Beheaded


Matthew 14:1-12
1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,

2and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

3For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

4because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

5And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.

6But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,

7so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

8Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

9And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.

10He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

11and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

12And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

13aNow when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.



Throughout our study of Matthew we have come across the person of John the Baptist. We learned of his somewhat miraculous birth only six months before that of Jesus. We learned of his less than normal lifestyle, living in the desert dressed in camel hair and eating locusts. We heard his message of repent and be baptized; turn your hearts back to God. He even is the person who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. So in these 13 chapters, we have heard from him frequently. Now we read of his tragic and gruesome death.



Apparently, John never drew back from his firebrand approach to life. He manages to anger King Herod by charging him with incest. Herod had married his brother’s wife and this was reprehensible in the eyes of God and man. John didn’t back down from his charge and Herod had him arrested. (If you would like to read this story in more detail, see Mark 6:14-29.) It is interesting that Herod’s first response to Jesus is to believe He was a “returned from the dead” John the Baptist. Although Jesus does indeed conquer death, He is never a revived John. Herodias, Herod’s (sister-in-law) wife hated John as well and when the opportunity came to have him eliminated, she took it. All one can say is that Salome (Herodias’ daughter) must have put on one incredible dancing performance in order to solicit such a generous offer from Herod (“I will give you anything you want”). Prompted by her mother, she asks for the head of John on a platter. Her desire is granted albeit with much regret from Herod. In this story, Herod shows himself to be a weak man, ruled by his wife and more concerned with what people think of him that what is wise and good for the people.



There are many directions one could go with this story. As I noticed the sadness of Jesus as the end of the passage I am forced to once again remember that Jesus lived a real human life. He struggled with grief just like the rest of us. Could He have stopped John’s death? Certainly the Son of God could have arranged that. But this was not the will of God and John is allowed to die in this awful way. Life happened to Jesus just like it does to us. He sorrowed just like we do. Jesus didn’t come here to make our lives perfect. He came here to bring us unto Himself – perfection has to wait.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more