Sunday, July 5, 2015

Mark 6:14-29 Speaking the Truth to Power

Mark 6:20   ". . . he liked to listen to him."

John was arrested by King Herod because John criticized the king for violating the biblical standards of morality (v. 17). Even though the king had John arrested and eventually executed he still understood that John was a man of God; he found John's prophecy worth hearing (v.20).

Herod's birthday party provides the setting for the account of John's arrest and execution. During this party Herod's wife and her daughter manipulated the king into a decision to execute John. A dance performance followed by a prideful boast and an unwillingness to bear embarrassment before his guests led Herod to order John's execution through beheading and the shameful, public display of John's head on a platter at the banquet.

Speaking the truth to power on a moral issue of rightful marriage led to John's death. Hints in the text (v. 16, v. 20, v. 26)) suggest that Herod acted against his best judgment. Wanting to seem a certain way before his wife and guests led him to violate his own conscience.

Moral issues eventually reveal one's strength of character and conviction. Herod believed that God had power to raise the dead (v. 16), and Herod believed that John was a prophet, but Herod did not have the moral character to stand for truth; instead, he misused his power, and he failed the opportunity for redemption that John's message brought to him.

True religion includes moral decision making. Truth requires the choice for right or wrong. Wanting to seem one way or another, wanting to please our significant others, wanting to protect our pride--all efforts to avoid the decision that's required--will not keep us from finally making a choice. We will be forced to use our power--great power or little power--to make a decision, to take some action. Either we will decide based on the word of God, as John did, or we will be manipulated into a decision we ultimately regret. Prophets will speak truth, and those who hear will have to decide.

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