{"id":555,"date":"2022-02-11T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=555&2022"},"modified":"2022-02-08T17:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T00:00:32","slug":"seize-your-opportunity-mark-6-14-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/seize-your-opportunity-mark-6-14-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Seize Your Opportunity: Mark 6:14-29"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Mark 6:14-29 (NCV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said, \u201cHe is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>15\u00a0<\/sup>Others said, \u201cHe is Elijah.\u201d<\/p><p>Other people said, \u201cJesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>When Herod heard this, he said, \u201cI killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>17\u00a0<\/sup>Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod\u2019s brother, but then Herod had married her.  <sup>18\u00a0<\/sup>John had been telling Herod, \u201cIt is not lawful for you to be married to your brother\u2019s wife.\u201d  <sup>19\u00a0<\/sup>So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn\u2019t,  <sup>20\u00a0<\/sup>because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John\u2019s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.<\/p> <p><sup>21\u00a0<\/sup>Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John\u2019s death. On Herod\u2019s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee.  <sup>22\u00a0<\/sup>When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.<\/p><p>So King Herod said to the girl, \u201cAsk me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.\u201d  <sup>23\u00a0<\/sup>He promised her, \u201cAnything you ask for I will give to you\u2014up to half of my kingdom.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>24\u00a0<\/sup>The girl went to her mother and asked, \u201cWhat should I ask for?\u201d<\/p><p>Her mother answered, \u201cAsk for the head of John the Baptist.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>25\u00a0<\/sup>At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, \u201cI want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>26\u00a0<\/sup>Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked.  <sup>27\u00a0<\/sup>Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John\u2019s head. The soldier went and cut off John\u2019s head in the prison  <sup>28\u00a0<\/sup>and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.  <sup>29\u00a0<\/sup>When John\u2019s followers heard this, they came and got John\u2019s body and put it in a tomb.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mark 6:14-29&amp;version=ncv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Mark 6:14-29<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Perhaps there is a little bit of skepticism in me when I read about certain events in the Bible. This skepticism is not about whether these events actually happened, and it is not skepticism that affects my belief in Jesus. It is skepticism related to how circumstantial a number of the events are in the Bible. It is wondering, \u201cWas this a coincidence, or was God or a group of people behind setting up the details of this event to happen just like it did?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>The event in our passage is one such place. In this passage we learn about how John the Baptist\u2019s life ends: Herod has a party and his wife\u2019s daughter comes in and dances for the guests. The dance is so well received that Herod makes the daughter a huge, open-ended promise. The daughter consults with her mother about what to ask for before then asking for John the Baptist\u2019s head on a platter. Herod has to keep his word in the moment over his earlier desire to not kill John.<\/p>\r\n<p>That is a broad summary of what this passage covers, and it is a perfect place for my imagination to run wild with questions about what was going on behind the scenes. Did Herodias teach her daughter to dance in a certain way to prompt such a positive response? Did Herodias slip something into Herod\u2019s drink to lower his judgment? Was God behind this event, or would He have preferred that John die of old age in prison?<\/p>\r\n<p>Or was this just a set of circumstantial events that Herodias was able to see an opportunity in to get her way?<\/p>\r\n<p>While there is no way for me to know on this side of heaven, there is something we can learn from Herodias\u2019 actions in this passage: <strong>Whether you helped set the stage or whether circumstances create the perfect opportunity, be ready to act when the opportunity arises.<\/strong> But in our case, we should seize opportunities that help the lives of those around us instead of Herodias\u2019 opportunity that resulted in a life that ended because of her.<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--555\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '555');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps there is a little bit of skepticism in me when I read about certain events in the Bible. This skepticism is not about whether these events actually happened, and it is not skepticism that affects my belief in Jesus. It is skepticism related to how circumstantial a number of the events are in the [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Seize Your Opportunity: Mark 6:14-29 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/seize-your-opportunity-mark-6-14-29\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seize Your Opportunity: Mark 6:14-29 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Perhaps there is a little bit of skepticism in me when I read about certain events in the Bible. 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