The Forerunner Finishes His Race (Morning)
Download MP3If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 6. It's there also in your worship guide. Mark chapter 6. This morning, we're gonna be looking at another one of those Markian sandwiches. If you remember, that's when Mark, he introduces a story, and then he leaves that story to go tell another story, and then he comes back to that original story.
Joel Brooks:And whenever he does this, what he's telling you to do is you need to see those stories as related. They they each shed light on one another. This time the sandwich begins with Jesus sending out his disciples on a mission. A mission to to heal, a mission to, preach repentance, and then we leave that story, and we hear about John the Baptist being executed for preaching repentance. And then we come back, and it's back to the disciples as they return from their mission, and they tell Jesus all the extraordinary things that they had seen happen.
Joel Brooks:Mark's point in in making this sandwich and to showing these two things together, the disciples mission, and then also what happens to John the Baptist, is to show us that there can be a tremendous cost when proclaiming the gospel. It very well might cost us our life. Now we didn't talk about that last week on missions Sunday. Mission Sunday was kind of like the Super Bowl of missions. You you know, you you just want to tell everybody about the extraordinary things that are happening and so we tell, like, to live a sent life is like going to the Amazon jungle and starting a orphanage or children's homes.
Joel Brooks:It's like going to Northern Cyprus and building the the only church there that actually has their own property. It's about how missions can be a great adventure, and you should go on a mission trip, and you'll probably meet a lot of friends, and you'll get to see all that God is doing around the world. He's gonna open your eyes to all of those things and that is all 100% true. Absolutely 100% true. But let us not forget.
Joel Brooks:That's what Mark is doing here and telling a story. Let us not forget that many times there's also a cost. That it is true that someday every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, but that hasn't happened yet. And until then, we we know that Jesus has won the war, but there's gonna be certain battles that we certainly feel like we are losing. And that's what we read here in Mark chapter 6.
Joel Brooks:And now in your worship guide, we actually didn't include the, the pieces of bread on the sandwich, and so I'm gonna read a couple verses before and the verse after what you have there. I'm gonna begin reading in Mark chapter 6 verse 12. So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons, anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus's name had become known. Some said John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, that is 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.
Joel Brooks:But when Herod heard of it, he said, John whom I have 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 not opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles, and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.
Joel Brooks:For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will 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 she said to her mother, for what should I ask? She said, the head of John the Baptist.
Joel Brooks: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.
Joel Brooks:When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in the tomb. The apostles returned to Jesus, and they told him all that they had done and taught. This is the word of the lord. If you would pray with me. Lord, I ask that through your spirit you would, in the next 30 minutes or so, just irresistibly draw people to yourself.
Joel Brooks:Pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord your words would remain and they would change us. The strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen. There are only two stories in the entire gospel of Mark that are not about Jesus. Both of them are about John the Baptist.
Joel Brooks:Mark actually begins his gospel with a very brief introduction of John the Baptist, saying, you know, he's the forerunner of Jesus. He was to prepare the way for Jesus's ministry. And then here, we get a very detailed account of John the Baptist's death. I mean, Mark actually devotes a whole lot of print here for someone who is not named Jesus. This alone should, should focus us, should get our attention as to the importance of this story, and also as to the greatness of this man.
Joel Brooks:Jesus actually said of John the Baptist that, there has never been anyone living before him that is greater than John the Baptist. Mark also likely included this story because everyone knew this story. I mean, this is this is front page material here. It's it's what everybody loves to read about, to to talk about. It's got royalty in it.
Joel Brooks:It's got a sex scandal. It's got religion. It's got a, a person that everybody knows and likes coming to a tragic end. And so rumors would have spread about this. Everybody would have been talking about this on every hillside and every village in Palestine.
Joel Brooks:And this story is about a tragedy, but it's not about the tragic end of John the Baptist. No. As the forerunner of Christ, it's about him finishing his race and going to glory. The tragedy is Herod. And actually, the more you begin to read this story, the more you come to realize that this is as much about the tragedy of Herod as it is about the end of John's life.
Joel Brooks:Mark is warning us here. Don't be like Herod. Herod who heard the gospel. Herod who was curious about the gospel. Herod whose heart was being warmed to the gospel, But then in an unplanned moment, he was suddenly forced to make a decision.
Joel Brooks:Now's the time you have to decide. He's got like 2 seconds to make his decision. And instead of choosing Christ, he chooses to follow his own path, and he throws it all away. And from that moment on, his heart will forever be hardened. The story here begins with Herod receiving news about Jesus and all that Jesus was doing, and Herod's first thought upon hearing all of that is, oh, this must be John the Baptist raised from the dead.
Joel Brooks:That's not a normal thought. We we don't normally think that way. I mean you probably read articles, you know, about important people all the time, and the extraordinary thing extraordinary things they're all doing, and yet I bet you have never once after reading an article thought, the only way to explain that is that that person rose from the dead. We don't think that way. But but that was his first thought.
Joel Brooks:This is what immediately came to mind. Now, in order for that to happen, that shows just how extraordinary the things that Jesus was doing were. Also shows how undeniable it was. Herod must have been hearing report after report after report about all the crowds following Jesus, all the healings taking place, and then he's hearing reports about how Jesus is even raising the dead, and at first, he could have just laughed those things off. Oh, what silly tales, but then more and more reports, more and more witnesses kept coming in.
Joel Brooks:Finally, he can't deny anymore, so he's got to come up with some kind of explanation, And when he's thinking of all these things that are happening, the only way he can explain it is, I guess, John the Baptist came back from the grave. Because only a person like that would have power like that, or power even over death itself. I think it also reveals that Herod had a guilty conscience. He liked John the Baptist. He he didn't want to kill him.
Joel Brooks:I mean, yes. He had him arrested, and, yes. He did execute him. But he enjoyed listening to him. And he knew that John the Baptist was right, and he was in the wrong.
Joel Brooks:He knew he had killed an innocent man, and that haunted him. And so if John the Baptist was come back from the dead, that would be his worst fear realized. You actually read in the other gospels that at one point, Herod does get to see Jesus. When Jesus is on trial, Herod finally gets to see Jesus with his own eyes, and one of the things you read is, and Herod was glad when he saw Jesus. One of the reasons he was glad is he saw it's not John the Baptist.
Joel Brooks:Because that would have been his worst fear. And once he realizes it's not John the Baptist. Then he couldn't give a rip about Jesus. He said, hey. Do for me a few tricks.
Joel Brooks:But Jesus would never even speak a word to him. His time had passed to make any kind of decision. Now the reason that John the Baptist was thrown into prison was because he had the audacity, he had the courage to tell Herod that his marriage was against God's law. Now this Herod here, he's not Herod the great, The one that, was king when Jesus was born. The one that had all the children killed in Bethlehem.
Joel Brooks:That's not the Herod here. This is Herod's son. We would call him Herod junior. When Herod the great died, his kingdom was divided into 4 parts, and he had 4 sons. They each took over a part of his kingdom.
Joel Brooks:2 of those sons are mentioned in this story. Philip and Herod. They are tetrarchs. They're not kings. They're tetrarchs.
Joel Brooks:They are ruling over just a quarter of the kingdom each. Now this is when this story gets a little complicated. It gets a little sorted. Herod, the great, he had a granddaughter, through another one of his sons named Herodias, and Philip married her. So Philip marries his niece.
Joel Brooks:But then Philip's brother, Herod, not wanting to be outdone by his brother's, perverse perversity, he decides, okay. Well, I'll just have an affair with her. And the affair gets serious enough that Herodias divorces Philip, and actually marries Herod, her uncle. Her other uncle, who's also already married. It's it's just it it gets crazy here.
Joel Brooks:If you're a little confused, that's alright. It's, I was telling my kids, they should do something like HBO documentary on this. It could be keeping up with the Herodians, And and I can't tell you my kids begged me not to give that joke. And I gave it at the earlier service, and I just looked at them why people actually laughed. But I mean, it's it's you you can't make this stuff up.
Joel Brooks:John the Baptist had the courage to speak out against that marriage. Besides the incest, there was also adultery, and John the Baptist let them know it. We read in verse 18. John had been saying to Herod, that it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. John had been saying This means he didn't just say it once, but he was continually saying it over and over.
Joel Brooks:He was saying to to anyone and to everyone that Herod's marriage was against God's law. And notice how he refers to Herodias. He does not call her Herod's wife, but Philip's wife. John will not recognize their marriage, because God has not recognized their marriage. John won't recognize what God does not recognize.
Joel Brooks:And in God's eyes, Herodias is still married to Philip. And John was telling everyone this. Herodias obviously had a problem with this, and so she's trying to silence John. And so she she talks Harrods into having John arrested and thrown into jail. She'd want him dead, but Herod won't allow that to happen right now.
Joel Brooks:But I want you to just stop and think about all of this for a minute. Why did John have to speak up? I mean, why did he feel the need to publicly call that sin out? I mean, he had to know it was only gonna cause him trouble, and if you actually think about it, I mean, who was Herod hurting anyway? I mean, this was just, you know, 2 consenting adults here trying to live out their lives, trying to be happy.
Joel Brooks:Why couldn't John just be quiet like everyone else was being quiet? And then I think if we have to ask, and what does this story mean to us? How are we supposed to apply this story? Are we supposed to be calling out everyone for their sin? Publicly calling them out?
Joel Brooks:Am I supposed to get on social media now, and just start, you know, telling everyone about your sins? You know, saw so and so vaping on the corner. You know, saw so and so, they were yelling at their I think we we definitely We need to understand the context of this context of this situation To understand why John was publicly calling him out. You see, Herod was not just some, you know, Joe Schmo. Herod, he was a fellow Jew.
Joel Brooks:Claimed to be a fellow Jew. A follower of the faith. And he also was a ruler of the Jewish people, and he was committing a very public sin. That needed to be called out. And I do believe that for us, what it means to us is that when there are sins that are being broadcast so loudly in our culture, we as Christians must clearly and unapologetically call them out.
Joel Brooks:We are to expose evil. Paul says in Ephesians 5 that we are to take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness. And most of us we read that we're like, okay. I'm with you. We're not supposed to take part.
Joel Brooks:We're not supposed to sin and do those worthless deeds and darkness, but then he goes on to say this, instead we are to expose them. When Jesus sends his his disciples out on mission, part of that mission is to expose darkness, to call evil, evil. Exposing darkness is what light does. If people don't know that they are living in sin, then why would they ever know that they need a savior? They have to know who Jesus is and why he came.
Joel Brooks:He came to save them from their sins. So as Christians, we are to take a stand, and we are to clearly and lovingly let the world knows what God sees as good, and what God sees as evil. It took incredible courage for John to do this. To say this to the most powerful person in his land that he needed to repent. Repentance is not a popular message.
Joel Brooks:Never has been, never will be. To preach repentance may very well mean that you are likely misunderstood, that you might be called intolerant. You might be, called a violent person through your words. You might be called judgmental, But we are to call those things out in love. How tempting it would be, how easy it would be to just try to stay under the radar, keep quiet, try not to ruffle anyone's feathers in the midst of a culture that calls good evil, and evil good.
Joel Brooks:There are times we can even convince ourselves that by not saying anything or by not taking a stance on anything is actually the loving thing to do. But can I be as clear as I can about this? That is not loving. That is cowardice. And God did not give us a spirit of cowardness.
Joel Brooks:He gave us his word, and then he gave us his spirit to empower us to proclaim loudly the gospel. We are to boldly, loudly tell people, turn away from your sins and turn to God. What we're we're telling is the path you're on leads to death. Turn away. The loving thing is to tell them, turn away, and turn to Jesus who stands ready to forgive you.
Joel Brooks:And we boldly, and we passionately do this. Now hear me, what we don't take away from this is that we are supposed to just randomly go up to individual people and cast judgment on them for their sin. And by judging them, I mean that we're not just pointing out sin, but we're punishing them. Maybe punishing them with the tone that we use. Maybe punishing them by withdrawing any type of friendship or fellowship from them, or or we are just punishing them by just trying to make them feel the wrath of God.
Joel Brooks:That is not what we are called to do. God has not called us to go around to be the morality police and to just start going up to random people and be like, hey, you 2, you need to quit sleeping together. Hey, you 2 over there, you need to quit drinking so much. Hey. Hey.
Joel Brooks:You over there. You're lying. I didn't hear it, but I just felt it. You know, just just going around, just judging everybody, and then withdrawing any friendship, any fellowship from them. We are not to do that to those outside the church.
Joel Brooks:Paul's clear in 1st Corinthians 5, we do that for those in the church. Says for those in the church, we do judge. We point out their sin and we say repent. And if you don't repent, we withdraw fellowship. Because they need to know the seriousness of their sin.
Joel Brooks:But to the world, we're lovingly pursuing And we're saying, I don't want you to go down the path of death. Turn to Christ. Back to the story. Getting John thrown in prison was not enough for Herodias. She wants him dead.
Joel Brooks:But we wish you can't actually kill him, because one of the reasons here had John thrown in prison was to keep him safe from his wife. Verse 20, we read that, Herod feared John, because he knew that, he was a righteous and a holy man. That's a stunning verse. Herod feared John. Herod the ruler, Herod the one with all the power, Herod the one with all the wealth, Here the one with an entire army at his disposal, fear the man that he had locked up in his own prison.
Joel Brooks:But he feared him because he knew John was righteous and holy. In other words, Herod was in awe of John. He had never seen one with Someone with such conviction. I mean, John's in prison, but he's acting like the free one. John's acting like he's the one with all the power.
Joel Brooks:And when he saw a man like that, Herod began to question his own life. I mean, he's thinking, what what if I'm the one in the wrong? What if I'm the one living for all the wrong things? What if I'm building my life on on the wrong things? And here what we see for for the first time, we see this conflict happening within the heart of Herod.
Joel Brooks:He hates John's message. He hates it enough to have John thrown in prison, but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to kill John, because he's strangely attracted to the message. There's something about John and his message that he knew to be true. We read that when Herod heard John, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. When we read he heard John, this implies more than a one time hearing.
Joel Brooks:He listened to John apparently often. John was being imprisoned in his, fortress, prison. His palace fortress there had his own prison. And so apparently, Herod, he would he would bring out John from time to time, perhaps even daily to listen to John preach. Just chewing on that this week.
Joel Brooks:It's it's not lost on me that the great John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, The one who used to have crowds coming from even beyond the Jordan to hear him preach. He ends his preaching career by preaching to only 1. His faithful preaching brought him to this point where finally at the end he only had an audience of 1. I've been chewing on that, and I've mentioned it here before. It's humbling for me to think that I get paid, and I usually get respected for doing the very thing that cost the apostles their lives and certainly cost John the Baptist his life.
Joel Brooks:I pray all for all of us, like, can we be faithful when everything seems to come dwindling down into where it seems like there's just nothing there? It's not that John the Baptist didn't have doubts. He had doubts at times. You read the other Gospels at one point. He's like, man.
Joel Brooks:I've been in prison for a while. Jesus, are you really the Messiah? And Jesus had to send him word and calm those doubts down. But John the Baptist faithfully preached to the end. Herod was greatly perplexed by John's preaching though.
Joel Brooks:Much as y'all are perplexed at times at mine. Actually perplexed, it doesn't mean that they couldn't understand what John was saying. That's that's not what it means. It just means that, he he listened to John, and he still had doubts. He was still a skeptic.
Joel Brooks:How did he know if what John was saying was really true? Could those things be true, and and how could he be certain? I mean, was he really living in sin? Was Jesus really the Messiah? Was Jesus really God in the flesh?
Joel Brooks:How could you really know? But what we see here is Herod's conscience is beginning to come alive as he's thinking of these things, yet he cannot bring himself to a final decision. There's always another question to ask bring out John again. I've got another one. I need to run by him.
Joel Brooks:There's always more questions. This might be where some of you are right now in this room. I'm imagining it is in a room this size with so many people. I'm certain that there are some of you here that are skeptics of Christianity. You have lots of doubts as to the identity of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Some of you might have serious doubts, serious problems with what Christians call sin. And yet despite all of that, you are here. You are strangely repelled, yet also attracted by the message. You hear the message gladly, but you're perplexed. And you always have more questions.
Joel Brooks:If this is you, first off, I wanna say, I am so glad you are here. This is a a safe place for you to be, a welcoming place for you to be. Come here with your doubts. But what should you do with them? Well, let's read on.
Joel Brooks:Verse 21. It begins with the words, but an opportunity came. It's a double meaning in that. It's an opportunity for decision to be made. It's it's now come the time An opportunity to to decide for Herod, but it's also a opportune time for Herodias to get John the Baptist killed.
Joel Brooks:Here at he was having a birthday party, and in which all of the nobles, and the military commanders, and all the leading men of Galilee were invited to. This would have been a mix of both the Jews and the Romans, The movers and the shakers in society, and it was a guys only party. There would have been of course lots of drinking, lots of female entertainment, and Verodious thinks perfect. What an opportune time. This is my chance.
Joel Brooks:I can make men do whatever I want through booze and sex. So she gets her daughter. We know from the other gospels that her name is Salome. She gets her daughter Salome to come and to dance before these men. It's not hard to imagine what type of dancing this is.
Joel Brooks:The whole scene is is It's just sick. As a mom sends her own daughter to go and to do a seductive dance before a bunch of drunken men. And these men here, they they can't believe their luck. I mean, normally at a party like this you you might have the court dancers come out, or sometimes prostitutes will come out, but here they get a teenage princess to come and to do this dance before them. And they are fawning all over her.
Joel Brooks:No one more than Herod. He is so impressed that at this point, instead of throwing dollar bills her way, he makes this this grandiose gesture, this promise. I'll give you whatever you want up to half of the kingdom, which isn't an exaggeration because he doesn't even have the power to do that. He doesn't have a kingdom. He's got a quarter of a kingdom that he rules only with Rome's permission.
Joel Brooks:He has no authority to to do this, but he likes to still think of himself as a king. He likes to think of himself as important. But this is surely an exaggeration. Salome though, she runs off to go talk to her mom, which apparently is nearby. And says mom, what should I do?
Joel Brooks:What should I ask for? And she says, you asked for John the Baptist head. And so Salome runs back to tell her stepdad slash great uncle, I want you to give me John the Baptist's head. And then she adds on her own, just because she wants to, on a platter. She and her mom, they were like 2 peas of the same twisted pod.
Joel Brooks:Now, when Herod hears this, we read that he was exceedingly sorry. This is the same language that will be used later to describe Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. This means he was in deep emotional turmoil. He did not want to do this. He couldn't believe that he had gotten himself in this position.
Joel Brooks:So ultimately, it would come down to what does he fear most. Does he fear John and his message, or does he fear losing face in front of a bunch of drunken idiots? He feared losing face before all those men. And so he sends off the executioner and they chop off John the baptist's head. And they serve it to the girl at salame on a platter.
Joel Brooks:And she takes the platter to her mom. It struck me as I was reading this that like just how quickly this happened. You don't know really any details here. You're not given any last words from John. I mean, the voice, the voice.
Joel Brooks:Silenced. Not even a last word. You know, you read Fox's book of martyrs and it gives these long speeches by Christians before they're thrown into the flames of the lion's den or, there there's many tales about Christian martyrdom. Some are true, and some are certainly embellished. But this is not a fairy tale.
Joel Brooks:Mark's just He doesn't know what happened. It was just John and the executioner, so he That's all he could tell us. Executioner went in and chopped off John's head, put it on a platter, and the voice was silenced. What we do know is that the greatest man to ever live before Jesus was killed because at a birthday party, a drunk man was entertained by a sensual dance, and he didn't want to lose face in front of a bunch of other drunk men. What an ending.
Joel Brooks:You need to hear me. When when you decide to follow Jesus, he doesn't give you a get out of jail free card. When you decide to follow Jesus, he doesn't give you a, here's your get healing card. When you decide to follow Jesus, he doesn't give you a here's your successful life card that you could just pull out whenever you want. Now I get a successful life.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't give that to you. There's a cost to following him. I would I dare to say that for some of you that have been angry or bitter at God at times, it might be because he hasn't given you what he never promised to give you. It's what you hoped for, what you wanted, but he never promised to give you that. What God has promised to give us is that if we follow Christ, persecution will come.
Joel Brooks:John, he was called the forerunner of Christ. He was the forerunner of Christ's ministry, and he was the forerunner of Christ's death. Jesus will be, treated the same way. But that's okay. Because you know what?
Joel Brooks:Jesus is the forerunner of John's resurrection. And Jesus goes before him and he comes out the grave to the other side. He's the forerunner of John's resurrection. He's the forerunner of our resurrection. There is only one tragedy here, and it's not about John.
Joel Brooks:The tragedy is Herod. I mean, how would Herod have responded if if John had asked him, hey, Herod. What is your only comfort in life and death? How would Herod have responded? Man, pretty powerful powerful.
Joel Brooks:It's gonna be gone when he hit the grave. So your wealth is your friends. What is your only comfort in life and death? I'll tell you what my only comfort in life and death is. Is that I am not my own but I belong both body and soul and life and death to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:That's a rock on which you could build your life. Do your worst, Herod. Herod had no idea that that day would be the day he had to decide. You never know when that moment of decision is gonna come. I mean, Herod would bring John out often, listen to him gladly, maybe even daily.
Joel Brooks:His conscience is coming alive. His heart is becoming warmed, but he would never make a decision. There were so questions that needed to be answered. He still had to be 100% sure about all of it, and then all of a sudden, boom. He's got 2 seconds.
Joel Brooks:2 seconds. Make your decision now. He decided he feared man more than he feared God. But those 2 seconds, he will never get back. That softening, that warming of the heart, he will never get back.
Joel Brooks:He becomes hardened at this moment. For those of you in here who are not sure who Jesus is and you have been hearing week after week who Jesus is, who he says he is, the the miracles that he has, the power that he has, that he is the son of God comes to this world to save you. You've been hearing this week after week after week. There's a part of you that is repelled by it, but then there's a part that's irresistibly drawn to him. Your heart is being softened.
Joel Brooks:That will not last forever. Never in the Bible will you hear, tomorrow is the day of salvation. Never will you hear, tomorrow is when you need to make a decision. It's always today. It's always now.
Joel Brooks:If you wait for every possible question to be answered, then you will wait for all of eternity, and the moment will come and it will go. Do not let the moment that is in front of you be wasted. Pray with me. Jesus, through your spirit, would you not let this moment pass? Would you now powerfully, irresistibly call people to yourself?
Joel Brooks:And for those of us in here who do know you, but, but Lord, we are not living the courageous life that you have called us to live. Empowered by your spirit, I pray that you would, right now, that you would challenge us and encourage us to live a bold courageous life for you. Lord would you do your work in this time and we pray this in your name. Amen.
