Mark 6:14-29
Though this passage is found in the gospel of Mark, it has virtually nothing to do with Jesus. There is an aspect of the story that fulfills prophecy, but it is an overly long discourse that only mildly supports a rather esoteric prophecy concerning the Messiah. Though it is about the death of John the Baptist it is not about him either.
In fact, it is one of the few stories in the New Testament that has a parallel in other ancient literature. The Jewish historian, Josephus, who lived not too terribly long after Jesus, chronicled a great deal of the history of the Jewish people at this time. And he has several stories about Herod, the villain of our story, one of which is about this murder of John the Baptist. It appears Mark inserted this story to offer us some historical grounding…and perhaps because it is a juicy tale worthy of a National Inquirer front-page story.
It is a tale filled with Shakespearean-like drama in which the petty, jealous, and prideful actions of a king leads to his downfall. Though that’s not obvious from this passage we actually only know about his fate from Josephus.
Herod’s first marriage was to the Nabatean Princess, Phasaelis. Nabatea was a neighboring Kingdom that most famously built Petra, those façade homes carved from rock in modern Jordan. They were a rising power and, fearing their military might, Herod solidified the peace through this marriage. However, Herod was famously inept and prideful and divorced her; married his brother’s wife, Herodias. John the Baptist called him out before his subjects for violating Israelite law. Unsurprisingly, Herodias took offense and wanted John dead.
This story discloses fundamental flaws of our humanity: vanity, jealousy and hunger for power. When we contrast Herod’s actions with Jesus’ we learn a tremendous amount for following a path that will allow us to thrive and succeed even in a famously challenging city like New York.
Many of us have the same temptations as Herod and all of us have fallen into the same traps, albeit with less significant consequences for others, but no less dramatic ones for our own lives.
In our passage Herod fails in the very first action – he throws a banquet and invites the leaders of Galilee. A perfectly normal act in his time and in ours. But it’s Harrod’s motivation to appear as a person of power and importance in order to curry favor that turns the dinner into a disaster.
The road to character, to borrow a phrase from author David Brooks, is one in which each decision is harder than the alternative decision of expediency but the more we make decisions based on character the easier they become and the more we make decisions based on self-serving pride the harder each one becomes and the greater their consequences.
Anne Frank, though very young, had this strength and wisdom. She wrote, “Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.”
Herod believed wealth and power was the goal of life and ironically that very belief led to his downfall. Contrast Herod’s inviting the most important people of the town with Jesus, who eats with those others wouldn’t be seen dead with in public, the so-called tax collectors and sinners of His time, and frankly probably the more fun people with which to eat. Jesus’ parables underscore the need to host those in need.
Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary exposes the so called “hospitality” of his time.“Hospitality: The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging”
Jesus’ parables are even more biting in their critique by telling us the heavenly banquet is not going to be filled with people whose purpose in life was to impress others and tend to their own needs first, but with those whom the world rejected. Jesus’ actions didn’t score any political points with the leaders of His time but for Jesus it didn’t matter.
He truly cared for other people more than He cared about His own reputation. And also, ironically in the end that's what made His reputation far outstrip Herod’s.
His vanity multiplied his problems throughout this banquet. After his daughter’s dance mesmerizes everyone, he offers her a prize – anything she wants, even half of his kingdom. Even this offer is filled with self-importance. Because Herod is not really a king! He is simply a servant vassal of Rome, and his power only goes as far as Rome will allow it; so, the kingdom he offers is not even his.
Of course, he has laid himself a trap because she is Herodias’ daughter, and she wants John dead. She demands his head on a platter. His prideful act has now put himself in a bind –show all of his important guests that his offer was empty and vainglorious or follow through with his promise and murder a man whom he believes to be a person of God.
Would that Abraham Lincoln were nearby to offer him advice. “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
In contrast Jesus refuses on multiple occasions to show His power as a means to impress people and gather followers. He tells some people to not share their stories of healing. At other moments He won’t perform the miracle until He is alone and in secret. And most famously He rejects Satan’s request to lead from the temple and put on a grand display for all the people of Israel. His reputation means nothing to Him, His character means everything.
Jesus knows what Booker T. Washington voiced so many years later, “Character is power.” Booker T. Washington began life enslaved in Virginia. The Civil War freed him, and he took this freedom to build a life not only for himself but for other freed blacks throughout the south. He led the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, increasing the size of a college while enlisting the students to be a part of literally building the college. That work was considered fundamental to the students’ education. Eventually because of his character he was the first black man to eat with the President of the United States on equal terms in the White House, Theodore Roosevelt. Those some of his ideas were later repudiated by the likes of WEB Du Bois, he was a critical figure in helping people to live their freedom. Booker T. Washington’s strength was in his character, not his political power or his birth, as it was in our Lord’s.
That’s why the Apostle Paul famously writes in Philippians, “that though he was in the form of God he did not regarded quality with God as something to be exploited rather humbled himself and took the form of a servant.”
In fact, it was Herod’s lack of character that led to his ultimate undoing, we don’t learn of this in the Bible but from Josephus.
Remember he married not for love or for building a family, but to solidify power. But so caught up in his own needs he divorces this Nabatean princess and formed an illegal marriage with his brother’s wife. Can you guess what the consequences are? Any father would not be happy to see his daughter left behind for another woman. The king of Nabatea, Aretas, deployed his forces and Herod suffered a devastating defeat and eventually was exiled for a conspiracy against the emperor.
His rule ends in shame. In trying to protect his reputation he destroyed it and trying to impress the elite people of society he brought himself shame. And in some ways, perhaps worst of all, he knew that John was a man of God and yet he treated him like garbage.
The 18th century English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, wrote, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”
Seeking to have his name carved in stone, Herod’s reputation became as dust, and seeking to carve love onto the hearts of others, Jesus’ name now circles the globe and people worship Him as their lord and savior. Amen.
Comments