“How do you sleep at night?” That
is a loaded question in certain contexts. Sure, it can be as banal as questioning
the comfort of one’s mattress, the snoring of one’s spouse, or the fussiness of
one’s infant child, but there are other things that keep a person up at night.
No doubt we have also heard the question asked of someone who is particularly
callous, cold-hearted, or whose deeds have just been brought to light. It concerns an experience so common to most
of us that we find it shocking when it is lacking in others, the call of that
interior voice that convicts us of our sins, the voice of conscience that makes
us toss and turn. That voice is not easy
to escape. Human beings seem to know instinctively that some things are wrong,
and yet we still often choose to do those things. Christian theology identifies
this tendency as our sinful nature. We all universally have the tendency to sin
in thought, word, and deed, by what we do and what we leave undone. For this
reason we all have experienced the persistent jab of a wounded conscience. J.C.
Ryles writes,
“God has not left Himself without witness in the hearts of unconverted people. Fallen and corrupt as man is, there are thoughts within him accusing or excusing, according as he lives—thoughts that will not be shut out—thoughts that can make even kings, like Herod, restless and afraid.”
Indeed, this week’s Gospel reading
reveals King Herod as precisely that—a man terrified by his guilt-ridden conscience.
Despite Jesus’ lukewarm reception
in his hometown, news of Jesus’ ministry has spread. Jesus’ disciples have been
sent and they too are spreading his message and demonstrating it with power.
The Kingdom of God is breaking in! People have begun to ask questions. Who is
this guy anyway?! Many people believe
that Jesus is the promised second appearance of Elijah. The scriptures record
that Elijah was carried away into heaven in a fiery chariot, and many—based on
Malachi 4:5—believe that Elijah will return in the last days, before the time
of the Messiah, when all things will be put right. Others think, if not Elijah,
perhaps Jesus is some other prophet of old. Herod, on the other hand, is
convinced that he is John the Baptist.
Herod believes that John, the man that he beheaded, has been raised from
the dead.
Herod is of course wrong about
this. It is difficult to understand how someone could even come to this
conclusion given the fact that John’s life and Jesus’ ministry overlapped with
each other. Herod’s paranoia, brought about by his guilty conscience, may have
led him to draw an irrational conclusion, but his instincts are actually not
too far from the truth. In an odd way his statements foreshadow the judgment
that will be proclaimed later by the apostles after Jesus’ own death, “The God
of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree”(Acts 5:30 ESV). Herod knows that he has
sentenced an innocent man--a great and holy man--to death. He recognizes that
God is at work in the ministry of Jesus Christ, setting things right and
calling him to account for his wickedness and tyranny. God has indeed vindicated
John, not by raising him from dead, but by fulfilling John’s prophesies in the
person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is
bringing about the very thing that John prophesized, the great day of reckoning
and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Herod is living in the shadow of
his father’s great legacy. Like his father, his greatest ambition is to be
recognized as the true king of the Jewish people. He has been continuing the reconstruction
of the Temple that his father started in order to commend himself to the
people, but they are growing increasingly disdainful of Herod’s compromised
Temple system. John’s prophetic ministry of baptism for the forgiveness of sins
was a direct challenge to the temple establishment. He called Herod out as the
phony and tyrant that he really was. Would God’s true king act in the
self-serving and immoral way of Herod, taking his own brother’s wife and
colluding with the Romans? No, there was a much greater king coming who would
reign with justice and integrity. Deep down, Herod knows that John was right
and so he is terrified of him even after his death.
Herodias, the wife of Herod’s
brother Phillip, hated John and wanted him dead. She couldn’t stand to be told
that she was a sinner for living with her husband’s brother. Herod, because he
was afraid of John, kept the prophet safe. Herod was fascinated by John, even
though John denounced him. Herod believed that John was a holy man and even
“heard him gladly.” How many people today are exactly like Herod? Maybe you can
even see yourself in him. It is possible to have a fascination with religion
and spiritual things, even go to church and hear the preacher gladly, and yet
still be unprepared to accept the consequences of such truth for one’s own
life. Such people—people like Herod—are
like what was sowed along the path in Jesus’ parable of the sower, they receive
the word but ultimately fail to understand it and so the evil one snatches it
away. They may also be like the seed
that fell among thorns and was prevented from growing. Herod’s circumstances
were certainly “thorny” and not particularly hospitable to the kingdom life.
Herod lived in decadence among cruel and ambitious people who hated the truth,
and they snared his heart.
One night, after a lavish birthday
celebration for Herod where the wine flowed freely, Herodias finally got her
opportunity to take vengeance on John the Baptist. Her daughter was dancing for
the men, no doubt in a highly erotic and seductive manner. Herod was so enticed
by her that in a booze-soaked moment he made a rash and ill-conceived promise
to give her whatever she wanted, up to half of his kingdom. The girl returned to
her mother, who was perhaps the one who put her up to seducing the king, and
said, “for what shall I ask?” When she returned to Herod she gave him her
request, the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod was trapped. He
didn’t want to break his oath in the presence of all of his guests, nor did he want
to appear weak or afraid. Reluctantly, he gave the order and John was
executed. Afterwards, John’s followers
took his body and laid him in a tomb, but unlike Jesus, there would be no
glorious resurrection on the third day.
John’s death seems all the more
tragic for the senseless way in which it happened. What a pathetic and
unceremonious way for such a great man to die! Sometimes it looks as if those
who speak out for what is right are the losers, while “all the criminals in their coats and their ties, are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise.”
The vindication of the righteous—like John—however, is in the resurrection and
ascension into Heaven of Jesus Christ. Jesus was condemned to death and viciously
executed by the powers that be, but God raised him up. Jesus was God’s own son
in whom he was well pleased, and the world’s true lord. Through his death and
resurrection, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open
shame, by triumphing over them” (Colossians 2:15 ESV). The rulers of this world were unmasked and
their wickedness and corruption were revealed because they “murdered the author
of life whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 3:15).
When Jesus returns and the kingdom
that he inaugurated will at last be consummated. Those who suffered and died
for the cause of truth and justice, like John, will be the first to take their
seat with him in glory. All of those who have aligned themselves with God’s son
and God’s Kingdom—with truth and righteousness—will be glorified, but the
proud, the cruel, and the oppressive—those who have rejected God’s kingdom—will
be thrown down and suffer the judgment of God.
Herod had the chance to turn and
repent. God spoke to him through his conscience, and yet he chose to listen to
those around him instead. Herod made the tragically foolish decision ignore
what he knew to be true and right. Herod sought to gain the world, but instead
lost his soul. We may not be a tyrant or a murderer like Herod, but how often
have we compromised our integrity by doing what we know to be wrong because of
the pressure of those around us or for the sake of some advantage we hoped to
obtain? Despite Herod’s ambitions, he
died in disgrace after being banished to Gaul. He has gone down in history as a
tyrant and a fool. John on the other hand continues to honored all these many
centuries later because of his faithful testimony to Jesus. Despite how it may appear, it is those who
obey the witness of God in their conscience who are ultimately honored.
So, how do you sleep at night?
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