THE DEATH OF THE BAPTIST

#820                                                          THE DEATH OF THE BAPTIST                                                                                 

Scripture Mark 6:17-29 NIV                                                                                                                              Orig. 1-29-84

Passage:  For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison.  He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.  For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”  So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.  But she was not able to because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.  When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.  Finally the opportune time came.  On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.  When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.  The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.”  And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”  She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”  “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.  At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”  The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.  So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head.  The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter.  He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother.  On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Purpose:  In continuing the study from Mark, to relate the death of the Baptist to Jesus’ ministry to His disciples.

Keywords:          Biography            John the Baptist               Repentance

Series:  Mark

Introduction

                The first things that come to mind when we consider John the Baptist are that he was a solitary man, a little strange actually, living in the wilderness, wearing clothes made of animal hair.  Additionally, we are told that he was the son of a priest named Zechariah, and his wife Elizabeth, who was also of a priestly family. (Luke 1:5).  In fact, his mother, Elizabeth, was a kinswoman of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:36), a cousin perhaps.

                Because of his parents’ advanced age at the time of John’s birth, it is likely that neither of them survived to see him grow up.  Tradition has it that he was taken in by one of the Essene groups, who are known to have taken in boys like John to bring them up in the strict legalism of their communities and the privations of the desert.

                A look at John’s life:  Luke 1:80 “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”  So, as an orphan he was taken in by one of these Essene groups that inhabited the waste places of Judea, west of the Dead Sea.  They were deeply religious Jews concerned about Messianic fulfillment.  The movement was very strong about the time of Jesus.  Into that kind of electric atmosphere, he was born.  No variance from this belief was tolerated.

                John was taught this legalistic expectation of the Messiah, that Elijah would precede him.  Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers, or else he will smite the earth with a curse.”

                Would John, from such a background, be able to perceive of himself as Elijah?  John 3:28 “You, yourselves, bear me witness (John 1:20f) that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’”

                It is thus, then, that we encounter John preaching in the wilderness.  He was preaching of the coming kingdom. He was declaring the need for repentance.  Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord.  Make his paths straight in the desert, a highway for our God.”  It was to be a repentance, then, that resulted in a change of life: Make his paths straight, turn the hearts of the fathers.  Baptism was never seen as the catalyst in such a conversion, it was seen as a symbol.  John had learned this from the Essenes. John did not wish to baptize Jesus simply because it symbolized what he knew in Jesus not to be the case. 

                The link of Christ’s Ministry with that of John: Mark 1:7, 8 “And [John] preached saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus came from Nazareth to Bethany to give personal credence to John’s ministry. And to establish the Messianic link to his own ministry.  But the Jews did not then or now understand that his anointing of God (Christ) was not as political leader for Israel.  His purpose was that of Saviour.

                John then acknowledges Jesus’ presence. John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” (Isaiah 53:7)  Jesus began his ministry in Judea.  John 4:1f seems to indicate that for a time Jesus and John had parallel ministries.  At about the time that John was imprisoned, Jesus went to Galilee.

                Finally, Jesus, acknowledging that His death is eminent, prepares His disciples.  Mark 1:14-15 “Now after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God, and saying, the time is full, the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe.”

                Thus, everywhere Jesus goes in Galilee, He goes preaching and healing, first for the sake of the people, then for the disciples to learn.  Then, one disturbing day, He learns that John is dead.  Not long before, John had sent his disciples to Jesus. “Are you the One?” Matthew 11. And the word was sent back, even to John, saying, “You have to act on what you see”:  Faith was the key.

                His death was caused as we have read it here.  Herod Antipas had taken his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, who, by the way, was a niece to both.  Philip was tetrarch of Ituraea, to which place Jesus often resorted.  John rebuked Herod for his illegitimate marriage.  Herodias arranged his death.

                Jesus has taught His disciples that the same way John had preached repentance and the Kingdom of God, and as He likewise did, they were to do.

Closing

                The church today is Jesus’ ministry to the world. First, it is the declaration of repentance and the Kingdom of God.  Secondly, we are to administer that message.