JOHN THE BAPTIST-A MAN OF CONVICTION

MARK:6:14-29

The Boss was complaining that he wasn’t getting enough respect from the staff. Later that morning he went out and returned with a sign that said, “I’m the boss”. He taped it to the office door. When he returned from lunch he found that someone has taped a note to the sign that said, “your wife called-she wants her sign back”.   

Review story: John had been arrested by King Herod. WHY? Because John kept reminding Herod that he wasn’t above God’s law. He said,”It is not lawful for you to take your brothers’ wife”. Herodius, Herod’s wife resented John’s criticism and wanted to kill him. But Herod has refused because he regarded John as a holy man-a man of God. Finally with some scheming-manipulating she was able to achieve her goal and have John killed. Herod was please with Herodius’s daughters dancing.  As a reward he foolishly made a promise he came to regret.  Herodius seized the opportunity and told her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Herod was greatly distressed at her request but he had backed himself into a corner and couldn’t get out of it. The point is: be careful about making promises.                But the story raises deeper issues: Questions like:” How could God let John the Baptist be treated like this? How could God stand by and let John who had devoted his life to serving God die like this? This question reflects the assumption of people who think that their faith is some kind of insurance against trouble-tragedy. They think that God is letting them down when problems-illness-tragedy hits them. They think that God is deaf to their prayers or doesn’t care about them if He doesn’t give help-healing right away        But nowhere in Scripture does God promise that just because we are Christians we can expect to be spared trouble or tragedy. You only have to read the Bible to see how many of God’s faithful servants suffered in a variety of ways. Eg Prophets-Jeremiah. Of the 12 disciples only John dies of old age. All the others became martyrs-died for their faith in Jesus. But is this so strange when we remember that Jesus himself suffered  and died for us-crucifixion was one of the most horrible ways to die. Life wasn’t easy for Jesus-no bed of roses.                          The thing that should astound us is not that we have to suffer at times but that we don’t suffer a lot more than we do.  That is particularly true of us here in Australia.  Dictators like Hitler-Stalin Mao Tse Tung –Pol Pot-and more recently Islamic Terrorism-ISIS i Iraq-Syria-Christians persecuted-killed. We have been fortunate in that we have escaped unlike Christians in some countries who suffer harassment-persecution. As far as our personal health  is concerned, considering how complex the human body is it’s a wonder we don’t have more health problems than we do.

We sometimes forget that God’s concern is not to fill our Bank accounts-to give us a comfortable enjoyable life-not to pander to our whims. His concern is that we serve him-become more like his Son Jesus. God’s concern is that His Will be done and that his Name is praised. It cost God dearly that we might have fellowship with him-it cost the life of his Son. We need to think about that when we think we are hard done by­-facing troubles-difficulties.

The main point is this: God would have us witness to him no matter what our situation in life. There are some people who whenever things go wrong let everyone know about it. But you don’t find John complaining-grizzling about being in prison. I’m sure he did a lot of thinking-praying while in his prison cell. But there is no mention of him complaining about his lot. But we are told that John speaks to Herod about the things of God. In fact it seem that Herod’s conscience led him to have a number of conversations with John. You sometimes hear people say that it is not necessary to speak about your faith. As long as you give a good witness with your life. I don’t believe that. The fact is most people don’t have any clear idea what Christianity is about. They think that as long as they try to live a “good life” they will be right. As long as they “do their best” God will treat them kindly. So if we think that our efforts to live a “good life” are going to convince people about the truth of Xianity- we are being naive. Especially when non Xians live lives that are just as good as ours if not better. We don’t have a monopoly in living a “good live. Frankly when we look at our own inconsistencies, our lives aren’t such a credible witness to Christ. The early apostles didn’t rely on the witness of their lives –they knew that many people worked hard at developing a virtuous life. They had something more glorious to offer. They declared that they were sinners under God’s judgement and so were others. The message was that despite the fact that all people were sinners, God sent his only Son Jesus to rescue them from their hopeless situation. Because sinners could not come to God through their own efforts, God came to them with his mercy-grace. He had given his own Son to pay price for our sins-the sinless One took upon himself the sins of the world and died for us. And to top it off Jesus had conquered death by his resurrection and given us the promise of eternal life. The apostles had a message to proclaim that gave hope-meaning for people’s lives.

It is in this light that we need to understand the witness of John. He was in the power of a man who could have had him killed at the drop of a hat. But Herod had no peace. In search of peace he kept coming back to this uncompromising  man of God-who told him the truth –about himself and God.  Ironically, although John was in prison – he was free-in his conscience-mind. While Herod was a captive to his weakness- ambition. Throughout this period of Imprisonment, John did not complain-whinge.  Instead he witnessed to the Truth. May we pray: God use me for your glory’s sake and help me to witness like John, whatever situation  you place us in. Amen. 

Pastor. Haydn Blaess