MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St.Mark

St. Mark 6:14-29

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THIS PASSAGE which is the account of how John the Baptist met his death is a dismal illustration of the limited power of the conscience, unaided by the Spirit of God. There are several salutary lessons to be learnt for ourselves, and for our witnessing to the Gospel, so that we look to God alone for success.

The first lesson is seen in the interpretation which was placed by Herod and his followers upon the ministry of Jesus, which was brought forcefully to their minds when they heard the report of the ministry of the disciples. The conscience of Herod was troubled. It brought fear, but it did not produce repentance. Nor did this action of conscience bring any real wisdom. They attributed the power and success of the ministry of Jesus to all sorts of wild reasons, but not to the true one, that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. It did not give them the desire to find out the real truth. The conscience of Herod made him think that John the Baptist, whom he had so wickedly murdered, had come back from the dead to haunt him.

The conscience, unrenewed by the Holy Spirit, can never bring a person to true repentance. There may be through fear a temporary reform, but the heart is not changed, and there is no desire to give up darkness for the light of the Gospel. The ministry of preaching will have no effect unless the Spirit of God renews the hearts of those who hear. Herod was disturbed by the preaching of John, and even found he could not cease to listen to it, but it did not change his heart. The only effect was to disturb him, and cause him to limit the depravity of his life a little.

The next lesson is of how twisted and lacking in truth is the thinking of those who are in an unregenerate state. Herod had standards of honour. These were strong to bind him to a code of conduct. However they were more concerned with keeping the good opinion of men, than doing what is right before God. When he had made his rash promise to the daughter of Herodias, he was prepared to commit the great sin of murdering a holy man, rather than lose his standing in front of the people who were guests at his table. The standards of the world held it was more important to keep your rash and foolish promises, rather than confess your foolishness, and refuse to let that foolishness cause a great wrong.

This illustrates the power of the opinions of fellow human beings over us. People are all around us, and we have to live among them, and for success and popularity it is good to keep the good opinions of others. This is a powerful force. Peoples opinions are pressing upon us. The truth and right of God is not so pressing. It is very difficult sometimes to do what is right before God, because it will destroy the friendship and esteem of others for us. This is why we are told in the New Testament to keep ourselves separate from the world, and why the instruction of God was so adamant in the Old Testament that the Israelites should keep themselves separate from the heathen all around them.

Then thirdly we need to notice how weak the flesh is, and how easily we can be led astray by its desires and influence. Herod's experience with Herodias is a powerful example and warning of this fact. His lust and desire for Herodias was such that not only had he married the woman, though it was wrong to do so, but he had imprisoned John in order to escape the valid criticism of John on his conduct. He knew with his mind that he was sinning in his relationship with Herodias. Even though he knew the preaching of John to be right, his mind had to give place to the power of his fleshly emotions. We need to be warned by this. In a battle of the will, it will be the desires of the flesh which will win, rather than the truth known in the mind. Our only protection is the expulsive power of the new affection in the love of God we have experienced in Christ, and the daily cultivation of this love.

Then we need to watch our flesh every moment. Herod did not do this. Under the influence of his lusts in a moment he made a very rash promise. He promised to give the daughter of Herodias anything she wanted. His flesh was too weak to face the criticism of his guests and do what was right, rather than keep his rash promise. It is well to remember how weak is our sinful flesh, for unless we do we shall not be humbly daily throwing ourselves on the mercy and grace of Christ for our protection from the failings of the flesh. We must not make the mistake that Herod was a weak man. No doubt he was just as manly and humanly strong in conduct as any other man, yet he was betrayed by his flesh.

The next and fourth lesson we can learn is one which concerns our service for Christ. It is so easy to make great promises of sacrificial surrender to Christ and his service, when there is no specific sacrifice being called for. It is quite another thing when the test comes, and then our flesh may well let us down unless we are prepared.

John's faithfulness to tell the truth to Herod warns of this fact. It will not be easy to stand for the truth and the Lord in this sinful world. It will very often bring the hate and persecution of the world upon us. For John it caused the loss of his liberty and then his life. John stood faithful to the end, not because he was humanly stronger than we may be, but rather that he stood in the power of God.

The power of God in our lives is the experience of the love of God for us in Christ which causes a deep love for God to grow in our heart. Duty alone will not make us strong. It is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that alone will make us strong. It is a mistake to suppose that at the moment of trial the Spirit of God will suddenly make us strong to make the right decision. We will only be strong as we have lived in the Spirit so that our love for God and desire to please God above all things has been worked in our hearts.

The last lesson is a dismal one. It is the depth of depravity in the human heart which we are all prone to. This is demonstrated in the life of Herodias. Nothing was too evil for her to contemplate or do in order to get her own way. She was constantly putting pressure on Herod to kill John so that she would not hear his criticism of her actions. Such was her dedication to her desires, that she did not stop until she gained her end.

This seed of evil is in every heart. Given the right circumstances we would be no better than she turned out to be. In God's grace we may have been brought up in social conditions that trained us in such a way that we seem unable to stoop to such depth. This is not so in fact. We would be no better given a different set of circumstances. We have no room for pride or self-righteous judgement of others.

In the end the only safe deliverance from the depravity of our humanness is the new birth in Jesus. This creates in us through the power of God a new and holy life. Although it does not change our flesh one bit, and this is as sinful as before, it does mean we have a principle within which can't be corrupted that always fights the flesh. It also means we have life within us that is holy in which the Spirit of God dwells, and so is our strength. It is the grace of God in Christ which alone saves us.