- What shapes your picture of Jesus?
- Your upbringing
- Your experiences
- His teachings
- Your influences
- Your emotions
Mark 6:14-16 (NLT) Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.” Others said, “He’s the prophet Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet like the other great prophets of the past.” When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead.”
- Like today, everyone speculated on the identity of Jesus.
- Matthew 16:13-17 (NLT) When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.
- Herod’s take: he’s JTB
- Herrod asked the question because he was haunted by a guilty conscience
- Here’s why….
Disturbed & Curious
Mark 6:17-20 (NLT) For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.
- John the Baptist had called out Herod’s sin, so Herod locked him up. But though he was disturbed by John’s judgment, he was also curious about his message. Many seekers today feel the same way about Jesus.
Moment of Weakness
Mark 6:21-29 (NLT) Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”
She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?”
Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!”
So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”
Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison, brought his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl, who took it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came to get his body and buried it in a tomb.
- In a moment of weakness Herod sold out John the Baptist and had him beheaded. It’s a frightening example of how easily we can be influenced to turn away from the pathway that can lead us to Christ.
- Today’s influences:
John’s Crisis
- John surprisingly had his own crisis of faith …
Matthew 11:2-3 (NLT) John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”
- JTB was bringing judgment, Jesus was bringing joy
- JTB was in prison; would Jesus judge Herod?
Matthew 11:4-6 (NLT) Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”
- Was JTB on the verge of falling away? Faith tested… deconstruction?
- (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) Jesus’ answer briefly summarized his own miracles and preaching, using the language of Isa 35:5-6; 61:1 (with possible further allusions to 26:19; 29:18-19).
- (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) But there is a second, more subtle level to Jesus’ response. All four Isaiah passages refer to judgment in their immediate context: e.g., “your God will come . . . with vengeance; with divine retribution” (35:4); “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa 61:2). Thus Jesus was allusively responding to the Baptist’s question: the blessings promised for the end time have broken out and prove it is here, even though the judgments are delayed.
- John surprisingly had his own crisis of faith while he was in prison, and he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer is a reminder that true followers will stay faithful to the end, even in the face of violence. Matthew 11:4-6
Matthew 11:11-12 (NLT) “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.”
- (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) To summarize, simultaneous with the kingdom’s advance have been the attacks of violent people on it. That is the very point John could not grasp. Now Jesus expressly affirms it.
- How are we greater than JTB? In the war with the world, and given our place in salvation history, we can point even more clearly to Jesus!
