| Sermon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Service | ||
|---|---|---|
|
To download this video, press here to go to the download page. You may need to scroll down to see the download button. |
Download Bulletin | |
Sermon for the Beheading of John the Baptist (Aug. 29)
Jeremiah 1:17-19 + Mark 6:17-29
I was already planning on commemorating the Beheading of John the Baptist today, when the news came in this morning about that wretched man, pretending to be a woman, who struck down over a dozen Christian school children as they attended Mass at their Catholic church. At least two of them were killed, while the rest were injured. Before the shooting, that servant of Satan had written a question on one of his rifle magazines. “Where was your God?”
Well, where was He? He was in the same place He was when the children of Bethlehem were struck down by King Herod the Great, the same place He was when John the Baptist was struck down by Herod’s wicked son, also named Herod, the same place He was when His own beloved Son was struck down by Pontius Pilate, who had conspired with the Jews, and with that same Herod in Jesus’ trial. God was there, using the evil intentions of wicked men to work all things together for good to those who love Him.
You know how much St. Paul also suffered in the name of this God. He was eventually beheaded, just as John the Baptist was. Even before that, he wrote this to the Corinthians. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake…We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Paul was referring to himself and his fellow ministers of the Gospel, but his words apply to all Christians, including those Christian children who were struck down today, including also the prophet whose death we commemorate this evening, John the Baptist. They were struck down, but not destroyed.
What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. That’s exactly what John had done when the Pharisees sent messengers to ask him who he was. I am not the Christ, he said, or Elijah, or the Prophet. I am the voice of one calling in the desert, Make straight the way of the Lord! John attracted large crowds to himself, but he didn’t preach, Look at me! Look at me! He pointed to Jesus and preached, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! And when John’s disciples were bothered by the fact that many of John’s other disciples were leaving him as their teacher and going off to follow Jesus, the sentiment of John’s words is echoed in what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.
And John did decrease from then on. He didn’t stop preaching, but instead of gathering more listeners, he attracted fewer and fewer. And then, as part of his office as a prophet in Israel, he “spoke truth to power.” He publicly preached against a public sin that had been committed by King Herod—Herod Antipas, tetrarch or “king” of the region of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great, who killed all those baby boys soon after Jesus was born. It was this same Herod Antipas before whom Jesus would eventually stand trial on Good Friday. This Herod had married Herodias, the ex-wife of his half-brother Herod II, also known as Herod Philip. Now, that was fine according to Roman law, and American law would certainly permit such a thing. But it was plainly forbidden by God’s Old Testament Law for an Israelite to marry his brother’s wife while his brother was still alive. So John simply, and fearlessly, and publicly denounced the king: It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.
That was all. John didn’t incite an insurrection or try to get Herod dethroned. He just rebuked the king for his sin. But to publicly rebuke a ruler at that time was no harmless thing. There was no First Amendment-guaranteed free speech in Roman-occupied Israel. Didn’t John know he would be in danger for rebuking the king? Of course he knew. But unlike the average Jew, who had no call from God to publicly rebuke kings, John had been called by God to be a prophet, to speak the truth of God’s Word with divine authority, whether it was the Law that condemns sin or whether it was the Gospel that pointed penitent sinners to Christ. And as a prophet, John had the same command and the same promise from the Lord that the prophet Jeremiah had: Speak to them all that I command you. Do not be afraid of them, that I would cause you to be shattered before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests, and against the people of the land. And they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you,” says the LORD, “to deliver you.”
The Lord delivered Jeremiah from being put to death by the Jews, but not from being kidnapped and abused by them. Nor did He deliver John the Baptist, whom Jesus proclaimed to be the greatest prophet ever to be born. Instead, the Lord allowed John to be arrested, imprisoned, and, eventually, beheaded at the whim of Herodias the adulteress and her wicked daughter, who got what she asked for: John’s head on a platter.
It’s so disgusting, so vile. It seems so meaningless, almost a bad joke. John, the greatest prophet, didn’t go out in a blaze of glory. He went out in shame and disgrace, from a human perspective. Instead of delivering him out of the hands of the wicked, God delivered John right into the hands of the wicked and gave the wicked exactly what they wanted.
Yes, John was struck down. But not destroyed, because eternal life, the unending life God has promised to those who love Him, is real. If a peaceful, happy, comfortable life on earth were the goal of human existence, then John would be among the biggest losers of all time. But that isn’t our goal. That isn’t the prize that God promises, not to His prophets, not to any of His children. He doesn’t promise a long, comfortable life on earth, or a peaceful earthly end. What He promises is that, even after our earthly end, no matter how shameful or painful or violent it may be, we will not be destroyed. We will not “taste death.” We will not lose out on the heavenly inheritance He has granted to all who believe and are baptized. On the contrary, He says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.”
Are you ready to end up like John? Preachers have to be. But so do all Christians, even our children, as we heard again in the brutal news coverage today. That’s why I actually find John’s beheading to be extremely comforting. Not that anyone hopes to be imprisoned or beheaded or gunned down. But it helps us not to be so terribly shocked when Christians are hated, targeted, and mistreated in the world. We have God’s own testimony that John was a faithful minister in His sight. And the fact is, sometimes faithful ministers, like John, like the apostle Paul, like Jesus Himself and most of the apostles, and countless Christians throughout the ages, including Christian children, suffer persecution, violence, shame, and death simply because they bear the name of Christ, which the devil hates, which the world aligned with the devil hates.
All the world sees when Christians are struck down is tragedy, abandonment by God, and failure. But that’s not the reality. The reality is that God has not hidden any of this from us, nor has He deceived us into thinking it would be any different. He told us exactly what we should expect from the world in this world. Hatred, rejection, scorn, and violence. Just as John did. Just as Jesus did. But even though they were struck down by the world, they ended their lives with God’s approval, being struck down, but not destroyed, with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead being the primary testimony of that, the proof that all who have been struck down for His sake will rise again in victory on the Last Day, while those who struck them down will suffer eternal wrath and torment for their crimes.
The beheading of John the Baptist forces us to confront the question, what are we really in this for, this preaching ministry, or this Christianity itself? What do we hope to get out of it? What do we expect from God? If the answer isn’t “Christ—only Christ, and His approval, and the future life that He won for us on the cross and that He has promised to give us,” then we’re in it for the wrong reasons and might as well get out now, because that religion, whatever it may be, is not Christianity. It’s a worthless sham. But if the answer is “Christ,” then we can smile in the face of the executioner, and in the face of any hardship or persecution or trial. We may be afflicted in every way, but we will not be crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
So pray for the conviction you need to face whatever the world might throw at you, so that, when the time comes, you’re ready to speak, ready to confess, ready to offer up your head, because you know the One in whom you have believed, that He will not abandon you to the grave, but will reunite your body with your head and give you a much better life in the life to come. Amen.
