This file can be printed for personal use and study. © Reachout Trust - www.reachouttrust.org
Nice Sermon Pastor (Mark 6:14-20)
This is a familiar enough story but I wonder if, like Herod, we might have heard it so many times we fail to draw the lessons it teaches? There are three questions I want to raise:
1. Who is Jesus?
2. Are you listening?
3. Are you doing something about it?
Who is Jesus?
Herod is facing the same question people face today when confronted with Jesus. We read in the passage that Jesus' name had become well known and people were talking about him. But who is he?
Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been
raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work
in him." Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He
is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago."
Today Jesus' name is well known and people have many differing opinions about him. Some say he is an "ascended master", others that he is the "cosmic Christ", or a "type" of what we can all become if we would just follow this or that "enlightened" path. Some say he is the first created being of God, an archangel. Many believe him to have been a prophet "like the prophets of old" who came to set us a good example. Then there are those who question whether he is more myth than reality.
What is interesting is how very current the Bible is on this issue. You see, everyone speculates on what everyone else says about him, but few go to the trouble of finding out and testing what he said of himself. Yet the evidence is there and he has spoken plainly about himself and demonstrated clearly who he is and what he is about. We need to bring people back to the Word of God and help them see for themselves who Jesus really is because simply talking about him doesn't save us.
Are you listening?
It is curious isn't it that Herod should be fascinated by the preaching of the very man who condemned him outright for his immoral conduct? People are the same today. They like to quote a little Scripture, as it were, and find it easy enough to agree with Jesus' teachings, but stop short of doing anything about it. There are people in churches today who mutter, "Nice Sermon pastor" as they leave the building, their minds already more than half on Sunday lunch. They listen just so much, go so far, then stop.
Herod did this. He showed an interest but it was not enough. It is not enough to hear the message and like the sound of it. Listening doesn't save us. Showing an interest is not enough to put you right with God. James wrote:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive
yourselves. Do what it says.
Herod deceived himself because he allowed a little religion in his life. Many are like that today. They go to church, perhaps even frequently, they have a Bible, somewhere, and they like to listen as the pastor or minister delivers his message. But do not allow it to make a difference. It is sobering to think that when Jesus and Herod met Jesus had nothing to say to him (Luke 23:8-9). There comes a time when Jesus has nothing more to say to those who consistently reject him, pay lip service, and fail to act on what they hear.
Are you Doing Something About it?
Herod had listened to John. He liked to listen to him. I wonder what he had heard, and how often? People sometimes ask me "What of those who have never heard?" My response is invariably "What of those who have?" What of those who, like Herod, have heard time and again? What hope is left for them?
Herod first tried to control John and curtail his activities by having him imprisoned. Perhaps this was his own version of an incitement to religious hatred law. "We can't have you going about saying those things John. People might believe you and then where would we be?" But he couldn't deny his own fascination with John and listened to him. Tragically, he rejected the message that fascinated him and so when it came to the real test of his life he was more concerned about impressing his mates on the royal circuit with grand gestures than he was with doing what is right. He even regretted his decision to kill John, but he still went ahead and did it. Regret and remorse do not save us.
How many people today regret that they can't do more with the gospel but their busy lives, their other commitments, the opinions of their friends count more? It is sobering to think that the risen Jesus appeared to many people, but he never appeared to Herod. There is coming a time of reckoning and at that time we will be asked a simple question. "What have you done with Jesus?" For those who can honestly reply that they have trusted him and lived their lives for him there is eternal joy. For those who reject him, perhaps through indifference, or because they have put their trust in some Heath Robinson, man-made, religion there is always Herod's fate.
I pray we will be found knowing who He is, listening attentively to His words, and doing what He says this week. It is the most profound and compelling witness we could ever give.