Suffering Is Not Wasted: Mark 6:14-29

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Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

We're picking up in verse 14.

Well, since we've been in Mark, it has.

We've been in other scripture over the holy season, but we're back and we'll continue through Mark through most of the summer.

Reading God's holy word.

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had been had become known.

Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead.

That's why these miraculous powers are at work in him.

But others said, He is Elijah.

And others said, He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.

But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.

For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.

For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe.

When he heard him he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.

For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guest.

And the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever you wish, and I'll give it to you.

And he vowed to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom.

And she went out and said to her mother, For what should I ask?

And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.

And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head.

He went and beheaded him 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 of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

This is the reading of God's holy, powerful word this morning.

Please join me in prayer.

Father, stories like this are hard.

You know about that more than we do.

And yet, Lord, you have sovereignly chosen to include this passage for very good reasons.

So, Lord, teach us this morning, from your word, by your spirit, as we have need.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

This is a story about suffering.

John the Baptist is once again in the background.

This is really a story about Jesus, but Herod, King Herod, is having a flashback.

He has heard, and what you have to ask, what's the antecedent to the text, verse 14, King Herod heard of it.

Well, I know it's been a long time since we've been in this part of the scripture.

Let's go back as we looked at a while ago.

Jesus had commissioned the 12 apostles to go out and minister in his name in Galilee.

And they went with great power on mission.

People were healed, the sick were raised up, demons were exercised out.

There was just great ministry that took place.

And because it was in the area where King Herod ruled, he certainly heard about what Jesus was doing.

And it reminded him as he heard these reports, what does this remind me of?

Oh, I know.

That man, John the Baptist, that man that I imprisoned and then executed.

There's something about the ministry of Jesus that reminds me about the ministry of John the Baptist.

This is the background for our story this morning.

John the Baptist, the one who believed I must decrease and Christ Jesus must increase.

Look, we're going to look first of all this morning at the suffering of John the Baptist.

Verse 14, King Herod heard of the ministry, for Jesus' name had become known.

Now in this flashback, he's thinking about John the Baptist.

He's wondering, has John the Baptist been raised from the dead?

What else could account for the reports that I'm hearing?

Because these things don't happen, but for the miraculous.

He associated this kind of powerful ministry with the man that he executed.

Now let's do a little bit of background.

Herod Antipas is the name of this particular Herod.

And no, in fact, he was not a king.

He was a Tetrarch.

He was given a fourth of the land of Palestine to rule over.

He was a local ruler, if you will.

But he was referred to by the locals as King Herod.

He was one of ten sons of Herod the Great.

Remember Herod the Great?

He was the one that tried to kill baby Jesus.

He was an evil man.

His sons were evil people.

His family was evil.

One of his other sons was Herod Philip.

We've heard his name in the story.

Herod Philip was Herod Antipas' brother, who was married to Herodias.

And somewhere along the line, Herodias meets her husband's brother and says, I want to meet and I want to marry Herod Antipas.

And it was illicit.

It was breaking the commandments of God for at least two reasons.

It was adultery.

She didn't have grounds for divorce.

And secondly, it was incestuous with her living brother's wife.

And so John, being a man of courage, speaks out against it.

Evidently, he might have been the only one who did.

Because, in the presence of that kind of royal power, it's not safe to say such things.

It required courage, which John had, and it got John into trouble, didn't it?

It landed him in prison where Herod thought he could control him.

He can't be out and about preaching things against me, making me look bad.

And this is the background of the story.

A few decades later, this same Herod, Antipas, would be exiled, banished to Gaul by the emperor in Rome.

Why?

Because he really wanted the title, the official title of king.

He was a power monger.

He lusted for power.

That's where his power and his lust for power took him eventually out of Galilee into banishment.

He was upset that John had the audacity to call him out on his marriage to his still-living brother's wife, Herodias.

And so we see the story.

Herod, we'll just call him Herod.

Herod had a birthday.

And he wanted to celebrate his birthday with the A-list crowd all around him.

So, you know, his four-star generals, the high commanders, his cabinet, if you will.

This is going to be all about Herod.

And in the midst of the party, and it must have been quite a party, the wine flowed, and there were dancing girls.

You can imagine the debauchery of that party.

And there was one girl in particular.

Her name was Siloam.

And the language suggests that she was probably a teenager, maybe older teen, probably.

And she does this seductive dance.

And the men just oogle her, lusting in their hearts, no doubt.

And Herod is just intoxicated with all this.

He loses his sense.

And he's just taken away with her.

He said, Boy, I am so enjoying you.

I'll give you whatever you ask for, up to half of my kingdom.

You just name it.

And she goes back to her mother.

Says, Mom, what should I say?

It didn't take mom long because mom hated John the Baptist.

Why did she hate him?

Because she was saying things about her marriage that she didn't want to hear.

She was calling her out.

He was calling her out.

He was calling the married couple out.

And the mother just despised John the Baptist in her heart.

So she quickly has an answer.

You go back and you tell the king that you want John the Baptist dead and you want his head on a platter.

Doesn't get much more evil than that, does it?

This was the evil of his heart.

This was the evil in his family.

Out of a grudge, an innocent man lost his life.

You know, it's still true today, truth telling gets people into trouble today as well.

Truth telling.

When it's not easy to tell the truth, but the truth is demanded, maybe at your office, maybe in your school, maybe in your home, maybe in your marriage.

It can show up anywhere, anytime.

You know, the Bible has a lot to say about suffering.

As you see, this is really a theme of our worship service this morning.

Did you know that there's this verse in the Bible I'm going to read to you in just a moment?

This is what the Apostle Paul said at the end of his life in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 12.

2 Timothy 3:12

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Did you know that verse is in the Bible?

It's a universal statement.

It's not just contextualized for that time for Paul.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

What does that even mean today in our culture, in our time, in our season?

It's hard, isn't it?

This is tough stuff.

We live in a culture that is increasingly permissive.

We live in a culture that is increasingly weak, where it seems that hardly anybody stands up for truth.

John did.

What does that look like today in our world, in our life, in our times?

What does that look like for you in the office, in your office?

What does it look like for in the neighborhood or on the sports team or in school?

We had, I don't know, 30 or 40 students from uh where was it, Matt?

Panama City.

Panama City, Florida, in the first service with us.

And as I looked over and saw all these students, it reminded me of my student days.

It was a beautiful season of spiritual growth in my life in high school.

Went to the largest high school in the state of Pennsylvania.

It was a bad place.

A lot of bad stuff happened.

And yet that was the season of my life where God grew my soul.

I looked around and I hardly knew any students who weren't cheating.

I mean, just openly.

It just seemed like almost all my classmates were high on weed, doing stuff on weekends that they had no business doing.

It was just all around.

And yet God spoke to me during those years and said, Tom, you know, you know I'm life I'm calling you to live.

And you can do it.

If it's in Christ.

What about you?

What does it look like to take a stand in your life at this time, in your place, because the Bible does say all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

We can't just walk away from this.

I want to share a story that I read recently.

True story.

A young pastor in Zimbabwe, Africa, who lost his life for speaking truth.

This is his story that he wrote out before his death.

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed.

I have the Holy Spirit's power.

The die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made.

I am a disciple of his.

I won't look back, I won't let up, I won't slow down, I won't back away, I won't be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.

I'm finished and done with low-living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.

I don't have to be right, I don't have to be first, I don't have to be on top, I don't have to be recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, I lean into his presence, I walk by patience, I'm uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven.

My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus.

I must go until he comes.

I must give until I drop.

I must preach all I know and work until he stops me.

And when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me.

My banner will be clear.

When he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me.

My banner will be clear.

It will be clear who I lived for.

It will be clear who I died for.

These are challenging words, aren't they?

And yet the Bible seems to be filled from cover to cover with this life for Christ, this life in Christ, in a culture of our own that is increasingly accommodating, to virtually stand for nothing.

To live for comfort, to live for security, and to be willing to deny our Savior at the drop of a hat.

Yeah, God had very good reasons for le leaving this story in the Bible.

John the Baptist clearly suffered.

If you are a follower of Christ, there will be time, there will be a place, there will be opportunities for you and for me to take a stand for truth telling.

Because it's right.

But it's not only John the Baptist who suffered, Herod suffered.

You might be thinking, what?

How did Herod suffer?

Well, he didn't know what to do with John.

He was conflicted.

It was push-pull.

The Bible tells us in verse 20 he feared John.

He knew that John was a righteous and holy man.

You know, when you're around courageous people, it kind of stands out.

When you're around somebody who lives by their convictions and by their biblical principles, it's not that hard to see because sometimes it really does just shine and stand out.

He knew what John was really like.

He heard him, and yet the Bible tells us he was greatly perplexed.

After Herod foolishly vowed to Herodias' daughter, he was caught between his conscience and his pride.

He was caught between his conscience and his ego.

His conscience told him one thing.

His conscience told him this is a good man.

This is a courageous man.

I don't know many courageous men in my kingdom.

Most of them cower to me.

This man doesn't cower to me.

This man tells me the truth, whether I want to hear it or not.

Herod was in a quandary.

His conscience was telling him one thing, but his flesh was thinking something different.

He didn't want to lose face with the A-list invitation people there.

He had all the people that he wanted to impress around that table.

He had all the people that he wanted to think highly of him.

He lived for other people's approval.

And you know, when we live for the approval of others, you know we we can't live from his approval.

It's one or the other.

I either live from his approval of me or I live for the approval of others.

There's nothing in between.

Verse 26.

And the king was exceedingly sorry for killing John.

Other translation, the NIV says he was greatly distressed.

There was this inner turmoil within him.

I want to, but I don't want to.

What do I do?

We took the easy way out.

He uh he said, Well, you know what?

I really don't want to do this.

But what he wanted to do more than what he didn't want to do, and that's what it always comes down to.

Jonathan Edwards wrote a brilliant book, The Freedom of the Human Will.

And essentially what he says in that thick volume is in the end, you always do what you most want to do in any given situation.

You may say, no, I don't want to do that.

But we all, in the end, will do what we most want to do.

That's what Herod did.

Verse 21.

But an opportunity came.

Well, there's a lot there.

But an opportunity came.

On his birthday, at his party.

Do you know opportunities come?

And I'm talking about like big opportunities, not little opportunities.

They come into all of our lives.

At a fork of the road where our choice makes a big difference where we're headed in the trajectory of our lives.

It's always been that way.

Many people are like Herod who like to think about spiritual things, listen to spiritual conversations, ask questions, but never actually follow Christ.

And one day the door closes on them, not just at death, but in life, the Bible calls it the hardening of our hearts.

And that's a dangerous place to be.

That's a very dangerous place to be if our hearts start to harden.

What seems clear from Scripture is there are many times in people where their heart starts to harden and there's no return.

You could sit back and say, well, wait a minute.

They would have other opportunities down the road?

Maybe.

But when the heart hardens and you take this turn and not that turn, sometimes you don't get that opportunity again in the same way.

How do we know that his heart never turned, softened?

Well, when else do you remember Herod showing up in the Bible?

Jesus' trial.

Herod was called in eventually from Pilate.

Herod was called in to be part of the trial, the mock trial of Jesus.

Luke tells us in chapter 23, verse 11, then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Jesus.

You see what happened in his life?

A hard heart got harder.

Please hear that.

When you're in a season of life where you sense that your heart is hardening to the things of God, that's a scary place to be.

Oftentimes, that heart just gets harder and harder.

And it becomes harder to hear the truth.

It becomes harder to be able to submit to the truth.

It becomes harder to repent of the sin.

We don't take this lightly.

Evidently he didn't ridicule John the Baptist.

He was afraid of him.

But he wanted to listen to him.

But by the end, just a little bit longer, the heart is hard, and now he's going to mock Jesus.

And it's not just John the Baptist, it's Jesus.

There's lessons here for us, friends.

You pray for a soft heart.

God, would you give me a soft heart?

Would you give me a heart to hear truth and to love truth more than my own personal comfort?

There is a suffering that leads to death, as in the life of Herod.

There is a suffering that leads to life, like John the Baptist, like Jesus.

May I say, like you?

Let's unpack that a little bit more.

The Gospel of Mark contains two passion narratives.

The passion narrative, of course, of Jesus we just celebrated weeks ago.

But it's also, this is the passion narrative of John the Baptist, his forerunner.

The suffering.

It leads somewhere.

For the Christian, it's first the suffering and then the glory.

It always goes that way.

Surely there will be suffering for you if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

Let's not be naive, as many people today I think are.

Let's not be naive.

I'm a Christian.

I shouldn't have to suffer.

I'm a Christian.

I'm a follower of Christ.

It shouldn't be this hard.

And maybe we reflect a little bit.

No, maybe it should be this hard because we're not home yet.

It will be this hard because we're not home yet.

But as we said a few weeks a few months ago in the sermon, you're not alone in the boat.

Jesus is in the boat with you.

And that makes the difference.

Opportunities.

Herod, this wannabe king, was so threatened by the real King Jesus, he never did get it right.

He had a curiosity about Jesus.

He had a curiosity about John, maybe even a little bit of reverence, but that's never enough.

That's never enough.

Don't stop with your curiosity about Jesus.

Jesus says, I'm asking you to come and lay down your life.

I'm asking you to come and surrender.

I'm asking you to lay down your kingship and take up my kingship in your life.

We might ask ourselves, well, why would we?

Because as we sang earlier this morning, what love that took our place.

Jesus the Lamb was slain.

Bearing our sin and shame, he triumphed over the grave.

That's why I should.

Who?

That's why you should.

That new song that Ben introduced to us, Christ the sure and steady anchor.

In the suffering, in the sorrow, when my sinking hopes are few, I will hold fast to the anchor.

It shall never be removed.

This my ballast of assurance.

See his love forever proved.

I will hold fast to the anchor.

It shall never be removed.

Do you know that?

In your heart this morning.

I see your heads nodding.

Yes.

Yes.

By faith you know that.

It's not lost.

You're not lost.

Jesus is your anchor.

And he's going to hold you firmly no matter what you go through.

No matter what a young pastor in Zimbabwe goes through.

No matter what's going on in the Congo right now, whatever's going on in your business, your health, your school, your family, whatever's going on, he knows.

And he's your anchor.

Don't live in fear.

He's not going to let you go.

First the suffering, and then fullness of life.

For John the Baptist, it was a short step from martyrdom to paradise.

You can only imagine what he was thinking in the prison as he knows he's about to be executed.

You know what he knew?

It's a short step to paradise.

What did Jesus say to the thief on the cross after the thief asked forgiveness?

What did Jesus say to the thief?

Today you will be with me in paradise.

Do you know when you take your last breath, it's a very short step into paradise?

Do you know that?

If you're in Christ.

It's a very short step.

No more suffering, no more pain, no more death.

It wasn't that way for John for Herod.

It isn't that way for many people, but it is for Christians.

I want to come back to a quote from Brennan Manning, talking about these things.

In the last analysis, faith is not the sum of our beliefs or a way of speaking or a way of thinking.

It is a way of living and can be articulated adequately only in a living practice.

To acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord is meaningful insofar as we try to live as he lived and to order our lives according to his values.

We do not need to theorize about Jesus.

We need to make him present in our time, our culture, in our circumstances.

Only a true practice of our Christian faith can verify what we believe.

As the French philosopher Maurice Blondel was fond of saying, if you really want to understand what a man believes, don't listen to what he says, but watch what he does.

That's true.

We need to make him present in our lives.

In our time, in our culture, in our circumstances.

Only a true practice of our Christian faith can verify what we truly believe.

If you really want to understand what a man believes, don't listen to what he says, but watch what he does.

In the end, as our young pastor friend from Zimbabwe said, when Jesus returns, he won't have any trouble finding me.

He'll know who I am as I live for him.

As I serve him.

May that be true of me.

May that be true of you.

This is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we live such lives.

In the end, it's what Herod did with Jesus.

It's also what we do with Jesus.

Surely there will be suffering for us, for the sake of Jesus on this path.

Whatever the suffering comes from, whatever the suffering leads to, in the end, when you take your last breath on this earth, it will be a very short distance to paradise.

And we will be with him and we will worship him for eternity.

Praise God.

Would you pray with me?

Father, this is a hard passage, but Lord, we know that you knew that we needed to hear this.

So, King Jesus, would you rule over our hearts?

Oh Father, where we are fearful, would you give us courage?

Lord, where we are angry unjustly, forgive us.

Lord, would you bring us to acknowledge our anger?

Would you get us bring us to acknowledge, Lord, the things that are hardening us, not softening us?

Holy Spirit, would you even this moment soften the hearts of your people that we might take in truth, that we might live by truth.

Oh Father, we pray.

Give us eyes to see Jesus this morning.

One day we will.

One day we will with our own eyes.

Now by eyes of faith, with eyes of faith.

We see and we believe.

Give us grace to live this out.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.