I can't wait to see what people are going to come up with who do children's stories and such for this week in church: underage girl dances for jaded old man, who then (to save face) orders the beheading of John the Baptist.
Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him.
Josephus, Antiquities XVIII 5.2
So Josephus, as well as Mark, tells us a bit about the death of John the Baptist. There are lots of interesting tidbits about this Herod. He is not the same Herod who was around for the birth narratives - that would be Herod the Great: master builder, architect and general crazy man. This Herod is Antipas, and seems to share only the last quality of the Great. Let's set the stage for the Herod in this story. He had married a Nabatean princess, who then fell out of favour, and he ended up marrying his brother's wife. Apparently this did not sit well with the Nabateans, who subsequently waged some minor war with Herod and roundly defeated him. Herod was bold if nothing else. He was called Tetrarch, but wrote to the Emperor to ask for the title of "King". Herod's nephew (Agrippa) decided in the mess of things to accuse Herod of disloyalty to Rome. The emperor, Caesar Gaius Caligula, was not impressed and ended up issuing a decree of banishment to Herod and his new wife - sending them off to Gaul. Well, there you have it.
That's a bit of background; thoughts on the text itself will be up after dinner...
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."
Mark uses this opportunity to have a bit of an historical interlude: an account of the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist. The scene is implicitly introduced with the perennial question: who is Jesus? We have some of the answers which are given at other places in the Gospels where this question arises - prophet, Elijah, etc. But here it is not Jesus' own question (who do you say that I am?) which raises the speculation. Rather, it is Jesus' actions which provoke the question. There are then two ways of looking at asking the question "who is Jesus?". One is verbal, and the other is practical. We may ask the question by our words. Or, like Jesus in this case, we may provoke the question with our actions.
For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
Apparently John the Baptist lived in an era when questionable people with political power would get involved in messy family dynamics that involved such things as dumping your first wife for someone else. And John seems to have had the gall, or the courage, to step up and tell Herod that what he was doing was wrong. John's trouble seems to start when he can't keep his religion to himself: he makes it a rather public matter. And he goes straight to the top, no less. The same John who called the ordinary people to repent of their sins does not hold back from giving the same call to Herod. It's interesting the way that Mark phrases this: just a sort of matter-of-fact pronouncement that "it is not lawful" for Herod to be doing this.
This whole episode comes about because of the collision of two things: the public nature of Herod's promise, and the public nature of John the Baptist's ministry. There is lots to be said on that topic: the public nature of the Christian faith.
On another front, the whole episode is like a foreshadowing: just as John was to go ahead of Jesus in life, so he goes ahead of him in death. Executed at the command of a political power who wished to save face, and laid in a tomb...
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