The Tragedy of John the Baptist

David Poland

Matthew: Kingdom Authority • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Matthew 14:1–12

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Sermon 42 in a series through the Gospel of Matthew

Notes

Transcript

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 135

Exposition:

Scripture Reading: Psalm 13

Sermon:

Good Morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the hoes of the Lord!

For anyone who has ever been to Grace Groups on Thursday night, you will be well aware that Often discussion will go down long and windy Rabbit trails. And as someone with ADHD I really don’t mind that, In fact I am used to it, it is not just how the bible studies I run often Go, it is how I live my whole life! But i will be honest, and everyone who has ever been a part of any bible Study knows this to be true, they can be a bit of a double edged sword. On a positive note often the conversation grows in an organic manner and there is some truth or some thought that originally was not visible that can become alive and abounding in our hearts. Often the side thoughts are used to answer a question burning in the heart of someone and for them there is more value on the side thought than whatever was originally intended by the discussion question. On the other hand sometimes you take a rabbit trail and end up in the weeds. You look around and think: how in the world did we get here, and how do we get this conversation back on track. Well it turns out that it is not just in bible studies that these sort of asides or rabbit trails can happen, and eve Matthew, as he is writing his gospel takes us down one.

Today we have made it all the way to Matthew chapter 14. For a bit of trivia there are 28 chapters in Matthew (when we red from the very end of the book every Sunday we read from Matthew 28) so from that point of view we are halfway through! And as we will see here, this passage seems like a little bit of a rabbit trail, the characters are different, the mood feels different, it is, as I mentioned a bit of a rabbit trail. So with that in mind lets read our text for today, Matthew 14:1-12

Matthew 14:1–12 ESV

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

These are the words of the Lord for us today, Let Pray

PRAY

Any time you find yourself on a sort of side note like this, it is important to understand a few things. One is to understand where this rabbit hole takes us to, but the more important one, and the more foundational one is to ask: why did we start down this rabbit trail in the first place. so here we ask: why did Matthew see fit to tell us this story of John the Baptist here? Why did he choose o tell us this story In this way? and really we can ask: why did he tell us the story of John the Baptist at all?

And as we begin to look at this it begins to show itself in sort of primary thoughts and ten secondary thoughts. And it is important that we think through side notes in that manner. For in particular in this narrative, this story of John the baptist, we want to still exalt the savoir, we do not want to become legalistic or moralistic, but the secondary points we will see here tend towards moralistic thoughts. But in order to not get legalistic lets ask: what is Matthews primary, or first goal? And I would say that his first and primary Goal is to SHOW US JESUS’ IDENTITY.

Primarily shows us Jesus’ IDENTITY

WE have been looking at Matthew, in a format sense, as a series of discourses followed by narrative sections. That has been our flow, Discourse, narrative, discourse, narrative, discourse and now we find yourself in the third narrative. SO here is a teaching of Jesus and here is a story of what Jesus did, narrative to illustrate, to emphasize and to move the story along. and yes, that is the flow of the book, but there is something else going on. Underneath that there is a ebb and flow of something else going on. This is true of all of what we would call the synoptic gospels (Matthew Mark and Luke). There is one event that is the central pivot point in the gospels that moves us from Jesus ministering to Jesus preparing for and ultimately leading to the cross and his death. And that one event that it the focal point: Peter’s Confession of Jesus. WE will get to it in a while, Matthew 16. But in building up to Peter confessing you are the Christ, the son of God, Matthew wants us to understand WHY it is so incredible Peter gets it right, and the way we do that, is show how everyone else gets it wrong.

We saw this at the end of The sermon on the mount, like, wow, this guy has authority! but how he had that authority, or what it truly was eluded them. The pharisees and their thoughts of: wait, how dare this guy forgive sins, who can do that? without finding the true answer that Jesus can do that, even the disciples missed this earlier when Jesus calmed the storm and they ask (Matthew 8:27) what sort of man is this? What sort of man Jesus is is hanging in the balance

Herod, the man who does all the action in this rabbit trail, is just another brink in the foundation of people not getting it.

Matthew 14:1–2 (ESV)

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,

Jesus has been teaching, he taught all these parables, he is doing miracles, he is going and teaching in synagogues, he is causing quite a stir, and Herod the tetrarch begins to hear of the fame of Jesus...

and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist.

This Jesus , he has to be John the baptist! John the baptist was a powerful prophet, he spoke of God, the people loved him, he was well esteemed by those who would follow him, (and hated by those who did not like the message of REPENT!). So he must be John the Baptist...

He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

He is John Reincarnation, to Herod that is the only logical explanation of how this Jesus can do these things, can say these things, can teach these things. Jesus can’t be God, Cant be the Messiah, he must be John the Baptist raised form the dead, reincarnated, the Spirit of John the Baptist raised in Jesus. That is the only logical explanation.

Never mind that it just plain doesn't make sense. How can they be the same age and this be true? How can John Baptize Jesus and this be true? How can John say that Jesus is so great that he cannot even carry Jesus’ sandals. Ignoring all that, this must be John reincarnated!

Matthew wants us to see very clearly that people still do not get who Jesus is, and they will go to illogical lengths to deny the truth. This ties to all the parables that came before of what the kingdom of heaven is like. Some will get it, the seed will grow and flourish in good soil. It is the picture of the net that some people hear it, but the don’t get it. so this is a real life enacting of many of these.

Our first lesson or thought, our first application, if you will, is that we need to see who Jesus is. Do not get this wrong. Don’t see him as just another teacher, ans JtheB reincarnated, someone just calling you to live a better life, instead see him for who he is, the only one who is fully God and fully man, our great high priest, the mediator for us, the great high priest the one who saves us by his blood. Do not miss who Jesus is.

That is our main intention here, that is where Matthew starts this rabbit trail. He is writing and wants us to see that here is one more person who does not Get who Jesus is, but now that we are here, now that w are thinking and talking about Herod, there are some other important thoughts for us to note. and so what we end up getting here, I am going to push it to two, really this is all about the first one, but I needed some positive calls to action, but what we end up with is two examples of our RESPONSE

Secondarily shows us our RESPONSE

Ok, it is as if Matthew is saying: OK here’s the deal: Herod didn’t get it, Just like the the people in Nazareth who Thought they knew jesus thought they had it all figured out, they didn’t know him. But not “getting it” plays out rather tragically. In Jesus’ home town they didn’t get it so it cost them many mighty works of Jesus. Here in this rabbit trail it cost too, but there is collateral damage.

Really the two lessons, the two ways to see how our lives can be impacted, two thoughts on how to live and these are seen in two people. The first is seen negatively, by evaluating the response of HEROD!

HEROD

Matthew sort of brushes over a lot of stuff here.

Matthew 14:3–4 ESV

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

There is actually a ton of political intrigue, some impropriety going on there is a lot of stuff here. SO I think it will be helpful, though rather difficult, to see fully what is going on here. This is from a commentary, and I will try and help us grasp all of this, but spoiler alert, we have a Herod the great, a Herod Antipas, and a Herod Philip, not to mention a herodias, so it is gong to be confusing. At a certain point you walk through this and feel like the crazy guy in the movies with all the writing and things n the wall with strings connecting various plots and people to a convoluted web, so lets go (stolen form a commentary):

-This lady was a granddaughter of Herod the Great, being the daughter of his son Aristobulus. She married her uncle Herod Philip (who is to be distinguished from the tetrarch Philip, Luke 3:1), who was half brother to Herod Antipas. Herod Philip and Herodias had a daughter, Salome. Herod Antipas married a Nabatean princess (whose name is not known), the daughter of King Aretas, but he and Herodias fell in love. They agreed to marry, and Herodias left his half-brother Herod Philip (as Matthew says, she was the wife of his brother Philip; she was also his niece). The daughter of Aretas got wind of what was happening and fled to her father, who promptly went to war with Herod and defeated him (which provoked Roman intervention). It was a tangled and complex situation, - Morris, 370

Herod finds himself in the middle of this soap opera: the question we then ask is: WHY? it is because he allows himself to be ruled by lust and not logic, partially, but because he allows his sin to rule his life fully. He doesn't care what is wrong or right, he doesn't care what, even the bods of common decency would say. He definitely doesn't care what God has to say about this situation, I mean, com on, he’s a tetrarch, he doesn't have to care about polite society or God, hes above all that. Ultimately this means that he finds himself trapped in his sin.

And so along comes JtheB. Never one to shy away form conflict. Never one to not be wiling to say what God called him to say,N ever being to overly caring about what people thought of him, he comes and say: “yeah, you can’t do that Herod. I know you got all these people around you saying you do you, do what makes you feel good Herod, I am telling you you cannot do this. It is not lawful” And here it is not just that it is not lawful in some civil law sense, that may be true, but here it is not awful in a biblical law sense. this is an incestuous relationship that requires 2 divorces to make it happen. It is just not ok. But what is interesting is that Herod is not the one who originally wants to throw him in jail.

He does it because the woman he claims to love, thought it is more rightly lust, Herodias, she does not want to hear it. and he much more cares about her opinion and impressing here than he cares about the opinions of the people, God, or even his own conscious. So he trows JtheB in jail. And so now his step daughter, dancing for him at his birthday party, he enjoys it. You can read into that what you will, many commentators have, but no matter what happens there he is willing to offer her whatever she wants. “Whatever you want, its yours!” In Mark’s telling of the story it is even more “ Up to half of my kingdom, you can have it, whatever you want! Money, power prestige, whatever you want, you name it I will give it to you. She talks to her mom, I want JtheB’s head. I want him dead. Herod is now trapped, again by his rash thinking, his lust, he doesn't necessarily WANT to kill him. He is at least - verse 9 -this wretched human being, this vile sinful person, well at least hes sorry. “the king was sorry” - not sorry enough to do anything about it, but still sorry.

So he sent and had john beheaded in prison, his head brought on a platter. I am sorry John, but it just has to happen, My hands are tied here. It is interesting, he cares about his oaths and what people would think about him in verse 9 but he does not care about his oath to his first wife to be married to here and he does not care what people think about him and his relationships with his brothers wife. But at least he felt sorry...

The response of Herod now to Jesus is what I want to highlight. That’s Herod, that’s his life and what happened, he is caught this sin, this web of lust and power, he is caught up in all these things. And so he starts hearing about Jesus. and his guilt wells up. It is as if, to come to modern literature for a second, it is as if Jesus comes the tell tale heart of all the evil things he did to JtheB. The guilt of killing John wells up in his heart. He hears Jesus doing these things, this must be John reincarnated. I cant get rd of this guy. He is so overcome by guilt he cant think straight, so overwhelmed by sin he cant live right. Herod is trapped.

If we don’t understand who Chrsit is, here’s the ponit I want to get to here with Herod, if we don’t understand who Jesus Chrsit is, we will live enslaved to our sins and passions, and we will live with guilt and fear and terror looming over us. These things are true.

In the moment Herod just following his lustful desires he is slave to them. This who thought of like: this girls dancing so: “I’ll give you whatever you want!… I don’t want to give you THAT, but i guess i have to because i made this oath, i have these people, i want these people to think a certain thing about me”, and he is a slave to all these things. But then at night the shame and guilt of what he has done comes and it haunts him, brings him terror. To Not know who Jesus is you will end up like Herod.

But there was one who know who Jesus is, we know he knows who Jesus is because he sent his disciples even here at the end when he was little unsure he sent his disciples to make sure he knew who Jesus was, that is John the Baptist.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

In one sermon I was listening to on this they called this the second greatest tragedy in all of Scripture. The fist is that the only innocent man to ever live, Jesus Chrsit the perfect sinless one would be brutally murdered on the cross, that is the greatest tragedy, but here is the second it is the story of JtheB.

What did he do? he did what God called him to. What did JtheB do? he took a stand for God’s law, for Righteousness. What dd John do? He spoke the truth. Not his truth, not A truth he spoke THE truth. And it cost him everything. I was thinking about this this week. We live in a world that seems obsessed with the idea of cancel culture. If you say one thing that the society does not agree with you get cancelled. Well John said one thing, not even wrong, just truth: IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR YOU TO HAVE HER. you can’t marry your bothers wife! You cannot just divorce your wife because you want to have her divorce her husband, your brother just because she wants to, you can’t marry your brothers wife who is your niece. you can’t do it, it is not lawful, you will not get my support and blessing in this. It turns out that love does not equal love in this particular case. It is wrong. So off with John’s head.

The point here is that there is often dare I say always a cost to following Christ. It will not be always the popular thing to proclaim the truth. It will not always be the most beloved thing to tell people that you are living in sin and what you are doing is wrong. But yet JtheB he took a stand.

Here’s the thought, here is the take home lesson, and we don’t always have these sort of take home here’s your application point thoughts, but I think here it is appropriate. This rabbit trail wants us to see these things. If you are caught in a cycle of guilt and shame and enslavement to sin the solution is to see Jesus,. truly WHO HE IS. Son of God, the only son of God, the one who was fully God, fully man, born of the virgin Mary, who lived the prefect life we had to live but ever could. SO that in flowing all the laws and commands of God so he could fulfill all righteousness that he could give to us, those who trust in him. Also see the one in Jess who, on the cross took the sin and guilt and shame of all those who trust in him. Don’t live in gilt and shame, but instead -take a stand for Christ.

Proclaim him, to the world around you! Live a life, as Paul would later write, worthy of the calling you have received. John did, and it cost him everything, It might cost you everything too, but it is worth it. Lets Pray

PRAY