For Herod himself
had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the
wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been
saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's
wife." Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death
and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a
righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was
very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. A strategic day came
when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders
and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came
in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to
the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."
And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to
half of my kingdom." And she went out and said to her mother, "What
shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."
Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, "I want you
to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." And
although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his
dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an
executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him
beheaded in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the
girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about this,
they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
Mark backtracks in his chronology of Jesus’ life to
explain what happened to John the Baptist in order that we might understand why
Herod responded the way he did. John was
preaching repentance, and he also publicly preached that Herod the king should
repent as well. Herod, although claiming
to obey the law of Moses, broke the Mosaic law of incest by marrying his
brother’s wife while his brother was still alive. Herod, actually being more influenced by
Roman law than Jewish, didn’t see a problem with it until John pointed it
out. Herod’s wife—who felt personally
attacked by John—demanded that Herod put John in jail, and she looked for an
opportunity to kill John. Herod was
particularly pleased by a dance his step-daughter offered him. Herod was so excited by this that he offered
her anything she wanted. Herod’s wife
took advantage of this offer in order to kill John. Herod at this point was in a quandary. He knew that to kill a prophet of God was
displeasing to God. But if he broke his
promise, he would be shamed before all the people he wanted to honor him as a
just king. So he allowed John to be
killed in order to have a good reputation.
In the parable of the soils, Herod’s wife would be the unbelieving soil,
Herod would be the soil that gave up under pressure from others (persecution)
and John would be the soil that remained faithful to the end, even through
persecution. John here is the forerunner
to Jesus not only in message, but also in his manner of death at the hand of
government officials.
The most difficult kind of official is not the hard-headed, determined leader. At least we know their ideals, their goals and can speak to them. The most dangerous official is the weak leader, who is led by his passions, his whims and his concerns with what others think of him. A weak leader isn't a person who can't control those under him, but who cannot control himself.
All throughout the Bible, it is clear that weak, undetermined leaders are one of the major problems of society at large. Ahab was one of those leaders, being led by the paganism of his wife. Mind you, outright evil leaders are no better, but a weak leader can be among the worst of leaders. A weak leader can determine something and then change his mind a few minutes later. A weak leader can have varying moods, where those under him have to carefully walk around him lest he strike out at them. Most difficult is that a weak leader will punish those under him for his own issues. Any problem he has he considers to be the problem of those under him.
Any of us can be this weak leader. A weak leader can be a government leader, but he could also be a pastor, a father, a mother, a social worker, a boss, a pet owner. How we respond to those under us is how we ourselves will be judged. Jesus' solution to this is simple: Be strong in love. His example is leadership is determine to benefit those under him, no matter what it costs himself. The opposite of Herod is Jesus. As leaders we can serve ourselves, or serve those under us.
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