The Baptist Beheaded
In January of last year, we were early into our study of Mark’s gospel when we had opportunity to examine the ministry of John the Baptist. John appears early in all four gospel accounts because of his baptism ministry. Before Jesus began His public teaching, it was necessary for Him to inaugurate His ministry with the New Testament right of the church which is baptism in water. Of course, there was no church when John started baptizing, but it appears the apostles chosen as foundational building blocks of the church were all baptized by John. Before choosing Judas’ replacement in Acts 1, Peter said the new apostle must be qualified in this respect—he must have accompanied the ministry of Jesus since the baptism of John. The New Testament stressed John’s baptism as well as the Old Testament in mentioning how John would prepare Israel for the coming Messiah.
Although appearing only in the New Testament, Jesus named John as the last Old Testament prophet. Apparently, God saved the best of those types of prophets until last. Jesus said there was no greater man born of women than John the Baptist. It is a superlative statement especially since Jesus Himself was born of a woman. I will leave you to research and decide on His meaning.
The last we saw of John in our study was in chapter 2 when the Pharisees complained that he and his disciples fasted when Jesus and His did not. It was a convenient comparison for them as they tried to drive a wedge between Jesus and John while knowing the people considered John to be a prophet. The Pharisees had no use for John except as they could use him against Jesus. It is hardly imaginable they favored John when he called them vipers and called them to repentance from their sins. It was not a good look for John to call them self-righteous sinners. It was also useless for them to try to exalt John above Jesus. He recognized Jesus’ authority and said he was not worthy to untie the sandals on Jesus’ feet. Jesus applauded John for his strong stand on the truth of God’s word, an immovable position since prison did not deter him from outing Herod and his wife for their immorality.
The first messages on John last year were The Baptist Bulldozer and The Baptist’s Baptism. We conclude the saga of John the Baptist today with The Baptist Beheaded. John met an ignominious end as Herod treated him as an enemy of the people. He certainly was Herod’s enemy—at least an enemy of his sin. He called him to repentance not only because his responsibility was to rule in righteousness, but also because his soul depended on it.
Herod never repented of his sin and later Caesar exiled him and stripped away much of his authority. A man who dined fabulously in a palace and could speak a word to dispel his enemies now burns in the flames of an eternal hell. Such is often the end of the world’s mightiest men. John’s legacy was that of a nomad traversing the desert in rough camel hair clothing and dining on grasshoppers. And yet, we know him better than Herod because of His trust in the Messiah and his faithful obedience to truth. John’s life teaches us not to be afraid of what people can do to us. Service to Christ yields honor at the proper time.
Pastor V. Mark Smith