No Matter the Cost – Mark 6

A text – Mark 6:14-29

6:14 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.”
6:15 But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
6:16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”
6:17 For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her.
6:18 For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
6:19 And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not,
6:20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
6:21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.
6:22 When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.”
6:23 And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”
6:24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.”
6:25 Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
6:26 The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.
6:27 Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,
6:28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.
6:29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

A reflection:

The story of the end of John the Baptizer’s life is an awful story. Herod is the most powerful Israelite in the nation, the king, yet vain and afraid of seeming weak. His wife is vengeful and wants at all cost to silence John for proclaiming her marriage to her brother-in-law Herod sinful. The daughter who dances for Herod probably was his wife’s daughter from her previous marriage, and the dance may or may not have been erotic. But Herod and his guests liked it so much that he rashly promised her anything. She asked for what her mother wanted, John’s execution by beheading. An awful, true, sad tale.

John was Jesus’s slightly older cousin. He was radical and unafraid to speak truth to power. And clearly power was unafraid to squelch him. New Testament scholar Matt Skinner points out that John was chosen by God before his birth for the job of preparing the way for Jesus, and John did prepare the way not only for Jesus’s ministry but also Jesus’s death at the hands of authority. We can imagine how stricken with grief Jesus must have been when John was killed. Some of John’s disciples most likely joined Jesus’s followers, too, so Jesus’s whole group must have been devastated at this news. Imagine the courage it would have taken for John’s followers to appear at Herod’s palace and ask for John’s body for burial. Yet they did it, so great was their love and admiration for John.

John’s death at the hands of powerful rulers was not the end of his ministry, because his followers carried out his preaching, and his story lives on wherever Jesus’s story is told. And because Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, we will meet John one day when there is no more death or cruelty. We should ask him what it was like to get people’s attention and focus it on the coming Messiah?

What would it take today to get people’s attention, no matter the cost, and focus it on the justice and mercy that are the fruits of the Kingdom of God?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for John the Baptizer. Thank you for his work for your kingdom. Thank you for his paving the way for Jesus, fulfilling the prophesies and speaking truth to power. Help us to have the courage that he and his followers had to do your will and say what needs to be said, no matter the cost.     Amen.