1. Movie material
(John the Baptist)
After my first week of uni, the senior students took all the first years away…
It was Orientation camp.
I was wet behind the ears…bit of a goodie goodie I was.
After the first week of lectures….We headed down to Minto, western Sydney (I didn’t even know people lived out there…)
We got out of the car… a hot January afternoon… and there was nothing there…
Not much food.
Not much by the way of accommodation…. Just some old buildings with rickety bunk beds.
Not much on the programme…
But there was a lot of alcohol… boot loads,… case after case… keg after keg.
I knew where my money had gone….!
And so we were “orientated”.
(to life as a uni student- loud music, beer, more beer,… and people doing really stupid things!)
-> The scary thing is that some of those men and women are now our doctors.
(pause)
Well King Herod had a party.
And he is meant to be the king of Israel!!!!!!..
(It was a long time ago….
My Med camp was…18 years ago….
We’re talking… nearly 2,000 years ago…
Herod Antipas was his full name, son of Herod the Great… Herod the Great had 6 or 7 sons and grandsons and they all used the name “Herod”… Herod Antipas was about number 4)
He had a party… a birthday party… where there was women, wine and song…
(pause)
Herod was king, but with limited power.
He probably had less power than the Queen has over Australia…. Or Prince Charles has over England.
-> He was king of Israel, and Israel was under Roman rule. Caeasar was the king…and in fact Caesar refused to allow Herod to use the title of king….
(pause)
Herod was married to Herodias.
Herodias had been married before… to Philip.
And Herodias held a grudge against John the Baptist, for John had been saying to Herod “It is not lawful to have your brother’s wife”.
(now you should see the link with the gospel of Mark!!
John the Baptist, from Mark chapter 1:14 had been imprisoned.
And here in chapter 6, we get the reason- because Herod’s wife, his adulterous wife didn’t like John the Baptist)
Now John was right!!!…
{Exodus 20…Do not commit adultery.
Leviticus chapter 18- “you shall not uncover the nakedness of your brothers wife….”}
And problem for Herodias.
-> Herod actually listened to John.
He didn’t always understand John… but we read that “he heard him gladly”. – he feared him, verse 20, as a holy and righteous man.
-> I take it that he thought John was a prophet from God.
And so he listened.
And pondered, and perhaps thought that he should confess to God his sin, and fix up the relationship that he’d ruined …
Herod had a conscience.
And I wonder, as Herod was lying next to Herodias at night, in his pyjamas… talking, sipping from their porcelain goblets…
… Herod said to his wife- “I’m not sure about this!”.
Maybe there were times when others heard what John said… and word got back to Herodias… and this embarrassed the queen.
Either way she was furious.
(pause)
But what could Herodias do???
Herod was the king.
She was just the queen.
And Herod listened to John.
(pause)
What could she do?
Herodias was clever.
And patient….
She knew her husband. She would wait… wait for an opportune time…
Just like Ahab, Herod blurted out his troubles to his wife.
And just like Ahab….Herod was weak…and easily manipulated by his wife.
She would wait.
(pause)
I’ve been reading about Henry the 8th and his marriage to Anne Boleyn (you know how he divorced Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn??)… the lengths that someone will go to divorce or marry!!!.
He sent scholars to nearly every university in England and Europe.
He employed the best diplomats,… bribed cardinals…and eventually changed split the church and empire off from Rome…
Well Herodias had her own plan…
read v 21.
Herodias had a daughter from Philip… her name was???
Salome
(it’s the name of a movie, with Rita Hayworth….and also a play by Oscar Wilde.
They didn’t make the name up.
This same story, with some extra details, can be read in the pages of Antiquities of Josephus, a first century historian).
Salome comes in…
She is dancing.
She is young (Josephus tells us that she was in her middle teens)… and she is beautiful. …. She dances sensually.
And all the men are mesmerized.
The nobles, the military commanders, the leading men of Galilee are all there!
And Herod …. says to her-> v 22b- 23 (read).
It may not be sexual attraction that pleases Herod.
I think it’s more likely that here’s a man so affected by what people think of him…. Here is a man with a fragile ego.
Here is a man who wants people to like him…he wants to be everyone’s friend… in fact his existence and survival as king depends on the approval of others …. I think that’s what motivates him.
And so he says what he says FOR them…
(pause)
Well, check-mate.
Herod is trapped. Tapped in his own stupidity…
And the ugly gruesome reality follows…
Read v 24-25
And I think here we see clearly the motives of the king…read v 26.
Read v 27-29.
(pause)
King Herod is a pathetic figure.
He’s not cruel…. he’s weak. He’s cowardly….
-> It really is movie material.
(who said the Bible was boring… they’ve never read bits like this!!)
(pause)
Why did John tell us this story???
The disciples had been out preaching, and many people were wondering who he was…
? was he Elijah
? was he a great prophet
? was he just the guy next door… who’d done some weirdo things…
Herod had heard.. -> read v 16.
(pause)
Herod is someone who had rejected the gospel….
And Mark tells us this story to fill us in on what happened to John.
(pause)
2. If we go backwards to have a look at the 2 stories before this, we see other examples of people who had rejected the gospel.
(i. Jesus…)
One of the really really odd verses in Mark’s gospel is verse 5. Jesus is in his home town, and we read…(read vv 5-6).
It’s just bizarre isn’t it?
Jesus the miracle healer. He has just raised someone from the dead… the little girl, Jairus’ daughter.
He’s caste out demons.
He’s calmed a terrifying wind storm in a word.
But here he seems powerless. It’s like someone has thrown Kryptonite at Jesus (?).
Is it that he can’t or won’t?
Is it that God’s power is limited by human faith???
(pause)
Well …. it marveled Jesus – the reason he couldn’t heal astounded him!!…
And that reason why he can’t heal or doesn’t heal is because of
-> their lack of faith.
They have rejected the gospel.
(pause)
In chapter 6:1-6, Jesus goes to his home town.
He goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath as he’d done before…
And again, like Herod, the people recognize greatness…this time it is the great one himself- the Lord Jesus! Verse 2 they say…. read v 2b.
But then… v 3, they say…(read)
To be a carpenter is not a very prestigious career. They are being derogatory.
“He has brothers and sisters”… “and they’re here with us”…. they’re being derogatory there as well.
And just like Elijah, and Jeremiah and many of the other prophets ….. we read Jesus is without honour in his hometown.
Rejected.
It must have been very sad.
Of all the people, you’d think they would understand.
It’s not quite the same… but imagine the Rabbitohs winning the Grand Final (they play the Broncos at Suncorp…!),… imagine theme winning the grand final, and coming back to South’s headquarters, and someone saying to the captain,… “we don’t like you, … we know your sister and brother”….
What!!… weird??!
Why???
What are these people thinking?
Why does Jesus’ own flesh and blood, his own kinsfolk, his own family… reject him?
(same as Herod).
But why more so for the hometown??
I think its pride.
It’s hard for a son to teach his father.
It’s hard for a nephew to teach his uncle…
It’s hard for the little guy down the street, even when he is grown up to come and teach at the local school…
It’s pride.
People are reluctant to accept authority…and when it’s someone they know (or they think they know),… there’s an excuse
(pause)
Many people today reject Jesus for the same reason…
They think they know Jesus… They’ve visited Jerusalem.
They went to Sunday school…
….. because of pride.
It’s one of those things… sometimes a little bit of knowledge is dangerous… It’s dangerous when combined with the sinful human heart…. Cos it puffs us up.
(pause)
And so… read v 5.
The works of the kingdom go with faith.
(pause)
The other passage here concerns the-
ii. Disciples….
Jesus sends them out 2 by 2.
They are to be dependent on the people for their daily needs… read v 8.
And they are not to show partiality… that’s the meaning of v 10. They are to stay at the first house they come to, and not to change house if they meet someone with a nicer house.
But again, there is an ominous note..
v 11 (read).
There will be people who reject their message… and reject them… they go together.
By the way, “shaking the dust off their feet”, comes from a Jewish idea of the land, and the importance of the land.
Jews travelling to other lands, were to shake the dust off their feet as a sign of getting rid of the pollution.
For to go into another land was to be polluted.
So really what it’s saying is that these people aren’t saved… it’s a warning… it’s meant to get them to think….
In Acts, when the apostles are rejected by the Jews, they do the same thing- they shake the dust off their feet… and a phrase is added there…. and they say “your blood be upon your own heads”.
It’s a warning of judgement,.. and that you better do something about it.
(pause)
Well it just goes to show that…a servant is no greater than his master.
And just like Jesus was rejected, and was eventually executed.
So John was rejected.
So the disciples would be rejected.
And so are hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world every year, rejected.
We ought to pray for our missionaries, and I’m going to ask you to do something for them in a minute…for they too will be rejected.
Our missionaries… the Smith in Japan, the Mullins’ in France, Andrew Buchanan in Indonesia, Kingsley and Roni in Slovenia, Andrew and Cheryl in Indonesia.
(pause)
Now you might think….no, they’re different to me.. I’m not an apostle. I’m not a missionary.
-> no servant is greater than his master.
-> If you’re a Christian, we’re all involved in promoting the good news of Jesus Christ…
We’ll have a part to play,.. we can all invite someone to church.
Each of us can let our friends know our story,…. our testimony…. Which is a very powerful evangelistic tool.
(pause)
It’s easy to get embarrassed. Generally, it’s not cool to be Christian!..
Jason Stevens is a Christian… he was on the footy show this week…guess who was the butt of the jokes?.. Jason Stevens.
And it’s personal… if you love someone… you invest yourself in that relationship. And you put the relationship on the line when you share the gospel.
I’ve had conversations with people here in the last week, and they are trying to bring their friends to church.
-> It’s fantastic.
But they find it hard.
And we really need to pray.
To bring our friends to Christ takes a miracle…we need to pray that God will soften peoples’ hearts…that they’d be humble, be open minded,…
And come to the Lord Jesus with the courage to change.
And think of the positive as well.
People going to heaven.
It’s not everyone who rejects… keep persevering. Keep praying… keep inviting people to church…
We all rejected him at some stage…. We were all there! I did!… you did! God never gave up on us…
And Paul says… Romans 10:14-15
(pause)
To those checking out Jesus, here with us today… I want to speak with you for a minute.
I want to say, is that if you’ve come today because someone invited you… they actually love you.
They love you very much. They care for you…
And more than that, Jesus loves you. He died on the cross for us,… he went through death and God’s judgement for us, so that we don’t have to.
What about you check things out.
Buy that book… read it.
(pause)
Herod was a man, who was intrigued… he sat on the edge and listened.
Fascinated.
But he chose to reject Jesus.
(pause)
He was wrong about Jesus… it wasn’t John coming back to haunt him. (I wonder what he thought….“phew??… I’m okay now”)
But in the end Jesus will come back from the dead.
And we will have to face what we’ve done…
Not just Herod, but all of us…. for how we’ve rejected him.
Jesus is saying,.. you come with me,… and I’ll forgive you. What an offer!!
How good is that!!!?!!
Will you trust him??
Let’s pray.