{"id":26604,"date":"2026-08-26T08:01:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=26604"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:37:24","slug":"mark-614-29-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/mark-614-29-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark 6:14\u201329"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOLY WORSHIP: ALL IN FOR JESUS | The Feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist | 30 August 2026 | Mark 6:14\u201329 | Samuel David Zumwalt<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Mark 6:14-29 <\/strong>Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved<\/strong><\/p>\n

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14\u00a0Now King Herod heard\u00a0of Him,<\/em>\u00a0for His name had become well known. And he said, \u201cJohn the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore\u00a0these powers are at work in him.\u201d 15\u00a0Others said, \u201cIt is Elijah.\u201d And others said, \u201cIt is\u00a0the Prophet,\u00a0or like one of the prophets.\u201d 16\u00a0But when Herod heard, he said, \u201cThis is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!\u201d\u00a017\u00a0For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip\u2019s wife; for he had married her.\u00a018\u00a0Because John had said to Herod,\u00a0\u201cIt is not lawful for you to have your brother\u2019s wife.\u201d 19\u00a0Therefore Herodias\u00a0held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not;\u00a020\u00a0for Herod\u00a0feared John, knowing that he\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he\u00a0did many things, and heard him gladly. 21\u00a0Then an opportune day came when Herod\u00a0on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief\u00a0men<\/em>\u00a0of Galilee.\u00a022\u00a0And when Herodias\u2019 daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, \u201cAsk me whatever you want, and I will give\u00a0it<\/em>\u00a0to you.\u201d\u00a023\u00a0He also swore to her,\u00a0\u201cWhatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.\u201d 24\u00a0So she went out and said to her mother, \u201cWhat shall I ask?\u201d And she said, \u201cThe head of John the Baptist!\u201d 25\u00a0Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, \u201cI want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.\u201d 26\u00a0And the king was exceedingly sorry;\u00a0yet,<\/em>\u00a0because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.\u00a027\u00a0Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison,\u00a028\u00a0brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.\u00a029\u00a0When his disciples heard\u00a0of it,<\/em>\u00a0they came and\u00a0took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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HOLY WORSHIP: ALL IN FOR JESUS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

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He Wouldn\u2019t Say No<\/strong><\/p>\n

For their musical Oklahoma<\/em>, Oscar Hammerstein wrote the lyrics that Richard Rodgers set to music. Their character Ado Annie sings: \u201cI\u2019m just a girl who cain\u2019t say no. I\u2019m in a terrible fix. I always say, \u2018Come on, let\u2019s go\u2019 just when I oughta say, \u2018Nix.\u2019 She\u2019s a girl whose passions when she\u2019s with a guy seem to get the worst of her as if she were trapped.<\/p>\n

Herod Antipas had much in common with Ado Annie. He wouldn\u2019t say no. Although he was one of the several sons of wicked King Herod the Great, Antipas appears so weak in today\u2019s gospel lesson. Like his father in the worst ways, but weaker still, Antipas shows himself to be a man of loose morals, given to drink, a braggart, lecherous, and not very wise. Although the Herods had limited rule in the Holy Land, granted by Rome, they were not Jews. Herod the Great had a Idumean father (descended from Esau) and a Nabatean (Jordanian Arab) mother. Among his many wives was Malthace, Antipas\u2019 mother, who was a Samaritan. This Gentile background highlights the curious detail that Antipas gladly heard John the Baptist and protected him even though John told him No!<\/p>\n

We see this played out in real time in the news as prominent men or women end up destroyed by scandal after having imagined themselves above criticism or simply entitled to whatever whenever. Herodias had been attracted to Antipas\u2019 greater position and power. She brought her daughter Salome into Antipas\u2019 palace which she devilishly worked to her advantage after Antipas kept saying no to killing John whom she hated. It galled her that the king, who wouldn\u2019t say no to anything or anyone else, did so to her.<\/p>\n

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Herod Was the Real Prisoner<\/strong><\/p>\n

The text is full of irony. He had killed John whom he imprisoned for telling the truth, but Herod Antipas was the real prisoner. Like all of us, he was born in bondage to sin, death, and Satan and could not free himself. Antipas was trapped in a marriage he should never have entered into. Like Jezebel and Elijah in the Old Testament, Queen Herodias could not bear the thought that John was free to vilify her and her marriage to Herod. And she just wouldn\u2019t stop complaining to Antipas about John. She had married into the Herod family not once but twice. She knew the Herods had the morals of feral tom cats, that Antipas couldn\u2019t bear the thought of looking weak before others. So she schemed until just the right moment and even used her daughter against Antipas to get her way. So, King Herod, having lost John\u2019s head over the girl, was very distressed by King Jesus.<\/p>\n

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John<\/strong> Went All-In for Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, the parallels between John the Baptist and Elijah are striking. Each speaks a hard word to God\u2019s people for their idolatry. Each calls Israel back to the covenant God made with His people at Sinai. Each dealt with a wicked queen who wanted to kill him. Each spent time in the wilderness utterly dependent upon God. Unlike Elijah, even though John knew that he was in mortal danger, he would not run away and would not be quiet. God gathered Elijah to Himself in a fiery chariot, but God called John to foreshadow the death of His Beloved Son and also the beheading of Paul of Tarsus. As he prepared the way for the coming Messiah, King Jesus, John the Baptist was all-in for the rule and reign of the one true God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). But note: that\u2019s not<\/em> the Gospel!<\/p>\n

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Jesus<\/u><\/strong> Went All-In for Everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before you were born, before you could do wicked things and fail to do good things, while you and I were still trapped, bound in the Egypt of our sin, God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to live the obedient life none of us can live and to die the innocent death none of us can die: that we might be freed from sin, death, and Satan. King Jesus, truly God and truly human, went all-in for you, for me, and for all people. There is<\/em> salvation in no<\/em> other name than the name of Jesus. There is no other way<\/em> to the Father than Jesus. He didn\u2019t die because you were good enough. You aren\u2019t. Or because you were faithful enough. You aren\u2019t. Or because you chose Him. You didn\u2019t. He chose to die for you and wants none to be lost and all prisoners set free. If you want to be His, if you want to be set free, if you want to follow Him, then be joined to His saving death and glorious resurrection in Holy Baptism. If you aren\u2019t baptized, talk with me. If you are baptized, then every day for the rest of your life is a day to say no to Satan, his works and his ways. Repentance is not praying the so-called sinner\u2019s prayer. Repentance is daily dying to your selfish thoughts, words, and deeds. It means daily saying no to the evil one.<\/p>\n

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For Whom Will You Be All-In?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The question is not whether you are going to be all-in for anyone. You are. Everyone will be all-in for someone or something. The reality is that left to our own nature we will not be all-in for anyone but ourselves. It\u2019s the old sinner, the old selfish self, the old Adam or Eve inside that wants what he wants when he wants it no matter what. As I have prepared hundreds of couples for marriage, I have said throughout our conversations and often the wedding sermon, that the only way a marriage will ever work is if each spouse dies to him- or herself. If only one person is doing all the dying to self, eventually the marriage dies from the selfishness and cruelty of the one who is all-in for him- or herself. Life is difficult. Marriage is difficult. Raising children is difficult. We need to be here week after week in order to confess our sins, die to ourselves, and be filled with the endless life and love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: to be shaped into the likeness of the Servant Son.<\/p>\n

Christianity is not a successful marketing plan. Why do millions misunderstand that? \u00a0Because a successful marketing plan gives me<\/em> what I<\/em> want in exchange for my<\/em> allegiance. But to whom and to what? On the other hand, real Christianity is marked by martyrdom, which literally means giving your whole life in witness to Jesus, His Father, and the Holy Spirit. Christianity is not a show that I attend or a place where I can go as a member. The Church in Acts 2:42 is the baptized people called out of their homes to assemble with the Lord and His apostles around His Word, His Supper, and the ordered prayers. We gather, because the Holy Spirit has called us out of our selfish selves to assemble where the Triune God serves us with Jesus\u2019 benefits: the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We gather, because that is who we are, and because we know this is the<\/em> way to eternal life.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re going to die. So am I. The only question is when and how. You will stand before the Lord to give an account of what you have done with the people and things He has placed in your hands to manage. What will He say to say about to what and for whom you were all-in? So, Acts 2 is not a successful marketing plan that produced 3,000 new believers. The Word of God cut to the heart 3,000 of about 165,000 listeners. The rest kept saying no.<\/em> But the ones who began to repent and were baptized? They continued in the apostles\u2019 teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread (the Lord\u2019s Supper), and the prayers (the liturgy of the psalms). And daily<\/em> the Word of the Lord grew and their numbers increased, yes, but those who were all-in began to be martyred. Stephen was stoned to death. James was killed. Peter was arrested. Paul suffered greatly on his way to death. And the Church suffers again and again as more go all-in for Jesus. Are you<\/em> all-in?<\/p>\n

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In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9Samuel David Zumwalt
\nszumwalt54@gmail.com<\/a>
\nSt. Matthew\u2019s Evangelical Lutheran Church (AALC)
\nWilmington, North Carolina USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOLY WORSHIP: ALL IN FOR JESUS | The Feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist | 30 August 2026 | Mark 6:14\u201329 | Samuel David Zumwalt   Mark 6:14-29 Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved 14\u00a0Now King Herod heard\u00a0of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,511,727,157,853,108,110,683,349,3,109,160],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-markus","category-13-so-n-trinitatis","category-archiv","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-6-chapter-6-markus","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten","category-samuel-david-zumwalt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26605,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604\/revisions\/26605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}