John and Herod (Matt. 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29)

This sermon was preached on 8/7/2012

John had been put in prison by Herod Antipas because of his faithful preaching. According to Josephus, the killing took place in one of Herod’s fortresses called Machaerus which was located north-east of the Dead Sea. The main reason for John’s confinement was connected to how he applied his preaching to the behaviour of Herod and his unlawful Herodius. Perhaps Herod had moved John there in order to get him away from Galilee.

Herodius was the former wife of Herod’s brother, Philip, and her marriage to Herod was against God’s instructions concerning marriage. Herod had met her during a visit to Philip, and despite the fact that Herod also was already married to the daughter of King Aretas IV of the province of Arabia, they became infatuated with one another and then husband and wife. Marriage to the spouse of a near relative was forbidden in the Levitical law, and the fact that John was prepared to preach about it to a non-Jew shows that the law was applicable to other races as well (the marriage was made more offensive by the fact that Herodius was also Herod’s niece). So we can easily see the kind of morals that were followed in that family.

Herod himself does not seem to have objected to John’s teaching, probably because he was aware already of what God’s Word said on the matter. Herodius, however, was highly offended by what John said and wanted him executed. Therefore, in order to protect John, Herod put him in prison. And later in prison, he was put to death because of his faithful preaching. This leads us, first, to consider briefly three features of faithful preaching.

The content of faithful preaching

How do we define faithful preaching? One way by which we do so is what we can call the test of orthodoxy. We can assess whether or not a person preaches accurate doctrine, say according to the Westminster Confession of Faith or a similar doctrinal standard. If a person does not preach to that standard, then we can classify him as unfaithful. But does such a classification mean that each person who preaches accurately about doctrine is a faithful preacher? The answer to that question is No, because more than accuracy is required. After all, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, could have preached a doctrinally accurate sermon, and probably did, otherwise he would have been found out by his listeners. So what else is needed in addition to accuracy or orthodoxy?

John was a faithful preacher, and once can easily tell from his style of preaching that he was also an ardent man. He was energetic and enthusiastic, and his preaching would have been perceived by his many listeners as dynamic. Such a person is an attractive preacher to listen to, and it would have been possible for his hearers to have been highly impressed, even overawed, by his words. No doubt many went to hear John because of this important aspect of his preaching. But it was not his ardency that made him a faithful preacher.

The feature of John’s ministry that enables us to regard him as a faithful preacher was his application of the accurate preaching that he declared ardently. We will consider his application of his words to Herod and Herodius shortly, but before we do we can ask ourselves what is meant by application. It is helpful to divide it into two aspects, what we can call general application and specific application. Both aspects are obvious in their meaning. General application occurs, for example, when a preacher tells his audience that Jesus must be first in their lives, that they should live in such a way that they are his disciples. Specific application is more focussed, and usually it highlights one or two matters in the lives of the listeners.

Sometimes the preacher is specific because he already knows about the sinful behaviour (as John knew about Herod and Herodius). At other times, the preacher can be very specific, but does not have any person in mind. Yet he discovers afterwards that his descriptions were very precise and went like bullets into someone’s heart. The hearer may imagine that someone has told personal details to the preacher, when in reality what is happening is that the Holy Spirit is using the preacher to speak to others about their personal sins.

So correct application, from a concerned heart, moved by the Holy Spirit, is an essential mark of a faithful preacher.

Herod and Herodius

John had many listeners, and one of them was Herod. It is not clear if Herodius ever heard John, although she was told about what he said about her relationship with Herod. Whether she heard John or not, we can see that she was highly offended by what he said about her. Her response is not unique to her; in fact it is a very common reaction to the demands of the Word of God. It can be assumed that if people are not offended by God’s demands then they have not been spelt out very clearly. People are offended if they are told that their specific way of living is sinful. Like Herodius, they become antagonistic and even threatening towards the preacher.

Herod was different. His response to John was almost one of admiration. It is the case that Herod was superstitious (we can see that this was so in his reaction to Jesus because he imagined that Jesus was John raised from the dead). Yet he had more than superstition in his outlook. He liked to listen to John, he even enjoyed his sermons. ‘He feared John, we are told, knowing that he “was a just man and a holy.” There was still a conscience in him. By one nod to a myrmidon to cut him down, when he uttered his uncourtly charge, he might have silenced the prophet; but he let him speak on; perhaps he even liked his faithfulness. Ungodly people sometimes admire a minister the more because he is not afraid of their faces and does not spare their sins. They know it is his duty; and they would despise him if he neglected it through fear of them’ (James Stalker).

The king’s main response to John’s applications was not antagonism but perplexity. The more he listened, the more perplexed he became. Why? Because he did not deal with the sins that John was highlighting. As Herod listened, he kept putting off dealing with the sin in his life. Something told him John was right, but a battle went on his soul. Herod knew that if he listened to John there would be repercussions. He would have to divorce Herodius, and that would be embarrassing publicly. So Herod opted for compromise – a little bit of personal religion without any public religion, and without repentance in either area. As Spurgeon put it, Herod ‘had enough conscience to scare him, though not enough to change him.’

Did Herod’s plan work? No, it did not and the reason is that eventually a situation will arise when a public decision will have to be made. The situation may come from an unexpected source, as happened with Herod. Yet behind the scenes is the God of providence forcing Herod into making a choice. The king has to decide between the preacher and the world that he lives in, and Herod makes the wrong choice. He kept his reputation and lost his soul.

We can be like Herodius, highly offended by the gospel from the moment that we hear it for the first time. Or we can be like Herod, attracted but unwilling to heed the demands of God, and when the test comes we will probably side with the opponents of Jesus. The proof that we value the gospel is that we repent of our sins.

When was the final time that Herod heard John? It was on the occasion before Herod’s birthday party, perhaps a few weeks or months in the past. Herod did not know that it was the last time he would listen to John, that it was the last time he could play around with the call from the preacher to repent of his sins. No doubt, Herod imagined that he would have plenty other opportunities. But he discovered that one can delay once too often.

What about Herod’s immediate future? We meet him once more in the Gospels and that is on the evening when Jesus was arrested. When Pilate was informed that Jesus was from Galilee, he was sent to Herod for his opinion. Herod was pleased to see Jesus because of the possibility of seeing a miracle performed by him. But Jesus said nothing to Herod, surely a solemn act of judgement on him which was connected to his murder of John. Yet Herod proceeded to mock Jesus and dressed him in splendid clothes (Luke 23:8-12). The man who spurned the words of John now spurned and mocked the Christ that John had preached.

What about Herod in later life? Although he became a friend of Pilate at the time of Jesus’ arrest, things did not work out well for him. According to Stalker, ‘King Aretas led an army into the country to avenge the dishonour done to his daughter, inflicting on Herod a severe defeat which the people attributed to the wrath of heaven. Herod appealed to the Romans for help; but in the nick of time the emperor died on whose favour he depended. Urged on by the ambition of Herodias he went to Rome, to pay homage to the new emperor and to beg for himself the title of king. But the new emperor, being prejudiced against him, not only refused his request but deprived him of his government altogether. Herod was banished to Lyons, in the south of France, where he and Herodias died miserably.’

The preacher in prison

Previously we noted that imprisoned John had his doubts about Jesus and had sent word to him for clarification. John would have been encouraged by the personal guidance given to him by Jesus, which was to consider the works that he was doing. Further, John would have been challenged by the statement of Jesus that only those who are not offended by him will be blessed. John had been given this advice and we can see that it enabled him to remain faithful to Jesus, even in prison.

Then, one evening, perhaps even as John was over-hearing the festivities taking place in the palace, he received a new visitor, the executioner sent by Herod to slay his prisoner. John would have realised there and then that the man whose soul he had endeavoured to save was now determined to lose it. In order to save face, Herod was prepared to get rid of his only lifeline to heaven. The silenced preacher became the slain preacher.

Of course, John went to heaven. In a moment, his spirit was in the Father’s house. In his cell, he may have been hoping that somehow he would be delivered. Now he found himself in the better country, waiting there for the arrival of the Saviour. He found himself with his parents, with the many who had rejoiced at his birth, with the long line of prophets who had preceded him in serving God, perhaps even with some who had listened to his message and died before him. John went to his reward.

As we cast our eyes over the terrible scene there in Herod’s palace, what can be said about his birthday celebrations? Although he does not know it, he has lost everything. In contrast, the man he has had beheaded now has everything. John had nothing to lose as far this earthly life was concerned, but he now experienced paradise.

J. C. Ryle, in commenting on Mark’s record of this event, observed that  ‘We see, finally, in these verses, how little reward some of God’s best servants receive in this world. An unjust imprisonment and a violent death were the last fruit that John the Baptist reaped, in return for his labour. Like Stephen and James, and others, of whom the world was not worthy, he was called to seal his testimony with his blood.’

Ryle then went on to remind his readers: ‘Histories like these are meant to remind us that the true Christian’s best things are yet to come. His rest, his crown, his wages, his reward, are all on the other side of the grave. Here, in this world, he must walk by faith, and not by sight; and if he looks for the praise of man, he will be disappointed. Here, in this life, he must sow, and labour, and fight, and endure persecution; and if he expects a great earthly reward, he expects what he will not find. – But this life is not all. There is to be a day of retribution. There is a glorious harvest yet to come. Heaven will make amends for all. Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard the glorious things that God has laid up for all that love Him. The value of real religion is not to be measured by the things seen, but the things unseen. “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed.” “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17).’

The consolation for puzzled people

John’s disciples were allowed to collect his body and take it for burial. No-one knows where they laid their master, but Matthew tells us what they did next. They ‘went and told Jesus’. Where else could they have gone? Who else could comfort them in their grief? In this response, they set an example for all to follow who find themselves in situations of great tragedy.

‘Ah, blessed road, whereon thousands upon thousands have followed them since! It is the right road, whatever be the trouble; but most of all when the waves and billows of doubt are breaking over the mind — when it looks as if Providence had let go the rudder, and as if there were no love at the heart of the universe. When the Son of God appears to have abandoned his own cause, and even to have given occasion to doubt his very existence, then carry the trouble to no one else, but go and tell Jesus’ (Stalker).

Some applications

There are five lessons that we can take from this sad incident. The first is, don’t mistreat your conscience. Every person has a conscience which tells him or her that an action is right or wrong. While no conscience is infallible, nevertheless usually it agrees with God’s assessment as to whether a matter is right or wrong. Sadly, most people are walking around with a stifled conscience.

The second lesson is, beware of the influence of sin. What sins was Herod guilty of? Here are three. He disobeyed the prohibitions of the Word of God with regard to his marriage. He treated the Word of God as a message for discussion rather than as a message to be obeyed. He thought more of the opinion of other people than of what God thought about him. Where did his sins take him? They took him to the point of laughing at the suffering Jesus! And they took him to a lost eternity.

The third lesson is, don’t play around with the message of the gospel. Herod tried to have a foot in both camps. He liked the lifestyle with Herodius and he liked listening to John. We should never be surprised at the type of people who enjoy listening to a sermon. Don’t ask people if they enjoyed a sermon. Ask them instead if they enjoy the salvation that is proclaimed in the sermon.

The fourth lesson is, following Jesus can have a heavy cost. The price that John paid was his life. Countless others have paid the same price, and countless more have suffered in lesser ways. Often, the opposition can be very strong and Christ’s cause can seem so weak. Yet it is when it is crushed that its endurance is seen.

The fifth lesson is, when things go pear-shaped, tell it to Jesus. No one loved John more than Jesus did, yet he was killed. But John’s disciples knew what to do. Were they the same ones that John previously sent to Jesus with questions? We are not told that they were. Whether they were or not, they knew what to do when huge burdens came. And we should follow their example.