AP

Mark 6:19-20  So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.  But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

Like all the Herod family, Herod Antipas was a particularly objectionable figure.  His unlawful marriage to Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip, was publicly denounced by John the Baptist, which incited the wrath of Herodias – but to Antipas himself John was an enigma.

In the light of John’s forthright proclamation of the truth, and the overwhelming evidence of his popularity, Antipas could not avoid coming to the conclusion that the Baptiser was, in fact, a ‘righteous and holy man’, and therefore one of God’s men and making doing anything to harm him a very dangerous proposition!  And this Herod’s big problem was that ‘he liked to listen to him’.  Sadly, his fear of Herodias, and ‘losing face’ with his high-standing and high-spirited banquet guests outweighed his fear of John’s God, so he beheaded him, and, it seems, suffered thereafter from a quite troubled conscience (cf verse 14-16)!

This gives us a picture of the world’s response to the Bible and Jesus as the Written Word of God and the Living Word of God respectively.  The world finds something stangely attractive about the Bible and Jesus, which is not surprising since they are each the Creator’s authentic revelation of himself to all that he has made, and therefore naturally ‘makes perfect sense’. 

But having a nominal ‘nice feeling’ about the Bible and Jesus – expressed by having a nicely bound (rarely opened) copy of the Bible in a prominent place on the shelf, and by giving lip-service to Jesus’ Church by attending on special occasions, are not what their actual message (the Eternal Gospel of Salvation) is all about!  We can ‘like to listen’ to God’s Word, and feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ when we do, but, as the Apostle James poignantly challenges all of us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:22-25)

The pressure of Herod Antipas’ circumstances led him to ‘shoot the messenger’; let us remember Jesus’ warning: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew !0:32-33); and the Apostle Peter’s challenge: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)

– Bruce Christian