Mark 6:14-31 King Herod and John the Baptist
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 28, 2018, Mark 6:14-31
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
King Herod heard about this, because Jesus’ name had become well-known. He was saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead! That’s why he is able to do these miracles.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the other prophets.” But when Herod heard about it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised,” because Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him with chains, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom Herod had married. John had been telling Herod, “It’s not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t do it because Herod was afraid of John. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man, and so he protected him. Whenever he listened to John, he did much of what he said. In fact, he liked listening to him. An opportunity came during Herod’s birthday celebration, when he gave a banquet for his top officials, military officers, and the most important people of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. So the king told the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” He swore with an oath to her, “I’ll give you anything you ask for, up to half of my kingdom.” So she went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” Immediately the girl hurried back to the king with her request, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply saddened, yet because of his oaths and his guests he was reluctant to refuse her. So without delay the king sent a soldier and ordered him to bring John’s head. The soldier went and beheaded him in prison. Then he brought John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and carried off his body and laid it in a tomb. The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. He told them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while,” because so many people were coming and going that they didn’t even have time to eat.
(Understanding the Text) Location: F. F. Bruce’s commentary says “Josephus stating that the site of the imprisonment was Machererus, a frontier fortress in the south of Perea, and east of the Dead Sea (Ant. XVIII. v. 2).” (page 1164)
Herod Antipas is an example of the danger of not listening to God’s message and waffling over which side you’ll be on in the Great Controversy between God and Satan. John told Herod not to marry his brother’s wife, but Herod Antipas did not listen. Then, Herodias viewed John as a danger to her position, so she talked Herod into arresting John. However, Herod Antipas knew that John was from God, so he refused to do more than arrest John. In fact, he would summon John to talk with him. Herod Antipas would listen to what John told him and try to do it, but he did not totally commit to following God. He still lived an extravagant life and cared more about the world and his power in the world than he cared about God and feared God’s power. If he truly wanted to follow God, he should have released John from imprisonment. The time came when Satan maneuvered Herod Antipas into a choice between killing God’s prophet or going back on an oath, a decision that would lower his position in the world. At first glance, this is the deciding moment where he turns against God, but in reality the decision had been made step-by-step over a period of time, and this was just the final step. The Holy Spirit had been trying to reach him, but he loved the world more than he feared God. In the end, all his maneuvering and compromising led to a guilty conscience and exile from power. His superstitious fear that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead demonstrates how far he was from knowing God. John the Baptist never performed miracles while he was alive, so it makes no sense to think that the man performing miracles was John the Baptist. God does not work like that and has never worked like that. This is a pagan belief.
(Application) These two men are an example of the foolishness of the world’s wisdom. By the world’s standard, Herod Antipas was favored and full of power. His choices would seem to be the wiser ones. In contrast, John the Baptist was his prisoner and would soon die. John would seem to have made stupid choices from being poor, living a life of narrow choices, and pointing out sin so that people could repent and choose God. However, John had people who loved him simply because he was full of the Spirit of God. Jesus said that there were none who were greater than John among men. In heaven’s eyes John made the intelligent choices. Herod knew that while his choices seemed intelligent according to the world’s rules that he was missing something. He knew that there was something wrong. Later, he would be haunted by his actions and full of fear. Ultimately, he lost his position as king. The world’s choices are only intelligent if one discounts the resurrection of Jesus. If we do not believe that there is life after dying, then grabbing all the power and comfort and pleasure you can get in your short life makes sense. However, when there is a chance to live forever in happiness, those choices seem stupid.
(Understanding the Passage) John the Baptist probably knew the fickleness of Herod Antipas’ character. I am sure that death held no fear for him. His only concern was the Messiah. In prison where he was away from the open spaces of nature and his only sources for information were Herod Antipas, the guards, and the believers who clung to Him instead of following Jesus, he began to doubt himself. This was the real crisis of belief in that place, not Herod Antipas’ flip-flopping. However, John knew what to do with his doubts. He knew to go to the source. I have to wonder how much of those doubts came from his followers. I have to wonder whether John really doubted that much or if he was sending his doubting followers to Jesus to see for themselves if he was the Messiah. This might explain why Jesus did not give a verbal message to John, but simply told the followers to watch and report back what they saw Jesus doing. Thus, the followers could become believers. Although they only met for a brief time, the two worked together as a team, so it makes me think that John was not doubting so much as his followers were who clung to him.
After John’s death, His followers buried his body. Matthew says, “When John’s disciples came, they carried off the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard this, he left that place and went by boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the neighboring towns.” (Mat 14:12-13). On the other hand, Mark says “The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. He told them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while,” because so many people were coming and going that they didn’t even have time to eat.” (Mar 6:30-31). One gospel says that Jesus goes to a deserted spot by himself after hearing about John’s death. The other gospel says that the reason for going to the deserted place was the apostle’s return from their mission and the demands of the crowds so they needed rest. I think this is just a case of different perspectives on the same situation. They are both true, but each is not necessarily the whole truth. This was a case of different situations all reaching a culmination at the same time. Jesus was leaving the crowds to go to a deserted place taking his disciples with him. We can know this because he went by boat, and the disciples would have crewed the boat. Once in the deserted place, he may have gone off by himself to pray. John’s death would not have saddened Jesus as He knew that John was now resting until the second coming, but it would have signaled a new stage in Jesus’ ministry, a new time that would need consultation with His Father. However, Jesus was also using this short period of alone time to debrief His students after their journeys so that they would learn the lessons that He needed them to learn from their experiences. He also knew that the disciples needed a time of rest from the demands of their journeys and the crowd before they would be ready for the next phase of the ministry.
(Application) I have to wonder what kind of women not only demand a man’s death, but ask for the head on a platter? What kind of woman takes the head of a dead man and presents it to her mother? I think a lot of people today are becoming more and more calloused. Will the time come when people I know would think nothing of doing something similar? Or is it the removal from the messiness of death that allows people to be calloused? Will they demand such death simply because they do not have to face the reality of their demands?
(Revelation of God) Jesus loved and respected John, but He left John in prison to be killed. When we are in the service of God and experience bad things, it does not mean that God does not care for us. It means that there is more going on than we know, but the day will come when we will be able to speak with Jesus about His decisions for our lives face to face. When that time comes, one thing we will never doubt is His love.
(Prayer) I pray to have a humble fearless heart like John the Baptist. I pray to serve You no matter where I am called to serve. Teach me to always go to You with my doubts and fears. Give me faith to see Your love in even the most trying times.