“Abuse of power” (Mark 6:14-29)

Mark 6:14-29

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"Salome with the Head of John the Baptist," Caravaggio (1610)

Pastor Tom Johnson, July 11, 2021

Herod is throwing an extravagant party for himself. It’s his birthday. His stepdaughter Herodias performs a dance for him and his guests. They are very pleased. It was so well done—or so seductive—that Herod offers up to half his kingdom as a tip. It seems like it was the wine doing the talking that day. So Herodias consults her mother Herodias and she suggests the head of John the Baptist. Herodias takes it a step further and presents his head on a platter for Herod and all his dinner guests. Herod is deeply grieved. John was good entertainment. Herod liked his preaching even though John called Herod out for taking his brother’s wife. Herod’s actions not only led to John’s beheading but also all-out war just a few years after this incident. Many people paid for Herod’s actions with their lives. 

It’s all about power. Herod, his wife Herodias, and daughter Herodias are all competing for attention and power. Mark wants us to see the deceitfulness and harm that comes from endless jockeying for power. Mark exposes the lie that any of the players of this sadistic game possess true power and authority. Think about it. Herod is powerless to stop John’s preaching and the spread of the Kingdom of God. Herod is powerless to think carefully before he speaks. Herod is powerless to stop the beheading of John. Herod is powerless to overcome his insatiable need for validation and to avoid embarrassment before his dinner guests. His wife Herodias is powerless to let go of the grudge she held against John the Baptist for calling out their sin. She is powerless to kill John the Baptist herself. She preys upon the power given to her daughter Herodias. Herodias the daughter abuses her power on multiple levels. She powerlessly allows herself to be a pawn of her mother. She hurts her step-father Herod by asking for John’s head. She hurts her mother by taking it one step further; she perversely puts John’s head on a platter at a dinner party.

Herod Antipas gets his name from his father Herod the Great—the same one who slaughtered the innocent multitude of newborns, infants, and toddlers in Bethlehem so he could maintain power. The apple does not fall far from the tree. The same could be said for Herodias the mother and Herodias the daughter. All of them are branding the name Herod selfishly, greedily, and inflicting harm and death on countless people.  John the Baptist called out their sin, not because he was self-righteous—but because they were abusing of power to the detriment and harm of countless people. John’s hope was to bring order, peace, and healing out of the chaos, confusion, and harm coming from one person’s narcissism.

Is there anyone or anything that has you or me captivated by their apparent power, fame, or gravitas? Mark invites us to look behind the curtain and see someone who is in bondage to fear, profoundly insecure, incapable of empathy, leaving a trail of casualties a mile long behind them. Herod was entertained by John. He liked the show. Our text says he liked his preaching despite John calling out his sin. But just because he liked John and his preaching, it was not enough to keep his head off the chopping block. Herod was entertained by John’s preaching but unchanged. The preached Word is not for the scratching of itching ears but the transformation of hearts and lives. “Be vigilant, be sober minded,” Scripture says, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). Be on guard of this in the world and watch out for it to manifest even in ourselves.

Whom do you and I want to impress? At what cost will we do it? To what depth of depravity are we willing to go? The quest for worldly power and popularity is often captivity to a never-ending and dangerous game. All are losers. The only winner is the devil whose time is also short, whose doom is certain before God Almighty. Out of superstitious fear, Herod believes that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead with even greater power. It turns out that Herod is onto something when he recognizes a continuity between John the Baptist and Jesus.

Herod is at least right on one account: John’s martyrdom points to Jesus. And we know from the rest of the story of Mark that Herod never will work through his dysfunctional, generational, deadly, narcissistic, and cowardly quest for power. He will also bring Jesus in for entertainment. He will again be incapable of doing the right thing. He will be powerless before Pontius Pilate. And once again, his cowardice, selfishness, and pride will lead to Jesus losing his head to a crown of thorns, his hands and feet to nails, and his life on a Roman cross. Like John, Jesus’ body is also laid in a tomb. But death could not contain him. Three days later he rises from the dead. John’s fate darkly foreshadows Jesus. At this Table and Banquet, Jesus offers himself for heavenly food and eternal life. Like Herod’s father before him, Herod cannot stop the Kingdom of God for which John and Jesus labor. Herodias and Herodias cannot stop this. Pontius Pilate, the Sanhedrin, the Roman Empire, or any abuse of perceived power cannot stop this. 

Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The gates of hell will not be able to stop the advance of the Kingdom of God from John, Jesus, and the Church as we proclaim truth and life-transforming power.

Satan, I defy thee;
Death, I now decry thee;
Fear, I bid thee cease.
World, thou shalt not harm me
Nor thy threats alarm me
While I sing of peace.
God’s great pow’r
Guards ev’ry hour;
Earth and all its depths adore Him,
Silent bow before Him.

Evil world, I leave thee;
Thou canst not deceive me,
Thine appeal is vain.
Sin that once did blind me,
Get thee far behind me,
Come not forth again.
Past thy hour,
O pride and pow'r;
Sinful life, thy bonds I sever,
Leave thee now forever.         
          (“Jesus, Priceless Treasure,” LSB 743, vv. 3 & 5)