Read 1 Samuel 31, Ezekiel 40, and Mark 6.
This devotional is about Mark 6.
Everything Jesus did–his teachings and his miracles–were designed to reveal his identity to the disciples and to the Jewish people at large. Here in Mark 6, Jesus continues his self-revelation in the following ways:
- He taught in his own hometown synagogue (vv. 1-6a).
- He taught and sent his disciples out to teach in the villages of Galilee (vv. 6b-30).
- He continued to show his power as God by serving others, even when he and his disciples were trying to rest and re-gather their strength (vv. 31-56).
In the middle of this chapter, in that second section where Jesus and the disciples were traveling separately to the villages of Galilee, the issue of Jesus’s identity emerged as Herod heard about Jesus and what he was doing (v. 14). Herod declared that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected in verse 16, but Mark hadn’t told the story yet in his gospel about how and why Herod beheaded John the Baptist. So, verses 17-29 contain a digression wherein Mark described the story of how Herod killed John the Baptist.
For the sake of time within this devotional, i won’t rehash the entire story. Instead, I just want to focus on what John the Baptist did in verses 17-18. Again, those verses say, “For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.'” These verses tell us that John had preached against the immoral relationship that Herod and Herodias were having. Herodias wanted John killed for addressing their sin according to verse 19. Herod imprisoned John for addressing their sin as we saw in verse 18, but verse 20 tells us that Herod knew John was “a righteous and holy man,” so Herod was unwilling to kill John. Verse 20b tells us that Herod “was greatly puzzled” by John’s teaching but that Herod still “liked to listen to him.”
Herodias eventually manipulated Herod into killing John which is what verses 21-28 are about. But remember the message that got John imprisoned and eventually killed was “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (v. 18b). The first part of verse 18 says that this message was what “John had been saying to Herod.” This implies a couple of things. First, this phrase implies that John spoke about Herod’s sin repeatedly. That’s indicated by the phrase, “John had been saying…” which suggests multiple statements about it.
The second thing this phrase, “…John had been saying to Herod” indicates is that John the Baptist confronted Herod about his sin face to face. My assumption is that John initially preached about Herod’s sin in public to the many crowds that followed John’s teaching. Then, after preaching enough about it in public, Herod was told what John was saying, so Herod put John in prison to stop him. Rather than stop, however, John continued to call sin on Herod’s relationship with Herodias, but this time directly to their faces. Herod knew he was right, so he kept John around. Herodias knew John was right, too, so she wanted him eliminated.
Here’s the point for us to consider: How often do we confront people directly about the sins that they are open about? We have this phrase, “speak truth to power,” but that’s exactly what John did–both in public and directly in private.
But it is a lot easier to look the other way and to think, “This is none of my business,” when someone we know is living in open sin. There is a way of speaking about sin that is self-righteous and unloving. But, if we believe that God is righteous and his standards, in scripture, are righteous, are we willing to speak–lovingly, but firmly and directly–to people who are living in sin?
I’m talking here about a relative who gets an unbiblical divorce, a friend who is living with or just in a sexual relationship without being married, or someone else you know who is identifying in a way that defies God’s created order. Are you, as a Christian, willing to speak to that person–again, lovingly but truthfully and repeatedly, about his or her sin?
There may be a price to pay for doing this. John the Baptist lost his freedom first and then his life for speaking truth to power. But he also set an example for us about what a righteous and holy person will do and say when he knows about someone else’s sin. Are you willing to follow his example?