How Life’s Pressures Affect Good Judgment (Mark 6:14-29)
As a professor at Heritage Christian University, I taught Establishing Biblical Authority. As that course’s instructor, I was tasked with teaching my students how the Bible reveals God’s truths in the modern world. I told my students that many people claim the Bible teaches stuff it nowhere says. To illustrate, I foolishly mentioned that the Bible doesn’t say when God created the world, and I went on to say that the earth is likely much, much older than 6,000 years.
Some of the university’s generous donors found out and demanded that I be fired. They were not, they said, going to support a liberal institution where such dangerous ideas were expressed. The college president and academic dean were on my side, but they were facing great pressure over me. But they told me not to worry, they had my back, and to get back to work.
About three weeks after that disaster, I was let go. The official reason given was budget cuts. But politics plays a huge role in academia, and I suspect that the pressure from some sponsors was my undoing.
Have you ever felt immense pressure? Maybe you can remember getting in trouble as a kid all because you caved to some peer pressure. Your parents perhaps pressured you to go to a certain college or to enter a certain field of study. You may have felt pressure from your employer to fudge the truth. Your spouse might have pressured you to keep secrets from your family.
Life’s pressures can negatively affect good judgment. Herod Antipas faced pressure, and John the Baptist ended up murdered. Herod stands as an example, albeit a negative one, and says to us: “Life’s pressures often lead to sin.”
Scripture (Mark 6:14-29)
verses 14-16:
The people thought Jesus performed miracles because he was a prophet raised from the dead. Herod thought Jesus’s miracles were the result of John, whom he had beheaded.
verses 17-20:
People widely knew about Herod’s affair with his brother Philip’s wife; by this time, Herod had married her. John had proclaimed that it was not lawful for Herod to have her. The marriage violated Old Testament prohibitions on incest (Lev 18:16; 20:21) and even violated what Jesus taught about marriage and divorce (cf. Matt 19:3-9).
Herodias wanted John killed, but Herod protected him and heard him gladly. Philosophers were entertainment in antiquity, and people enjoyed listening to them even when they strongly disagreed.
verses 21-23:
At a birthday banquet for Herod, “Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests.” This is really, really gross. Herodias’s daughter was likely between 12-14 (but she may have been younger), and her stepfather had her dance provocatively for a bunch of guys. Herod, not only lusted after his brother’s wife, but he lusted after her daughter.
Herod promised to give his stepdaughter whatever she wanted, even half of his kingdom. Herod couldn’t give half of his kingdom—he wasn’t even really a king, simply a Roman governor of Galilee. But Herod’s lusts had gotten the best of him, and he was willing to do anything.
verse 24:
At Herod’s palace, the men and women each had their own banquet hall, so Herodias’ daughter had to go out and ask her mother for what she should ask.
verses 25-28:
Herodias asked her daughter to request John’s head on a platter. In a ghastly gesture, John’s head was to be served at the banquet.
Herod didn’t want to behead John, but he had given his word to his stepdaughter. The oath wasn’t legally binding, but Herod would have been greatly embarrassed to go back on his word. Therefore, because of his public oath, Herod beheaded John.
Application
John the Baptist lost his head because Herod felt life’s pressures. Heritage Christian University felt pressure, I’ve felt pressure, and you’ve felt pressure. The problem is: “Life’s pressures often lead to sin.”
What pressures led Herod to sin?
One: Herod felt the pressure of his FAMILY.
Herod arrested John because he condemned the tetrarch’s marriage to Herodias; Herodias did not appreciate John’s preaching.
Herod wasn’t the first to fall into sin because he felt the pressure of Family. After Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, she “also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen 3:6). “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited” (1 Ki 21:25).
You might also feel the pressure of Family: maybe from a spouse or a parent or a child or a sibling or someone else. However, you must value Jesus far more than your family: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26). How much do you love Jesus? How much do you love your family?
Two: Herod felt the pressure of his FERVOR.
Herod entered into an improper marriage because he had Fervor—lust—over his brother’s wife. Herod entered into a foolish oath because he had Fervor—lust—over his stepdaughter.
Herod wasn’t the first to get into trouble because of Fervor. Samson lost his great strength because of his Fervor. Amnon ended up losing his life because he lusted after Tamar. “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh. . . . And his wives turned away his heart” (1 Ki 11:1, 3).
You might also feel the pressure of Fervor, but you must keep your heart pure. Job kept his heart pure: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). Jesus expects you to have a pure heart: “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:28). How pure is your heart?
Three: Herod felt the pressure of his Friends.
Herod beheaded John because he entered into a foolish oath with his stepdaughter in front of his Friends. He wasn’t willing to lose face in front of his friends and thus killed John.
Many have erred by listening to their Friends. When Rehoboam first became king, he listened to his friends’ advice instead of the advice of his father’s counselors; therefore, he spoke harshly with his subjects, and only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic line. Paul simply said: “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Cor 15:33). What friends do you have?
How are you handling the pressures of life? Do you need to come to Jesus and ask for his help with life’s pressures right now as we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.