The beheading of John the Baptist

 I am a week into a 40 day journey that our youth minister has challenged our students with. We are reading a few chapters of the Gospels a day so that by the end of the 40 days we will have read all four Gospels. I was very excited when he told me about it and immediately wanted to join in with them. He even went so far as to write a brief devotional to guide their reading and prayers. It is fantastic! We have hope for our students because we know that God's word does not return to him empty but instead accomplishes all his purposes (Isaiah 55:11). 

One of the reasons I love these systematic reading plans is that invariably I will discover something new that I may have skimmed over previously or the Spirit just illuminates something I had not thought about before. 

Today I read Matthew 14-15. And the thing that jumped out at me was the death of John the Baptist. He was the first martyr recorded in the New Testament. His life was given as a sacrifice to the LORD. But for all the significance his life had for the purpose of Christ and heralding his arrival, his death was merely the final move in a cruel game played by the family of Herod. 

You see, John had spoken boldly, as God's prophet, against the relationship between Herod and his wife Herodias. They had each divorced their previous spouses in order to marry each other. In other words, they committed adultery and abandoned their marriages in order to satiate their lust. John rightfully called them out. Herodias was furious. And wanted her new husband to deal with John. Herod was afraid of the reaction of the people because they knew John was sent from God. Like a typical, corrupt politician he gave in to public opinion and refused to kill John. 

One day, Herod's step-daughter pleased him by her dancing, and he promised her whatever she wanted. Sensing the opportunity to finally get what she wanted, Herodias told her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod reluctantly complied. And so John was martyred to satisfy the desires of a scorned adulteress. 

The thing that gets me about this story is not that John was killed. Jesus promised us we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33). Peter said we can expect persecution if we have the name of Christ attached to us (1 Peter 4:12-14). 

What gets me is how callused people get in their sin. 

Herod and Herodias divorced and remarried and John rightfully called them out in their sin. Instead of humbling themselves before God and asking for forgiveness, Herodias hardens her heart and instead desires the death of the man who dared to call her sin a sin. Not only does she call for his death, but she gets her daughter to ask for his head. That is sick. 

Then when John is killed, his head is paraded around the court of Herod as some type of trophy by the daughter. How depraved do you have to be to do something like that?

The thing that really gets me as I read this passage is that I am no different from Herodias. And neither are you. 

Every time God's word calls out our sin and we don't respond with immediate repentance and contrition, we are showing contempt for Christ and calling for his head. I don't want to exaggerate this point, but every time we sin it is like we are driving that nail in his hand or pressing that crown on his head or giving him one more lashing from the whip. This is true because it is our sin which he bore on the cross... all of them. 

I pray we will be as appalled at our own sin as we are at the heinous sins we read here. We will grow in Christlikeness as we grow in our understanding that all sin offensive to God no matter how small they may seem.

I pray that our hearts will not grow insensitive to the loving rebukes from God that call us back to Himself. When He calls attention to our sin our hearts which have been made new in Christ should break over that offense. We should return to the cross not to heap more sins on it, but to receive more of his lavish grace for the cleansing of our sins. His grace is abundant for all our sin. He wants to restore us to a right relationship with Him.