Off with his Head
The book of John is a bit different from the other three (synoptic) gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. But there are a few events that all four gospel writers include. When a specific event is written about in more than one gospel, one must study each place to get the full account as some details are in one book and not another.
The feeding of the five thousand is one of those events. Accounts of this event are found in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13.
I’m not going to write about the amazing miracle of the feeding today. Instead, I want to focus attention on what happened right BEFORE Jesus fed the five thousand.
John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin, was the forerunner of Jesus to prepare the way for Him. The birth and ministry of John was woven together with the birth and ministry of Jesus.
[In this blog, I’ve written about John the Baptist here:
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John the Baptist was a fearless preacher who spoke the truth about Jesus. He also spoke the truth about the public sin in the life of Herod Antipas, the Roman governor over part of Israel during the life of Jesus.
Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great (ruler when Jesus was born in Bethlehem). Antipas married Herodias. the wife of his half-brother Phillip. According to Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21, it was abhorrent to God for a man to take his brother’s wife.
John the Baptist didn’t hesitate to call Herod Antipas out for his sin, publicly saying it was against the law of God. Antipas and Herodias, the scandalous power couple, were not happy with John the Baptist. Antipas wanted to kill John, but was afraid of the backlash since the people believed the man was a prophet. So, they had him arrested and put in prison. With John locked up, he couldn’t be out by the Jordan river reminding people about the sinful relationship within the upper levels of government.
Now that John was out of the way, Herodias planned a birthday party for Antipas with care. All the leaders in the military and in Galilee were invited to the banquet. She wanted to please her husband and decided to have her daughter Salome dance for him.
Salome was Antipas’s step daughter, but she was also his niece. During the birthday celebration, all eyes were on Salome as she made her entrance into the hall. Antipas watched the beautiful young woman dance before him. He was pleased at what he saw. The men who were his guests was also pleased.
When Salome stopped at the end of her dance, thunderous applause broke out. Her daughter’s dance went even better than Herodias expected.
Antipas was thrilled at the spectacle Salome gave them. Seeing the excitement her dance caused among his guests, he wanted to reward her.
“Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you,” Antipas said. As if that wasn’t enough, he continued.
“Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you: up to half of my kingdom,” he offered.
Salome went to her mother for advice.
“What should I ask for?” she asked.
Herodias knew exactly what she wanted her daughter to request. Salome ran back toward Herod Antipas with her answer.
“I want you to give me right away the head of John and Baptist on a platter,” she announced.
Antipas was sorry once he heard Salome’s request. He looked around at the crowd. But he could not go back on his word now that everyone heard his reckless vow to give her anything she wanted.
Herod Antipas would have to follow through. He gave the order.
The executioner went to the prison. He grabbed John the Baptist and beheaded the man without hesitation. The executioner had no idea that John was one whose birth had been prayed over for many years. That his birth was announced by the angel Gabriel. That John was the one who had come in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord. The one who had pointed to Jesus as The Lamb of God.
The executioner didn’t care who the man was, he had a job to do.
In a split second, the earthly life and ministry of John the Baptist was over. God welcomed John home.
Following orders, the executioner put John’s head on a platter. He made his way back to the palace hall. He delivered it to Salome.
Salome gave the prize to her mother. At last, Herodias had her revenge on the fearless preacher that dared to speak of her relationship with Antipas.
When the disciples of John the Baptist heard he had been executed, they came for his body and lay him in a tomb.
And found Jesus to tell him the news.
Matthew 14:13 and Mark 6:30-33 tells us what Jesus did after He heard that John was dead. He and the disciples got into a boat and went away in hopes of getting away from the crowd and be alone. Perhaps Jesus and the disciples needed to grieve over the death of John. But the crowds followed them.
When Jesus saw the crowds following them, He was filled with compassion. He saw they were like sheep without a shepherd. He healed the sick and taught them many things.
It had been a long and difficult day as they ministered to the crowds of people. Finally the day was done and the disciples were ready for Jesus to send the needy people away to get some food. But Jesus wasn’t done.
It was at the end of that day—after hearing about the death of John the Baptist—that Jesus, the Son of God, would feed the five thousand.
Carla Killough McClafferty