“A Tale of Two Banquets”
Herod
and John the Baptist. Two strong
characters meet. Both are popular and a
little strange.
Herod was a strong
insecure ruler. (He was the one who ordered
the murder of children at the time of Jesus’ birth.) Historians say, Herod’s origin was Arabic,
his culture was Greek, his religion was Jewish, and his politics was
Roman. He also had a very dysfunctional
family. Herodias,
his present wife, was also his niece, his half brother’s daughter, and his
sister-in-law. John the Baptist faced
him with the problem of his unlawful marriage.
Herod knew that his action was wrong, yet he lived in sin.
Do you remember John the
Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, who was born a little before him? He was the one who prepared the way for
Jesus. He was the strange prophet who
after 400 years of silence came with a message of repentance and the
forgiveness of sins. He said that
his baptism was with water, but the one who came after him would baptize with
the Spirit.
Now John the Baptist was
a preacher in the wilderness. He became
popular in the region. Even King Herod
wanted to hear him, but instead of going to him, he asked him to come to the
palace. Now John, the wild man, who ate
strange things and wore strange clothes, is a guest in a palace. One can think that John would compromise
his message and be politically correct.
On the contrary, he was bold. We
read, “Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and
holy man. When Herod heard John, he was
greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him” (20). John challenged King Herod. Herod put him in jail, as if he was
protecting him.
In the 6th chapter of his Gospel, Mark
describes two banquets. The first was
given on Herod’s birthday. I can imagine
the luxury of this banquet. Abundant
food, abundant wine, music and sexually oriented dance were part of this
banquet. Who was invited? “High
officials,” (the government
heads), “military commanders” (military generals) and “leading men” (city
governors). This is a serious
banquet. The top officials of the nation
are invited.
Most likely, by now many
of the invitees are drunk, including King Herod himself. Now in the scene we have a dancer who happens
to be the daughter of Herodias. It is most likely that she performs an exotic
Middle Eastern belly dance. The king
becomes happy and makes a declaration and promise without using his mind. He promises to give to the daughter anything
she wants. The daughter refers for
advice to her mother Herodias who uses this
opportunity to get even with John. She
asks for John the Baptist’s head.
Wow. Now the king faces a real
problem. Does he have to keep his unwise
promise?
He knows John the Baptist
is a godly man. He knows that John is an
innocent man who speaks the truth. He
knows these very well. Yet, what can he
do in front of all these high-ranking people?
What is more important than impressing them? Who cares for one innocent person who will be
brutally murdered? My teacher, Dr. K.
Bailey calls this strategic interest.
Unfortunately, throughout the centuries many kings and rulers have taken
decisions of murder in the name of strategic interest. Our Genocide is a good example of strategic
interest. Different kinds of injustice
happen in the name of strategic interest.
Last Sunday I said that
Psalm 1 draws a line between the righteous and the wicked person. The righteous is the one who is receptive to
the Word of God. The righteous is the
one who internalize the Word of God.
But the wicked, or ungodly in some translations, is the one who does not
allow God to work in him. Herod heard
many things. He liked John and protected
him (20). Yet John’s words were not
rooted in his heart.
What a banquet! This is a banquet that ended with the death
of an innocent man. I will call
it a “banquet of death.” Let’s come back
to the two main characters of the banquet:
Herod and John. John the Baptist
was bold and did not compromise his message even though it cost him his
life. On the other hand, Herod who loved
John did not allow God to work in him.
Repentance never became real for him.
Well, the story did not
finish here. There is still a second
banquet.
We will continue in English.