bad soil): 

It seems to me that the way Mark tells the story about Herod killing John evokes the same themes about bad hearing from the parable of the Sower.  (Other commentators do not emphasize this connection, so I may be out on a limb, but I don’t think so.)  Certainly the same triad of threats to the Word described in the parable is also dramatically present in Herod’s life.  And the language of hearing is used in the telling. 

Herod hears about Jesus in v. 14, but by v. 16 he decides that this must be John the Baptist whom he beheaded – now raised.  In his guilty conscience Herod hears the word about Jesus as a strange word of judgment against himself for killing John.  That’s not the right way to hear it, and it reminds me of the seed which fell upon the path and was immediately snatched away by Satan.  Satan means Accuser remember.  The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin.  But Satan only accuses and condemns people, playing off their guilty conscience.  That seems to be what’s happening to Herod.  He hears the call to repentance only as condemnation instead of conviction to turn from sin.  That’s the work of the devil.  It’s like the seed snatched from the Path. 

But there’s more.  Mark explains in v. 20 how “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe.  When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.”  What’s that sound like?  It reminds me of the Rocky Soil – those who, upon hearing the word, receive it with joy, but they have no root in themselves and they fall away whenever trouble comes.  Herod was greatly perplexed, but it says he heard gladly from John.  James Edwards wisely observes that, “holding a high opinion of Jesus is not the same thing as faith [in Jesus}.” You can regard Jesus as a great prophet, but still sit aloof to his wisdom and power.  The question is not, “What do you think about Jesus?” it’s “Do you trust him?” 

Finally, the thorny soil, choked by riches and cares of the world, is also seen in Herod’s court.  It was the king’s birthday and v. 26 makes clear, “the king was exceeding sorry [about the girl’s request for John’s head], but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.”  This is a pathetic picture of all the bad soils in one man.  He is accused by Satan, glad but without root in himself, and easily choked by desire for other things.  Bad soil indeed. 

It’s a reminder to me that the parable of the Sower should not be read as though only one threat to the seed is operative at any given time.  No, the classic biblical forces of evil at work in the pressures of worldly society, in human sin, and in the person of the Devil do not work separately but in collusion with one another they seek to destroy the Work of God in our lives.  So while, on the surface, John may seem like a mere pawn in Herod’s hand, yet on another level, from a spiritual perspective we see it is Herod himself who is a pawn subject to the powers at work in the world represented by the girl’s request. 

Do you ever feel constrained by the whims and fancies of the world?  Do you ever find yourself like Herod, wanting to do what is just, but in confusion feeling you must cave to what is evil?  Do you sometimes hear gladly, but never apply?  Or do you find at other times that you only hear accusation and condemnation when you should hear conviction and repentance?  These responses are not from God.  Watch out for them.  The message is that it’s better to be like John and lose your head (for God) than to give way to sinister ambivalence like Herod, and so become an agent of death.  That’s why we pray for the preaching of the word.  We’re asking God to help us, there are forces arrayed against us, and without the powerful movement of God’s spirit we will not hear in such a way that bears fruit; we will not respond with repentance.  A good test of your response is to ask yourself whether you are more concerned for your own reputation or for God’s reputation in your response to his Word.  And by the way…if you ever find that you have somehow sworn yourself to do real evil (like Herod), it’s actually not a sin for you to break your word at that point.  That’s what repentance is all about.  It’s a breaking and turning away from evil commitments. 

It’s no accident that Herod’s story falls in the context of the sending of the 12.  Not only does he represent one who hears poorly, but he also represents a threat to the seed itself – a threat to anyone who proclaims the kingdom like John did.  Herod is advertisement for the cost of discipleship. 

John:

John is almost silent in the story.  We hear of his moral statement against Herod, but he says nothing more.  There are no glorious final words at the executioner’s block.  The man is simply cut down.  There is no dignity in it.  He is made the plaything of a disinterested dancing girl and the victim of an angry queen.  This is the terrible fate of the seed of the Word in the world.  And at this point it seems that the world shall prevail.  Herod mistakes Jesus for John, and it seems the fate of John must be in store for Jesus as well.

It’s rightly noted (by William Lane) that there are two passion narratives in Mark’s gospel – that of John and that of Jesus.  There are resounding parallels.  Whether it’s Herod or Pilate, you have an ambivalent ruler capitulating to fickle public demands for the execution of a holy man against his better judgment.  You also find swift execution of judgment in both cases, in both there is the collection of the body and the laying in the tomb. 

But that’s where the similarities cease.  Praise be to our Father in Heaven that Mark chapter 6 is different than Mark chapter 16!  Herod was wrong.  Jesus is not John.  Yes, like John, he will sow his life as a seed into the wicked world, executed under a curse and buried in a tomb, but unlike John, Jesus does not remain in his tomb.  That’s why we call Mark’s story good news. 

(Hebrews 2: 14b-15) “...he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” 

John is not raised from the dead as Herod suspects, but because of Jesus there’s a promise that John will be, even as it is also our hope that we shall be raised, beyond the grave, through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Conclusion:

But in the meantime the cost of discipleship may look ominous.  And that’s why we must cling to our Christian hope so dearly in the darkness of the world - even as we do today gathered together in worship on the first day of the week – the day Jesus rose from the dead. 

Jesus has given us signs of this hope of resurrection in order to feed our faith – not least as we feed upon him in the Lord’s Supper.  When you partake of the elements today – when you taste the bread and drink the wine – remember that you take your portion as a participation in the death of Jesus Christ.  His body and blood are shown forth to us in the sacrament not only to remind us that he has died for our sins and cleansed us of all unrighteousness, but also as an intimate inward testimony to each of us that he is alive today.  Feed your faith upon him.  And so feed your hope of resurrection.