The Fateful Promise: Matthew 14:1-12


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As we move through Matthew’s gospel looking at events that focus on Jesus, we come to an event where Jesus is more of a footnote in an event where the focus is completely different. In this event, Matthew records for us what happened to John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. At this point of Jesus’ story, John the Baptist had been dead for a while, but Matthew breaks from Jesus’ story briefly to describe what happened to bring about John’s death.

While you probably know this story if you have spent any time in the gospels, let’s read it together and discover some things we can learn from what happened. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. So he said to his servants, “Jesus is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, who had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to Herodias.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they believed John was a prophet.

On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests, and she pleased him. So he promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted. Herodias told her daughter what to ask for, so she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” Although King Herod was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard him. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. 10 He sent soldiers to the prison to cut off John’s head. 11 And they brought it on a platter and gave it to the girl, and she took it to her mother. 12 John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

In this somewhat disturbing passage, we learn how John the Baptist died. While John had likely been locked up for many months before His death, the impression I get when reading this event is that Herod did not want John’s death. Instead, He simply wanted John’s silence.

However, in this event, as I move through the characters present, we can discover some powerful themes that hold true today.

When looking at John and his interaction with Herod, we learn in verse 5 that “Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they believed John was a prophet”. From the verses prior to this, we learned that John openly challenged Herod on his marriage to his brother’s wife. From this section of the passage, we see the big themes that sinful people are intimidated by someone who speaks truth. We also see the theme that sinful people hate those who speak out against them and/or their actions.

At least one of the other gospels that include this event indicate that Herod wasn’t directly intimidated or hostile towards John, but was pressured and prompted by Herodias, his wife, because she hated John for speaking out against their marriage. Herodias had divorced herself from Herod’s brother, and Herod had divorced his first wife so the two of them could get married, and John challenged the validity of this arrangement.

The question remains whether this was a wise move on John’s part or not. In the big picture, John’s ministry led into Jesus’ ministry, and while many people understood this, John still kept followers even after pointing people towards Jesus. From the big picture, John could have been led to do this as a way of removing himself from the picture and emphasizing to his followers that they should follow Jesus.

However, unless God’s Holy Spirit is telling you to challenge someone in this way, this is not a wise move. While you might feel justified in your actions, calling someone out publicly for their sins or actions will only bring you hate and hostility in return. By calling out someone for the bad in their life, you only polarize people, and, more importantly, you likely misrepresent God’s love in the process.

While God is opposed to sin in any and every way possible, when we look at Jesus, we see a picture that separates the sin from the sinner, and through Jesus, we see a God who loved sinners and who called them out of sin. Jesus helped first then challenged second whenever He met a sinner who was hurting and needed help. I believe all of God’s people are called to model God’s love through Jesus’ example in this way!

Moving to the second portion of the event, when we look at Herod’s interaction with his niece, or adopted daughter depending on how you want to frame this, we can learn that we should be careful what we promise. Our promises may ultimately trap us in ways we didn’t wish or expect.

I don’t think Herod would have made such an open-ended promise if he knew beforehand what Herodias’ daughter was going to ask for. Because he had made a public oath, and because the request was well within the confines of the oath, Herod trapped himself into doing something he really didn’t want to do with this promise.

However, as a side-note, it is interesting that Herod believes Jesus to be a resurrected John the Baptist before he believes that Jesus is someone else entirely. This tells us that Herod believed the God of the Jews was powerful and that He could resurrect people, and that Herod believed John was worth resurrecting.

However, probably the most challenging theme I see in this passage is with Herodias herself. This theme challenges us with a simple phrase: Be patient. If you want something bad enough, an opportunity will likely arise when you can have it, even if it isn’t within God’s will, and even if everything about it will harm you in the long run.

This theme is challenging, because it places our desires and God’s desires for us as competing. God is not going to force His desires onto us. Instead, God is going to let us make the decision for ourselves, even if He knows that our desires will ultimately hurt us in the long run.

I don’t think God will protect us from every stupid decision we make that is outside of His will. Instead, I believe that more often than not, God will let us learn the results of our actions firsthand and face the natural consequences of our decisions. The challenge for all of God’s people is to lay our desires aside, and ask God to give us His desires for our lives. While God won’t always ask us to do things that make sense from our perspective, God is interested in filling up His Kingdom with as many people as possible. God works from the perspective of eternity, and He wants as many people as possible redeemed from this sinful world.

God’s ultimate goal is to save you, to save me, and to save as many people from this world as possible! God does not want anyone to perish. Instead, Jesus came to die for humanity and for all who are willing to accept God’s gift of salvation!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first and intentionally place His will and His purpose above your own. While we might not always understand why God prompts us to act in certain ways or do certain things, trust that God knows what He is doing and that His perspective will lead the most people possible into eternity.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. For a relationship with God to be personal, you must be spending time with God in prayer and study, and this must be personal and not dependant on someone else. God doesn’t want anyone standing between you and Him. He wants a personal relationship with you because He loves you with all His heart!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or get tricked out of following where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in Matthew – Episode 25: While we usually look at Jesus’ life and one of the events in His ministry, Matthew’s gospel takes a brief detour to tell us about the fate of someone else in the first century, and Matthew details how this significant individual was killed.

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