Mark 6, from verse 14.

¹⁴ King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,^[a] “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled^[b]; yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of^[c] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried into the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Mark 6 begins with Jesus not being accepted in his own hometown and then Jesus sending out his 12 disciples.

They’d been with him for a considerable time, eating with him, travelling from place to place, hearing him teach and watching him heal people,

so naturally the next step in their training was to go and have a go themselves. And they did, verse 12 tell us “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”

Now let's just address the elephant in the room here.

In fact, I think there’s an entire herd here, I’m not sure I can even name them all!

Herod, to be clear, Herod Antipas (Herod is a title, like King or Pharoah, and there were many Herods!),

Herod, has married his brothers’ wife! They were both married already, and whilst Herod was visiting the family, Herod and his brother, Philips’ wife, Herodias “fell in love”. So they got divorced, specifically to marry one another. And if we dig a little deeper, we discover the brothers are actually Herodias’ uncles! Yes, she married her uncle, twice, that is she married 2 of her uncles. She also wanted John the Baptist dead, and didn’t only want it,

like this isn’t just a passing thought or a throwaway line, she actually had him killed. Any why did she want him killed? because he outed their bad behaviour. He didn’t just let them do what they want and let them live happily ever after. What they did was wrong under Jewish law, they knew it, John the Baptist knew it, and he wouldn’t let them forget it. So, she sneakily plotted to have him killed. And, another elephant in the room, she even got her own daughter to help her carry out her evil deed. I told you there was a whole herd of elephants.

Does anyone else feel shocked by this behaviour?

Incest, throwing a marriage away just to remarry, having someone killed because they make you feel uncomfortable…And as I pondered this, feeling rather pleased with myself for not being as bad a sinner as they are, I felt terribly condemned. As I asked God, “what does this all mean?”, I felt terribly condemned. I felt God saying “have you forgotten that ‘all fall short of the glory of God’ includes you?

And have you noticed how we tend to grade sins? We grade them as some not as bad as others.

But what does the Bible say about sins?

Well, Luke 12:47-48 says “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded”,

Then there is our intention.

If I saw you and was unaware you were in need,

I will be judged less harshly, than if I see your need and still offer no help.

There’s more that could be said about sin, but the bottom line is, it is wiser not to fall into the trap of thinking we are somehow not as bad as someone else because that could lead us to thinking we are better than someone else, and that will surely lead to sin!

And have you notice how quick we are to shift blame these days?

No-one wants to be seen as being at fault in any way. It seems we spend so much time arguing about who is at fault rather than,

as Paul says, bearing within one another and together working to resolve the problem.

Most importantly, ALL sin separates us from our perfect and loving Father in heaven, and without repentance – that is complete trust in Him – we continue to sin.

So, what are some examples of sin today?

So, what’s the good news?

Well, the good news is the Good News.

Verse 20 says that “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 him”.

Guess what. John knew Jesus. He knew he was the Messiah, the redeemer, the chosen one, the one who had been prophesied throughout the OT,

and the one he proclaimed as saviour to people who desperately needed a saviour. John was devoted to Jesus and the Kingdom of God, and it showed. And this intrigued Herod.

And this is really good news, because the same applies to us.

Sometimes, we Christians can get hung up on how to share the gospel with people who don’t yet know Jesus.

And Jesus said to us all. 

“Go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” With the promise that he will be with us always. Matt 28:19-20

Jesus is for everyone.

The next part of Mark 6 is the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand.

Now, it was late in the day, and his disciples, concerned with the logistics of all these people,

told Jesus to send the people away to get food, but Jesus, filled with compassion, said “you give them something to eat”.

THEY ALL ATE AND WERE SATISFIED

So, we have all sinned. But Jesus came for us all, he took on our sins and he died and rose again so that when we acknowledge our sins with genuine remorse, and put our trust in him, we are forgiven. Fully and completely.

But this forgiveness is not just for us. God loves the WHOLE world, and this forgiveness is his gift to EVERYONE who puts their trust in him,

so he has commissioned US with his GREAT commission of telling the world his Good News.

And how do we do that?

Rick Warren calls it sadness, sorrow, suffering, sickness and sin.

These are the connecting points for relationship and for the gospel.

Between us we have thousands of examples of where we have seen God at work in our lives, or someone else’s.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t live my life without Jesus anymore.

Do you know the reason for your hope?

If you don’t spend time with God every day, I want to challenge you to start today, and I want to challenge you to ask him for opportunities to share where you have experienced him at work.

You know we have Alpha starting up very soon on Sunday August 10, why not ask God to show you the people he wants you to tell about it,

and then ask them to come along. And take heart, he is with you to the end of the age.