Habit Forming Resistance or Obedience
[18] For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” [19] And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, [20] for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
[21] But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. [22] For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” [23] And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” [24] And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” [25] And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” [26] And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. [27] And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison [28] and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. [29] When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Mark 6:18–29 ESV Read More
When that daughter comes in front of all of those people and asks for John’s head to be chopped off, he is forced to do something. He already threw John in jail to protect John from Herodias, who wanted to kill him. This gave him the opportunity to listen to John teach whenever he wanted. He allowed John’s disciples to come talk to him to such a level that they took messages back and forth from John to Jesus at least once. But Herod never took the full action that John called him to. He never repented fully to live for God.
That lack of obedience to God would slowly creep up and show Herod’s true allegiance. Even though he found John interesting, he didn’t make the step to change his lifestyle. Just like with the parable of the sower, without deliberate growth, other stuff grew up in the way and choked off Herod’s life.
When the time of the banquet came, Herod was super proud of his daughter. Honor and exaggeration were common in those days. The fact is, as king, he could do whatever he wanted, so to promise half the kingdom to his daughter would be a fine thing to say, and then years of work of sorting it out by his administrators. When she asked for John’s head, he could have easily denied her that. He could have said that John the Baptist was worth far more than half the kingdom, and nobody would have argued with him (except for maybe his wife!)
When the decision had to be made, Herod didn’t stand up for what was right. Maybe he saw it as an easy way out from all of the perplexing teachings of John. Maybe he saw it as a way to get his evil wife off his back once and for all. Maybe it was peer pressure from his dinner guests and he really wanted to show how extreme and extravagant his power and love for his daughter could be.
Either way, after countless hours of listening to John the Baptist and not changing his life, he made a fateful and horrible decision. There is a warning here for us, too. After years of listening to perplexing truths, every one of us will take action of some sort. Some people take action right away and develop a lifestyle of responding to God, while others develop a lifestyle of considering God interesting but still acting by their own will.
That’s what Herod did. After developing a habit of hearing and knowing the truth but resisting action, when the decision time came, his habit of rebellion and disobedience came naturally.
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