Mark 6:14-21 English Standard Version Copyright \u00a9\u00a02001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.<\/strong><\/p>\n 14<\/sup> King Herod heard of it, for Jesus‘ 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.“ 15<\/sup> But others said, „He is Elijah.“ And others said, „He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.“ 16<\/sup> But when Herod heard of it, he said, „John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.“ 17<\/sup> 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.<\/p>\n \u00a018<\/sup> For John had been saying to Herod, „It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.“ 19<\/sup> And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20<\/sup> 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. 21<\/sup> But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22<\/sup> For when Herodias’s 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.“ 23<\/sup> And he vowed to her, „Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.“ 24<\/sup> And she went out and said to her mother, „For what should I ask?“ And she said, „The head of John the Baptist.“ 25<\/sup> 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.“<\/p>\n \u00a026<\/sup> And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27<\/sup> And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28<\/sup> and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29<\/sup> When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.<\/p>\n Ministry and Rejection: They Never Stop<\/strong><\/p>\n Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n Stonings.\u00a0 Imprisonments.\u00a0 Floggings.\u00a0 Beheadings. Crucifixion.\u00a0 Those are not words we would put on an evangelism poster for Christianity.\u00a0 When we talk to folks that are new to the faith, crucifixion is probably the only one of those words we may<\/em> mention.\u00a0 More than likely though we don\u2019t even mention crucifixion, we simply say \u201cJesus died for your sins.\u201d\u00a0 And yet stonings, imprisonments, floggings, beheadings, and crucifixion is all part of the history of the early church.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore we have a duty to not only be truthful in our historical setting of the church, but we also have to be prayerful in our discernment of what these stories mean in relation to our own faith.<\/p>\n Our Gospel lesson today is one of these stories, inserted in the midst of the larger narrative of Mark\u2019s account.\u00a0 Last week our lesson ended with Jesus sending out the disciples to do ministry and telling them not to take any extra supplies.\u00a0 They would either be provided for and the gospel would be spread, or they would be rejected and they were to shake off the dust of their sandals.\u00a0 Next week our Gospel lesson will pick up with the return of the disciples back to Jesus.\u00a0 Our lesson today, which is not all warm and fuzzy, is sandwiched between these two lessons of ministry.<\/p>\n If you recall from last week, the rejection of Jesus and the disciples were a major theme in the text.\u00a0 Even in our world today, we see how the church is rejected in many places.\u00a0 Despite rejection, the work of the church never stops.\u00a0 There is always ministry that is actively being done through the work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Although our Gospel lesson today is that interruption of Jesus sending his disciples, it too fits with the theme of being rejected.\u00a0 Just as Jesus\u2019 hometown rejected him, Herod\u2019s wife rejects John the Baptist.\u00a0 The work of the messenger of God is hard for the world to accept.\u00a0 John, the disciples, and Jesus\u2026.all rejected because of the ministry and work of God that they did.<\/p>\n The rejection of John that we have heard in today\u2019s text is due to the Levitical laws of the Hebrews (specifically Lev. 18:16 and 20:21) concerning marriage.\u00a0 But the bigger issue at hand is similar to what we heard last week\u2026the heightening of one\u2019s self over everything else.\u00a0 Of this the entire family of Herod is guilty.\u00a0 Herod loves being king so much he threw a party on his own birthday for himself.\u00a0 The daughter of his wife (which actually is his niece) impresses him so much he offers half of the kingdom to her.\u00a0 Herod\u2019s wife, who also used to be his sister in law, hates John for publicly saying their marriage wasn\u2019t legal.\u00a0 This self-love is so strong that Herod chose his oath and reputation over his fear of John being a messenger of God.\u00a0 Mark even tells us that Herod liked listening to John.\u00a0 But none of that mattered because the entire family of Herod was more concerned with themselves than anything else.<\/p>\n As for us hearing this today\u2026how does this lesson speak to our own faith?\u00a0 To me this speaks of the constant struggle of being a Christian.\u00a0 We go out and do ministry in this world.\u00a0 At times, that ministry is rejected.\u00a0 Sometimes it is our own doing in which we find a not-so good story sandwiched between stories of good ministry.\u00a0 We recognize John as the messenger sent by God to prepare the world for the Messiah.\u00a0 John is ultimately killed in a brutal way by a king who cares more about himself.\u00a0 We confess that the Messiah is none other than Jesus, who also was put to death at the hands of a ruler that cared more about himself.\u00a0 Pilate may have washed his hands of the crucifixion of our Lord, but he also didn\u2019t stop it.\u00a0 And despite all this\u2026.ministry continues.\u00a0 In the midst of horrible things like beheadings and crucifixion, ministry continues.\u00a0 The church continues because the Spirit gives us the ability to go forward.\u00a0 This world may continue to reject the church all it wants.\u00a0 That\u2019s ok.\u00a0 It will not stop God\u2019s work to reconcile the world to himself.\u00a0As we go forward into the world of rejection, we do so with an eagerness to discern where God is leading us, and the ministry that we are being called to do.\u00a0 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n \u00a9Judson Frick Merrell, STS<\/p>\n