Mark 6:17-32
Mark 6:17-29 – Herod Beheads the Baptist
17 For Herod had sent and arrested John and confined him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.18 John had told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother.”Contemporary historical sources referred to John’s arrest and assassination at the hands of Herod. In fact, from Herod’s point of view, the execution had been one of simple political expediency. In the world of the time royal marriages were not so much matters of personal attraction as political alliances. To marry Herodias, Herod would have had to repudiate his former wife. Rejecting her would have insulted the royal family from which she had come and broken the political alliance with them. Herod’s former wife had belonged to the family of the previous dynasty, and her presence had given Herod greater legitimacy in the eyes of the general populace. He was on shaky ground with his new marriage. His power in fact came from the good graces of the Roman occupiers, but their backing did not secure the loyalty of Galileans generally - and Galileans had the reputation of being volatile.
What John had criticised was not Herod’s divorce. Divorce was quite permissible in Jewish society. It was his marrying the former wife of his brother. This was regarded as a marriage within prohibited degree. Political expediency came under the moral scrutiny of the Torah. Herod no doubt could not have cared less about the propriety of the marriage. Given, however, the popularity of John, coupled with the unpredictability of the Galileans, John’ criticism had been seen by Herod as politically dangerous. John, despite his popularity, had to be silenced. He had first been arrested and confined to Herod’s palace not in Galilee, but in Perea down by the Dead Sea, out of sight and out of mind.
19 Herodias resented John and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to,20 since Herod feared John, knowing he was a just and holy man, and he protected him, and though he was confused when he heard him speaking, he still liked hearing him.21 The opportune day presented itself when Herod put on a banquet for the nobility, senior military officers and eminent people of Galilee to celebrate his birthday.22 The daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, and delighted Herod and those reclining with him. The king said to the young woman, “Ask me for whatever you like and I shall give it to you.”23 And he declared on oath, “I shall give you whatever you want, even half my kingdom.”24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”25 She immediately went back and boldly asked the king, “I want you to give me right now on a plate the head of John the Baptist.””26 The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths made in the presence of those at table, he did not want to go back on what he had told her.27 So straightway he ordered the executioner to bring his head.He went and decapitated him in the prison,28 brought his head in on a plate, and gave it to the young woman, who gave it to her mother.The details of John’s assassination as given by Mark are not found in other contemporary historical records of it. The account may have been a deliberate ploy of Mark, or of the tradition on which he drew, to contemptuously undermine Herod’s credibility. The people knew John’s death to be the outcome of a political trial. In Mark’s mind, the total dishonesty of John’s trial served as prelude to the trial of Jesus before the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman governor.
In Marks’ story, there was no dignity in Herod’s court, just drunkenness and lechery. Herod was depicted as promising even half his Kingdom to a dancing girl (whereas in fact Herod was prepared to kill anyone who even looked like presenting a threat to his possessions and his Kingdom). It showed a Herod who, to preserve his honour in the sight of his drunken courtiers, in reality radically dishonoured himself by assassinating John. It painted a Herod who was seen to be the inept plaything of a girl and her scheming mother.
Later in the narrative Jesus would refer disparagingly to the leaven of Herod, his value system (or lack of one). Mark painted it here as one of illusory “honour” and absence of integrity, contempt for human rights, fear before his drunken peers, superficiality and brutality.
29 When his disciples heard the news, they came and took the dead body and put it in a tomb.The courage shown by John’s disciples and their respect for the body of John would be in stark contrast to the response of the disciples to Jesus’ death.
The Mission (3) – De-briefing
Having given a brief insight into the threatening, and confused, environment in which Jesus and the disciples were inevitably working, Mark took up again the apostles’ mission.
Mark 6:30-32 – Going Apart
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.31 He said to them, “Come away now, all by yourselves, to some deserted spot and have a good rest.” For there were a lot of people coming and going, and they did not have leisure even to eat.32 They went off by boat to a deserted place by themselves.The time of rest was probably physically and emotionally necessary. The apostles were full of their own achievements and experiences. But time to reflect was also essential to their human and apostolic formation. Action and experience of themselves did not lead to maturity or wisdom. They needed to be thought about in the light of other experiences and to be integrated into a personal meaning system. The questions the disciples raised needed to be explored in the light of their own values and insights, and checked against the wisdom of others, particularly of their religious tradition, and more pertinently, of Jesus.
They went to a deserted spot. The location was significant. The wilderness was the place where the People of God was first formed under the leadership of Moses, where the people came to deepen their knowledge of God and God’s ways. Mark gave the hint that something important was about to happen.
Next >> Mark 6:33-44