-What kind of food do you like? My favorite foods are pretty much all summed up at Thanksgiving, BUT the turkey has to be cooked correctly (believe it or not, turkey doesn’t have to be dry when you eat it). The weird thing about all the family meals/get togethers is how the tables get separated, has anyone ever heard of the kid’s table? It seems that no matter how old you get, at some get together you’ll still be relegated to the kid’s table. 

-Hi to all the kids!

-We’re going to look today at the difference between getting to sit at the grown up table vs being stuck even lower than the kid’s table!

READ/PRAY (491-2) How to find verses. Why do we stand? Neh. 8:5, Luke 4:16

1. The Pharisees’ Lack of Heart (1-13)

-Last week Pastor Micah reminded us of the way God provides for His people, especially in the wilderness!

-Pharisees and scribes again: last saw them in Mark 3 where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees went to collude with the Herodians to try to kill Jesus, and the scribes are accusing Jesus of being from Beelzebul.

-Once again they’re fighting against Jesus. Not coming to just chat or learn from Jesus, coming looking for ammunition to use against Him.

-Doesn’t take them long to find an issue! The disciples didn’t wash their hands before dinner.

-How many of you have to wash your hands before you eat dinner? Your parents are very wise! There’s biological reasons for that: you can get sick if you ingest the wrong things. Now imagine that not only would you get sick, but people at church also told you that it would make you sinful to eat without washing your hands. How much worse would that make forgetting to wash your hands?

-“The tradition of the elders” God’s written law and God’s spoken law (Mishnah) Placed a fence around the Torah, stated that God’s law wasn’t clear enough, so needed to add to it.

-This included proper cleaning procedures for individual items in a home. A bowl will retain uncleanness, a plate would not. A soft surface (clothes or a mattress) would retain uncleanness, a hard surface (shovel) would not.

-Pharisees and scribes have their opportunity! They ask Jesus why His disciples are acting this way. Either didn’t see Jesus do it or recognize that He’s responsible for His disciples’ actions.

-Does Jesus answer their question? He hardly even acknowledges it! He takes their question and brings it to its’ underlying issue: where does our authority come from? Jesus uses and appeals to Isaiah 29:13 to demonstrate the unique role God’s written Word should have for us.

-“Tradition” is repeated throughout this section, and here Jesus compares tradition to “the commandment of God.”

-Jesus continues with a statement dripping with sarcasm in vs. 9. Same word used to describe that prophesy against them “WELL did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites” here “You have done WELL (fine) at rejecting.” But it’s just regarding what should be washed or not, Jesus uses a specific example modern to their context:

-Moses (prophet of God, speaking on behalf of God) in a few different places commands honor/respect given to parents (quotes from Ex. 21:17, Lev. 20:9; Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16)

-The Pharisees, however, have changed that idea and allowed people to label specific money as “Corban” (author’s note on this idea). Corban was money that was set aside for a future gift to God, which was then not allowed to be used for anything else, potentially leaving someone’s parents destitute. (Retirement account for thousands of years was having children)

-“Making void the word of God by your tradition.” What an indictment! As is “And many such things you do.”

-Tradition vs. traditionalism. Living means it still matters today and has value today and has been passed down through the generations. A dead faith is useless.

-Altar calls. Stir up emotions so people “ask Jesus into their hearts” every week. Had a season in ministry a few years back where every new person asked why we didn’t do altar calls.

-Clothing (church clothes vs change clothes). The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, or wearing certain clothes.

-Music. This is a funny one! Music is all about personal preference, there isn’t a God ordained style of music, intentionally! Here’s a “prayer request” I received one time. (if you ever have an issue, talk about it! Don’t send an anonymous note!)

-Playing cards. Grandma found my dad and I playing hearts and shared she wasn’t allowed to!

-Dancing. Grandma WAS allowed to dance!

-Watching movies. I remember hearing a retired pastor do a pulpit fill at a church I served onetime who used a movie as an illustration, and then said “I know I’m not supposed to watch movies.”

-Tertullian: “Just as Jesus was crucified between two thieves, so the gospel is ever crucified between…two errors.” Keller: Religion, and irreligion. “Religion says that we have to live a holy, good life in order to be saved. Irreligion says that because we are saved, we don’t have to live a holy, good life.”

-The gospel cuts through both of these problems and can’t be summarized by either of them! Jesus says you can’t save yourself, so come to Him! Jesus then goes on to say because you are saved you can now live a holy and good life!

-Both are problems: we can’t just say we’re saved and live however we’re want (which cuts against some of the hyper-individualism of our culture), but we also can’t say that in order to be saved you have to live/ act/ dress a certain way (which cuts against everyone’s impulses! Just tell me what I have to do, and I’ll do it! The problem with that is that it’s already been done! 

• The Heart of the Matter (14-23)

-Jesus summarizes the conversation with the Pharisees and scribes by telling the crowd nearby that holiness (purity, cleanliness) isn’t a matter of following all the rules perfectly. They have the order reversed! What comes out reveals whether someone is holy or not.

-Walking with a full glass of dirty water, what comes out if someone bumps me? Is it their fault, or mine? Pharisees would say it’s your fault because you were unclean and spilled that uncleanness onto me! Jesus would say it’s my fault, because I don’t have to be unclean!

-Disciples ask the question, and Jesus gives a basic biology lesson. The stomach and the heart are 2 very different systems with 2 very different purposes and functions. (one aspect of which means we get to eat pig now! And if anyone else has had pork, sausage or bacon (not turkey bacon that’s gross), you can thank Jesus for that!)

-Not only can food not defile you, what can defile you is found in the heart (the center of your being) A long list of issues! Once again, Jesus is reminding us that we don’t pursue these sinful traits and then throw up a quick confession and go back to our sinful ways, these external traits reveal the status of our heart, which determines whether we’re clean or dirty.

-The difficulty is it’s WAY harder to diagnose a heart issue, and WAY easier to get what looks like obedience by just following the right rules, which is legalism. Creating a fence around the law so you don’t even get close to breaking the rules. (dog who’s an escape artist, don’t let him near doors that go outside, don’t let him near doors, don’t let him outside his room, don’t let him outside his crate)

-Almost hate to talk about it, but one of the best examples of this took place a few years ago with the Duggar family (stars of 17, 18, 19 kids and counting). It was revealed that Josh had abused his sisters as they were growing up. This shouldn’t have happened! They were sheltered from the bad influences of the world! They weren’t allowed to watch TV shows, the internet was filtered, they were only allowed to wear specific and modest clothing, weren’t even allowed to date (or court) without a chaperone. How could such a terrible thing happen? Because sin isn’t something we need to be sheltered from, sin is something we need to be delivered from. We have a tendency to view discipleship as protection from (don’t do this list of rules), instead we need to view discipleship (parenting is the best place to be making disciples) as equipping and training to overcome the world (through Jesus). A list of rules isn’t enough to transform a sinful heart, for that we need a Savior. Solzhenitsyn. Chesterton: “I am.” 

-If you haven’t ever trusted in Jesus, today is a great day to do that! Throughout the book of Acts, we see people hearing this message and asking: What do I need to do to be saved? The answer: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

-When you are saved, Jesus’ heart towards you becomes tender and compassionate, and pursuing holiness suddenly becomes a joy instead of a burden, as is demonstrated by the rest of this chapter:

• The Heart of God (24-37)
  • Toward a Gentile Woman (24-30)

-“Region” doesn’t say he’s in Tyre and Sidon, that’s important as I’ll share later. This is a bit of an alarming text, as Jesus appears heartless, racist, and demeaning, He doesn’t seem like the kind compassionate person we’ve come to know Him as. Perhaps Jesus is hangry again, as He was toward the fig tree that we studied on Palm Sunday?

-We need to note the bigger context of what’s taking place: last week we saw a story of thousands being fed by a lunchable, and then Jesus walks on water and Mark says the disciples still had hard hearts about the feeding/bread.

-Bread is a demonstration of God’s provision: we have no spiritual needs, we’ll lack nothing because God has and will continue to provide. But guess what, that feeding is only the first time Jesus provides for the masses, next week we’ll be looking at the only slightly less miraculous feeding of the 4,000, and smack in between those 2 miracles is this woman who has a conversation with Jesus about bread.

-Once again, Jesus is trying to withdraw to spend time teaching His disciples and to recharge. But His fame has spread so far that even Gentiles want to be with Him now! This women isn’t just a Gentile though, she’s a Syrophoenician which is the worst of the worst. And this woman’s daughter is afflicted by an evil spirit who torments her. 

-Remember Jairus from a few weeks ago, who had a daughter in a similar position? He should come into mind now because there’s an intentional comparison being drawn between those who are “in” and those who are “out.” This woman was as far “out” as you can get! A Gentile, living in a Gentile territory, and born as a sworn enemy of Israel. Yet she knows there’s something different about this Jesus that demands a response from her. 

-Before we look at their conversation, we need to go back a few books of the Bible to 1 Kings 17, to a prophet named Elijah.

-Elijah lived in a rough time of Israel’s history: corrupt king who just wanted power, his wife was literally Jezebel who was a vindictive, conniving woman. She brought the worship of a false god named Baal to Israel, and introduced it in Tyre. Elijah heard from the Lord that there would be a 3 year draught in Israel that would wipe out much of the economy of the land, yet the King still didn’t repent! God leads Elijah to Sidon (where we’re at in today’s story!) to a Gentile widow who was used to feed Elijah, and just as God provided for the thousands in Mark, God provided flour and oil for this widow and her family throughout the entire drought. Yet shortly after this provision of food, the woman’s son died, and God provided for her again by Elijah raising her son back to life! Do you think that story may have been passed down through the generations in this “area of Tyre and Sidon,” so this mother knew that if a prophet from God came there was the potential for healing and provision?

-Think of the state of both of these children: in Elijah’s day the child was dead, in Jesus’ day do you think his mother wished her child to be dead to spare her from her misery? JC Ryle: “Hopeless and desperate as her case appeared, she had a praying mother. And where there is a praying mother, there is always hope.” Story of Grandma praying for my dad’s cousin Rick

-With all that background in mind, look at what Jesus says to her (27). Dog is a derogatory way of referring to a Gentile. 1^st cent. Jewish writings would refer to Gentiles as dogs (not house pets, dirty scavengers like rats). Jesus tells her His primary mission and focus is to the Israelites, God’s chosen people. They must be fed first (which they just had in the previous chapter), and it’s wrong to try to feed the “dogs” when the “children” are going hungry.

-The woman is shown to know who Jesus is. In Matthew’s account of this story, she calls out to Jesus 3 times calling Him Lord, the Son of David. There’s no doubt, no confusion, no hard heart. Compare that to the scribes & Pharisees, or the crowd, or even at this point the disciples. Peter’s confession doesn’t come until the next chapter, this woman acknowledges who Jesus really is before the disciples!

-In Jesus’ reply to this woman, He seems to tip her off to an underlying message He’s trying to communicate – kind of like when you pick on someone and wink at them as you say it! Remember who else is with Jesus: His disciples! So as He talks to this woman He’s also using it to teach a lesson to them, it’s like He’s answering the woman while staring at His followers. This is exactly how they would refer to this woman, IF they’d even acknowledge she exists (in Matthew the woman is so persistent they beg Jesus to get rid of her). What’s Jesus’ underlying message that she goes for? “First.” She said “give them all they want! If the only thing available to me is the crumbs I WANT THE CRUMBS! Heard 1 pastor say, she heard Jesus’ reply and said “So you’re saying there’s a chance.” 

-NLT – “Good answer!” 

-Church don’t miss this: even the crumbs God are better than a full meal of earthly goods. The crumbs will last forever, everything else will fade away, and crumbs from God are enough to satisfy the deepest longings and desires of your heart.

• Toward a Deaf Man (31-37)

-Takes the long way around (no one knows why), to end up in the Decapolis: Greek for 10 cities. Similar to the previous story, He’s not going to get a break! As soon as people find out who’s in town, they’ll flock to Him! This time, they brought a man who was deaf and had a talking issue in order to be healed by Jesus.

-Jesus takes Him away privately. Jesus doesn’t see the man as a mere problem or issue, but as a person. Jesus then does some things that seem weird, right? Wet willy in his ears, then spits on his hand and touches the man’s tongue. 

-Ferguson quote.

-What do you think was behind Jesus’ sigh? Could also translate that as a groan. Ears blocked up and inability to talk aren’t the way things are supposed to be. When God created the world, everything was very good. All these other issues is because of the effects of sin in our broken world today.

-The result of this miracle is the same response to God’s initial creation of the world: it is very good! Everlasting peace has been brought back into the world, things are as they should be once again!

-These miracles demonstrate the joy that comes from living as children of God. Because God does everything well, there’s hope for all of our lives to be restored and renewed. It might not happen on this side of eternity, but it’s guaranteed to come. God has provided everything we need, and then some, IF we put our faith in Him.

-What is your favorite story?

-Tortoise and the hare, George Washington and the cherry tree, or even the modern stories of Steve Rogers becoming Capt America, Tony Stark designing the iron man suit, or Harry Potter discovering he’s a wizard.

-We are storied creatures, we live for stories, we even use stories to make sense of our world. I started reading a book this week that talks about how the story of the Bible helps us to see and understand everything around us, and at first glance it appears to be at least contradictory, if not outright foolish!

-If anyone wants to be first they must become last, in order to find your life you need to lose it.

-The reason that we spend so much reading and studying the Bible is because it happens to be the one true story that all other stories are mere imitations of. 

-You want a self-sacrificial hero? How about a damsel in distress? You want stories that seem too good to be true? How about stories where the underdog destroys the champion? It’s all in here! So if we want to learn the true story that we’re a part of and how we should live in this world we need to know what the Bible says, as well as how we then become truly human by becoming more and more of what God has created us to be.

-Today we’re going to read the story of a man who devoted His whole life to serving God, and his life didn’t turn out as what we would describe as a success, at least in worldly terms. Yet this guy is described by Jesus as having no one greater than him! That is HIGH praise! So let’s read this passage and see how we need to reframe some of our thinking to be what Jesus has called us to be.

READ/PRAY (pg. 491)

1. Jesus’ Expanding Ministry (6-13, 30)

-Since we took a couple weeks off, we need to take some time remember what we’ve been studying! If you forgot or are new: we’re walking section by section through the Gospel of Mark! Mark is most likely the first written Gospel, recorded by John Mark who wrote down the memories of the Apostle Peter. Can easily split the book into 2 sections that center on Jesus’ authority: the first 8 chapters are Jesus demonstrating His authority through teaching and evidenced by miracles which culminates in Jesus asking Peter: who do you say that I am? Peter gets it, but he doesn’t get it, because Mark says that right after this confession he confronts Jesus about His upcoming death. Jesus then changes the focus of His ministry toward His upcoming death on the cross and begins moving closer and closer to Jerusalem.

-A few themes to remember:

-Jesus primary ministry/mission is preaching. The healings and exorcisms are just examples of his authority. This is an important note for us today as well! Just as Jesus’ primary focus was on preaching, so our primary focus should be on preaching the good news of what Jesus has done, and then out of that comes acts of love and service towards others. We cannot and should not separate these 2 things that God has meant to keep together.

-Getting a little closer to our passage, we saw multiple healings over a short period of time (storm, healing a possessed man, woman bleeding, and Jairus’ daughter) These healings were meant to serve as living parables, demonstrations of what Jesus’ message leads to: flourishing as a human.

-Finally, the first few verses of chpt. 6 recount Jesus’ rejection at His hometown of Nazareth, which causes His ministry to continue spreading further beyond the borders of Galilee, which means He’s going to need some help! We pick it up in vs. 6 where after marveling at the people’s unbelief, He goes out from there to continue going about His primary ministry: teaching.

-Jesus’ plan to carry out His mission and ministry is to use His followers. It says He called “the twelve.” To understand this reference, we need to look back to Mark 3:14“And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles)” There are some things to note about how Jesus sends them out:

-2 by 2: 

-Support (doing manual labor becomes infinitely easier when you have someone else doing it with you), 

-accountability (it’s easy to give up if you’re by yourself Bonhoeffer: “The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.”), 

-remember/emphasize different things. (Time at the pastor’s party talking to a new person when I ran out of questions, and Cara just kept going!) This is where we need each other, a body to actually function as God has intended us to.

-What else did He give His disciples? Authority. The same authority that He had was bestowed on His disciples. Once again, remember that the primary focus of Jesus’ ministry is teaching, but the reason that teaching is trustworthy is because it’s backed up by actions, which the disciples are given the authority to do. 

-Then we come to a bit of weird section of instructions for the disciples, as well as the question of how much this idea should remain true today. What are they supposed to take with them? Nothing except a staff, and make sure they have sandals, and just the clothes on their back. In other words, as they pursue teaching like their teacher, they should be marked by simplicity.

-I’ve been contemplating this idea since last summer, when I read a book titled ‘The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry’ (and have since loaned it out to a handful of you, AND there’s a Right Now study on it) The author talked about 4 spiritual practices we need to recover: Silence and solitude, sabbath, simplicity, slowing. But the one that stood out to me was simplicity. How do you process Jesus’ command “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Another way of translating “blessed” is “happy,” but a supernatural crazy happiness. There’s a lot that could be said about this idea, which I don’t have time to go much further in today, so if you’re interested watch for tomorrow’s Sermon Scraps (if you haven’t signed up, you can find it on our YouTube page)

-A second component to this simplicity is that they were to be reliant on others hospitality.

 -We need to be hospitable! Tertullian (African writing in the 2^nd cent.): “We do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives.” The kind of person Jesus is looking for to follow Him is someone who is hospitable, it is actually commanded in the Bible for all those who follow Jesus! Do you open your home to others? I remember growing up anytime we had people over it was a whole big affair! Every room was cleaned from top to bottom, shelves were dusted, toys were put in their “proper” place (which apparently wasn’t the floor). The meal prepared took hours, that’s not bad, but that’s also not what hospitality is. Hospitality is welcoming people in who may never invite you back over! Get some Papa Murphys pizza, eat some leftovers! The important part is the time together, not what you’re eating. 

-The second thing Jesus tells His disciples is to not keep looking for the best place. The temptation would be to find whomever will bring you in, then as you start to minister, find better accommodations. Jesus is telling His disciples they can’t live this way, instead they’re supposed to be content! Paul even picks up this idea in 1 Tim. 6:8 “If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” Once again, this idea of simplicity is brought up here as a virtue for the Christ-follower. 

-Some of this was compared to other teachers and philosophers of the day. While teaching about supposed virtue, they would try to make money and get recognition from others instead of looking to serve. Unfortunately, this is also true in ministry today! Pastors using a church to prop themselves up, or serving a church for a season until they can move to a bigger or more well-known church. It seems far too many people care far more about worldly recognition than recognition in God’s kingdom.

-The last thing Jesus tells them is the way they identify an unrepentant community: shake the dust off their feet, that’s all we have to do! It’s both incredibly easy, but also serves as a reminder that the sword isn’t the oversight of the church. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual realms, which means we use different weapons than the world! This is another reason Jesus’ disciples were so disappointed when He died – He didn’t come in power, He came to be a victim of the power.

-With all that said, they are now ready to go on their first teaching journey, and they begin by preaching what Jesus has preached (repentance) And, to validate their teaching, they were able to perform exorcisms and heal the sick.

-This is preparing the disciples for a lifetime of ministry where they’re doing exactly what they did here. One thing to note, that is both descriptive of them, and true of people I’ve seen in ministry: you’re never completely ready! As we work at helping people take 1 step closer to Jesus, we need to provide opportunities for them to fail.

-The first time I led a song at church I was 13 years old, I was too embarrassed to use a mic (so no one could sing along) and I only knew 3 guitar chords! Things have progressed a little bit for me since then. I preached my first sermon when I was 19. I timed it before I went up front and it was supposed to be 30 minutes. I talked so fast I got it done in 20 (and you think I talk fast today!). It takes time and practice to grow in what God has called us to, the key is to continue doing it!

-This is discipleship! Using your gifts, preaching the gospel to others, and adorning the faith we believe with our good works (Titus 2:10) What does it look like here:

1-Bring someone along, show them what it looks like to minister to others, then encourage them to do it with you watching, and eventually by themselves, then keep going (2 by 2 seen in 2 Tim. 2:2)

2-Just as the disciples have Jesus’ authority, so do we (Rom. 8:11) The same power (Holy Spirit) that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in you and me, so why would act timid or afraid or refuse to use our gifts?

3-As this progresses, the disciples eventually become “living letters” (2 Cor. 3:2-3) of God. Others will start to see the ways we care about God and each other and ask what’s different about us!

-Going to jump ahead a few verses to 30. We need to take time to celebrate and acknowledge the ways God is working. I am not always good at this, I have a tendency to see the problems that need to be fixed instead of giving thanks for what God has done! As you serve, as you preach, take stock and praise God for how He’s working in and through you.

-But it’s not only ever going to be positives, because sometimes following Jesus means you’ll face persecution, which is ultimately where all the disciples will end up:

• An Example of Following Christ (14-29)

-Think of how excited the disciples would have been, coming off the high of ministry! If you ever went to camp in the summer, the “camp high” is a real thing, and these disciples were able to perform unbelievable acts of healing! Mark intentionally contrasted these 2 stories together to show what the consequences are of a life fully surrendered to Jesus.

-“King Herod heard of it” Which Herod is this? Confusing soap opera of a family! Herodian dynasty. Bold names are in the Bible

–Herod the Great the Herod of the Christmas story who slaughtered all baby boys 2 and under in Bethlehem. He had 10 wives (MANY kids) need to know 3 of them:

–Herod Aristobulus (fathered Agrippa 1 and Herodias, who we read about in today’s story)

–Herod Phillip married his niece Herodias and became the father of Salome 

–Herod Antipas – (ruled over Galilee) married his niece/sister-in-law Herodias after her divorce from his brother Herod Phillip. Brought grand-niece/niece/step-daughter Salome to come dance, met with Jesus before crucifixion. Similar to King Ahab in the OT, was far more influenced by his wife, and was frustrated that his brother got the title of “king” so he begged to have the same title, and in response got run out of office by nephew/brother-in-law: 

–Herod Agrippa I (arrested Peter, killed James, eaten by worms)

-Nothing redeeming about this family! Deceptive, lying, power hungry people.

-I mentioned this Herod during Good Friday, and this is where we see Herod first wanting to get to know Jesus. Look at how people are viewing Him: 

-J the Baptist is back from the dead! This would make Jesus nothing more than a ghost, but would also explain why He has the incredible powers He has.

-Others thought He was Elijah. Some prophecies from the first century believed that just as Elijah was taken up to heaven, His return would signal the last days had arrived (2 people in the OT didn’t die: Enoch walked with God and was somehow taken straight to heaven, Elijah found his successor in Elisha, and Elisha saw a chariot of fire come down and take Elijah to be with God).

-The other option was Jesus was another prophet. This would also be miraculous because they were coming out of the 400 silent years, so Jesus’ arrival would mean that God is speaking once again!

-Herod thinks it’s the first option. Why? John’s ghost come back to haunt him.

-What’s fascinating is this story comes right on the heels of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth, Herod got closer to the truth than they!

-Herod was intrigued by John (just like he was with Jesus as is made clear by both the Good Friday account and this story), but he also wanted to be with his conniving niece/sister-in-law/wife Herodias (really bad with names). Multiple issues with marrying your sister-in-law, not least of which it’s forbidden by the OT, so John speaks out against it.

-Herod attempts to protect John by throwing him in prison because Herod knew there was something special about John, and enjoyed hearing his message. Notice what it says about Herod listening to John: “He was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.” 

-What was John’s message? Mark 1:4 “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” This causes us to ask a question for all of us: how do you respond to the preaching of God’s Word? Does it “greatly perplex” you, or does it transform you? If I didn’t believe in the power of God’s Word to transform us I would stop what I’m doing in a heartbeat! If all I have are words on a page (or screen) to your ears, then I’m wasting time, but if these words are literally the power of God for salvation (which they are) then we need to respond to what we’re hearing together! And here’s the thing: it starts with me! I spend hours reading, studying and praying about these messages, but I first and foremost have to pray that I’m transformed by the words I’m reading! Another paradox: I’m preaching to myself along with you! I need these words that I’m sharing with you because we all need to be encouraged to become more like Christ!

-Notice in vs. 19 that Herodias kept a grudge against John (one commentator quipped that she only viewed the marriage certificate as true if it was written on the back of John’s death certificate) Herod had been trying to keep John safe, but he also enjoyed his sin too much, and that sin was crouching and waiting for Herod to make a mistake. It finally came during Herod’s birthday party. Romans threw lavish parties, apparently Herod was no exception! Lots of drinking, lots of food, there was nothing held back. 

-As part of the frivolities of the birthday celebration, Herod brought his great-niece/niece/step-daughter in to dance for the crowd, and apparently made quite the impact! Both Herod and his crew seemed to have liked her moves.

-After lots of eating and drinking, Herod isn’t thinking clearly, so he vows in front of the whole group to give her anything she wants (hyperbolically) up to half the kingdom. One thing I didn’t mention earlier: Herod wasn’t the king. Herod was a tetrarch who was more like a governor. He couldn’t even give away half the kingdom if he wanted to, but he’s so drunk with power that he makes a foolish promise.

-Mom’s antagonism toward John passed down to her daughter, Salome runs back in and demands John’s head on a platter

-Herod sobered up quickly! It says he was “exceedingly sorry.” 

-We’re supposed to see a big contrast between John and Herod. John’s ministry was in the backwoods. He had nothing, he ate sparingly, yet he wasn’t afraid to proclaim the truth, even when he was brought in front of Herod, and there was something at work in Herod’s heart to see that John spoke the truth, but it stopped there. It didn’t change his heart or lead to a new way of living for Herod. Where John boldly proclaimed just the truth, Herod rashly spoke and lived to regret it.

-However, Herod liked the power and prestige that came from his position, and Mark tells us that despite regretting it, Herod immediately sent the execution order down. Herod wanted to save face instead of saving a righteous and holy man.

-Debauchery of the party culminated in the most gruesome scene yet: John’s head brought in on a platter.

-Who cares for John’s body? His disciples.

-Picture of following after Jesus, may lead to death (church history tells us 10 of the 11 disciples alive after Jesus’ resurrection faced martyrdom)

-But it’s also a picture of another holy and righteous man who would also stand in front of Herod just a couple years later. Unfortunately, Herod hadn’t changed at all, and just as John died a gruesome death, so this second man would die a gruesome death and have his body taken care of by His disciples.

-But the reality is, both of their ministries carried on after Herod’s pronouncement of death. Repentance is still available, and it comes about through the words of those same disciples: repent and believe! Because of Jesus’ death all those things that Herod was trying to hold on to don’t matter anymore! There’s peace and hope and eternal life available to anyone and everyone: so those of us who are saved have the job to proclaim that message far and wide, but realize that doing so will lead to at the minimum losing some social credibility, and at the extreme can lead to losing your life. But as I said at the beginning, that’s the only way you can find it.