Herod

      An intriguing experiment shows that a male butterfly will ignore a living female butterfly of his own species in favor of a painted cardboard one, if the cardboard one is big -- if the cardboard one is bigger than he is, bigger than any female butterfly ever could be. He goes after the piece of cardboard. Nearby, the real, living female butterfly opens and closes her wing in vain.

      For male butterflies and for many people, the only thing that counts is the show. 

      We are well into our Lenten sermon and small group series on the People of the Cross.  This morning we meet a man who only makes a brief and frivolous appearance.  Herod Antipas, King of Galilee is looking for a show.  Here’s Herod’s Song from the play Jesus Christ Superstar.

Show Herod’s Song

       Jesus is brought before Herod because Pontius Pilate wants to pass the buck.  Pilate hears that Jesus is from Galilee and decides that Herod can deal with Him. 

        Three facts help us put Herod in perspective. First, his father was the cruel, vindictive, bloodthirsty Herod the Great who ordered the slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem shortly after Jesus was born.  Second, this Herod, Herod Antipas, is the man who ordered the beheading of John the Baptist. Third, as shown in the song, this Herod is the only person Jesus ever refuses to speak to.

        Think about that.  If a prostitute wets Jesus’ feet with her tears and He pronounces that her sins have been forgiven.  If a blind man cries out for mercy, Jesus stops His journey to heal him. If a tax-collector crawls up a tree to watch Him, Jesus goes to that man's house for dinner.  Jesus will talk to Pontius Pilate.  He will talk to the priests of Israel who are seeking His life.  He will talk to the dying thief next to Him on the cross.  The only person Jesus refuses to talk to is Herod.  It is a bad sign when Jesus says nothing.  It means a person is in a condition in which nothing can usefully be said.

        The story of Herod's self-destruction begins with John the Baptist.  Herod is powerful, egocentric, and centered on his own personal pleasure and wealth.  John the Baptist is an ascetic who lives in the desert.  Great crowds flock from all over Israel to hear him preach.  

       Herod and John are very different.  But for some reason Herod likes John.  Mark 6:20 tell us 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 to him."

       Herod likes John.  But he also has an eye for his brother Philip’s wife—a woman named Herodias. Not only is she his brother’s wife. She is also his niece.  Dr. Phil would have a field day with this one.  Herod commits both adultery and incest.

       John confronts Herod to his face.  He tells him that what he had done is wrong. This would have been a sure sentence of death for anyone else, but Herod protects John. He has John put in prison but that is to shield him from his wife Herodias.  Herodias hates John and wants him dead.

       One part of Herod realizes that John has truth.  He’s a righteous and holy man.  But the other part of Herod desires what God has said he can’t have—a woman married to another man. So Herod does what many men before and after him have done: He tries to have it both ways. He puts John in prison so he can protect him and he keeps his brother’s wife who is the one who wants Herod dead.            

       Herod evidently senses truth when he hears it – at least at this point in his life.   But he tries to keep the truth in a little compartment where it won’t bother him too much.  That never works. Truth demands a decision. No one can live in the middle forever. Sooner or later, you have to make a choice.      

       As John languishes in the dungeon, a wholly unexpected relationship develops with Herod. Mark records: "Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him"

       Someone has said, "The truth will make you free, but first it will make you miserable."  Well John makes Herod miserable.  And I’m sure Herodias makes Herod miserable for protecting John.  But Herod returns again and again to take it on the chin from John.

       Why?     

       Well John must have been a breath of fresh air amid the debauchery and intrigues of Herod’s court. That debauchery is portrayed in Jesus Christ Superstar.  And at some level Herod’s conscience is stirred.  Perhaps he makes some attempts at self-reformation and even does a good deed or two.

       Meanwhile, Herodias hates John and wants him dead. Her chance came on Herod’s birthday.  Herod gives a banquet for his officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee."

        Herodias knows what to expect — a drinking crowd that will become increasingly sensuous and vulnerable.  When the evening is far enough along she sends in Salome, her teenage daughter to provide the entertainment.  Salome is her daughter by her first marriage.  "When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.”  The girl's sensuous, voluptuous dance, unheard of among women of rank, is a sensation.

        These are not nice people.  You’ve already got an incestuous relationship and now the woman sends in her daughter from another marriage to seduce her husband.  You expect Jerry Springer to be the emcee for this party.  The dance works.  Herod is drunk and seduced enough that he says to Salome, “I’ll give you anything you want, even half my kingdom.” You can imagine the cheers from the men — "All right, Herod."  Whoo, whoo, whoo!

       Herodias tells Salome what to ask for.  “I want John the Baptist’s head on a plate.” 

       The room is silent. Herod is suddenly sober.  Mark says, "The king was greatly distressed." He is in genuine grief. The Greek word used here appears only one other time in the New Testament and that’s to describe Jesus' pain in the Garden of Gethsemane.  For a moment at least Herod's conscience is torn. His moral shudder is a sign of life. For an instant everything is possible, even his repentance.

       But what will his friends think? Everyone will laugh at him. He can’t have that. "So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head.”  John was the man who kept his conscience and lost his head. Herod is the man who took John's head and loses his own conscience.

        John is now dead.  It’s all over – or is it.  For Herod, Jesus is John the Baptist, Part 2 – like one of those bad horror movies with a sequel.

        Jesus' ministry is flourishing. His dramatic miracles have grabbed the attention of the countryside.  Mark 6 says, "King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well-known. 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.' But when Herod heard this, he said, 'John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!'"

        Herod wants to meet Jesus as he once met with John the Baptist. But Jesus is like a faint figure in the mist. He appears in the distance and then disappears into the countryside. Then Herod's mood changes.  He’s all over the place. He now decides that Jesus is dangerous and wants to kill Him.  But when the Pharisees warn Jesus in Luke 13 to get out of Dodge, the Lord replies with the only words he will ever direct to Herod personally: "Go tell that fox.”

        In our culture to call someone a fox is usually a compliment. It means you’re attractive or clever. You’re can be foxy lady.  But in Israel at that time being called a fox was an insult. Foxes were seen as basically overgrown rats, opportunistic scavengers, easily frightened, insignificant and dirty. They were often contrasted with the lion, which was seen as strong, brave, and regal. Jesus sends word to Herod, "You will never kill me no matter how hard you try. I have come to do God's will and no one will stop me until my work is done. I’m working on my schedule not yours.”  Jesus, the Lion of Judah isn’t going to run scared just because a fox is chasing him. 

        But now, thanks to Pilate, Herod finally gets to meet Jesus.  His attitude has shifted once again.  He doesn’t seem to want to kill Jesus now.  He just wants to be amazed and entertained.  Luke 23:8 says Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus for he had wanted to see Him for a long time.  He wants to see Jesus do a miracle.  He’s heard about it, people talk about it.  Herod would like to see one of these miracles because he’s never seen a miracle.  To Herod Jesus is nothing more than a carnival sideshow.

       Not everyone who says they’re interested in learning about Jesus is looking for a life-transforming relationship with Him. I know religion professors who know more about the New Testament than I ever will, but they don’t know Jesus. They don’t trust Him. They don’t follow Him. They don’t want to. It would mean changing the basic assumptions upon which they live. It will mean admitting that they aren’t in charge.  It will mean work and accountability and that’s hard.

       It s easy for us to get caught in a similar trap: reading about prayer, rather than praying; confusing going to church with worshiping; studying the Bible instead of obeying. Having facts about Jesus and having faith in Him are two different things.

        And when it comes to Jesus some people are more interested in the miracles than the man. If Herod had any genuine interest in Jesus it was only to the extent that Jesus could entertain or bless him. Herod is never going to give his life to Jesus, because for Herod it was all about Herod. 

       Isn’t that at least somewhat true of many of us sometimes? If we’re not careful our prayers simply become long wish lists and we start getting angry with God for not performing on our timetable. When our spiritual journey becomes all about us finding ourselves and not about us finding God, we’ve lost our way.  We say we want God but all we really want is His intervention on our behalf. 

       "Jesus, show us your magic."  Herod fires question after question at Jesus. But he is not a seeker of truth. He’s just a thrill seeker. Jesus is silent because He knows that Herod has lost the ability to hear the voice of God in any meaningful way.  God will not give more revelation to a person who doesn’t use the revelation they’ve already been given.  There is nothing Jesus can say that will make a difference in Herod’s life. By his silence Jesus is saying, "You didn't want to hear the truth when John spoke. You said no. I accept your no answer as your final answer.”     

       C.S. Lewis writes about God finally accepting people’s no answers in The Problem of Pain.  He writes:  “Some say that death ought not to be final, that there ought to be a second chance.  I believe that if a million chances were likely to do good they would be given.  But a teacher often knows when it’s really useless to send a boy in for a certain examination again.  Finality must come sometime, and it does not require a very robust faith to believe that omniscience knows when.”  

        Finality has come for Herod.  Whenever Christ finds a heart that is even slightly open, like Pilate’s, he responds with grace and truth. But Herod's heart had been slammed closed ever since the death of John the Baptist. When Herod killed John, he murdered his own soul. Jesus knows that.  

       Herod never called out to Christ and never came to Him with any thing resembling an open heart.  Whatever religious impulses he may have once had have been reduced to frivolity. And now Jesus has nothing to say to him.

       It’s important to keep our ears open. 

       Some years ago I was talking with a young woman who was being called to faith by the Lord.  But she wasn’t sure she wanted to take a step that would force her to turn her back on some things in her way of life.  She asked, “What happens if I say no?”  I told her that she was very free to say no.  But she would then have to harden herself more and more against the voice of God until the time came that she wouldn’t hear His voice anymore.  When she said she didn’t want to do that I told her the truth – that yes was all she could say.

       It is not enough to hear the truth.  Herod heard it over and over again from John.  It is not enough to like the teller of the truth.  Herod liked John.  It is not enough to be convicted about the truth to the extent that you try to clean up you own act.  You have to respond to the truth.  You have to respond to Jesus as the truth. 

        Hearing the gospel is dangerous if it does not lead you to repentance. Jesus said that we are responsible in proportion to the information we are given.  So it would be better to be a heathen in the jungle and never hear the gospel than to hear it and do nothing about it.  If you ignore God’s call, it leads to progressive spiritual indifference and a seared conscience.  Your ears get stopped up so that the truth no longer touches you.

        When we harden ourselves against the voice of God we think it gets us something.  We have no idea what hangs in the balance.  It would have been better for Herod never to have met John the Baptist than to have heard his message without letting it change his life. The truth that would have set him free ended up condemning him.

       Jesus no longer stands before Herod the judge.  Herod stands before Jesus – and Jesus has nothing for him.  Herod is shocked when Jesus refuses to even speak to him. No one has ever treated him like that. And the shock turns to embarrassment and then to anger.  He reacts with the only defense mechanisms left open to him – mockery, ridicule and contempt.

       Once again Herod faces a moral crisis and fails.  He sends Jesus back to Pilate and crucifixion.