Mark - Going Viral

 

Going Viral

Good morning class.  

Question of the day: What is your favorite Christmas carol and why?

Today we are continuing in Mark chapter 6.  It is a terrible story, but important none the less. 

READ: Mark 6:14-29

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,[b] “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled[c]; yet he liked to listen to him.

21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of[d] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Most of our lesson today is going to focus on the first few verses of this passage.  Once again this passage is not so much about the beheading, and all it's gory details but it is about Jesus.  

Right off the bat we see that Jesus has become well known.  He is trending, he has gone viral.  This is really quite remarkable since that was a word of mouth situation. No social media platforms contributing to Jesus going viral, just word of mouth, testimonies, gossips etc.  

• What can we learn from this?
• Is this even applicable to us today?  
• Is Jesus going viral today? 

Herod, heard about Jesus, and he thought Jesus was John the Baptist reincarnate.  It is interesting to me that we know people were there at the baptism of Jesus, and saw both Jesus and John at the same time and place.  It is possible that no one in Herod's circle had seen Jesus baptized, but perhaps the story tells us that it wouldn't matter.  

Why did Herod believe that John had come back to life?  (the clue is in the story itself.)

I am fascinated by stories like this one in the bible.  Stories with so much detail and then others without any details.  Why this story? Why do we need to know all the awful details?  Why do both Matthew and Mark give us all the details?  

I would argue that it explains Herod's crazy belief about Jesus.  It gives him a reason to be paranoid.  He feels guilt, shame.  He knew John was good, and had a divine connection, that John had been doing miraculous things, and he (Herod) had killed him.  

Life application? 

• Is it too strong to say, be careful not to let your guilt and shame, shape what you believe?  
• Do we do this?  
• How many times do we let our life circumstances, our sin, our preferences shape our beliefs?

I find this challenging.  It is easy to say, we won't do that, but it is trickier than we might think.  No one on this call, to my knowledge has beheaded anyone, or even killed anyone. Yet if we look carefully, I am sure we are often finding ways to take our preferences, our feelings about things and manipulating either scripture or even Jesus himself, to fit our needs.  

It is interesting that we do this going opposing directions.  We can manipulate truth to free us from guilt and to trap ourselves in guilt.  

So what can we learn from this?

How do we make sure we are seeing Jesus for who He is? 

Another interesting point is that Herod couldn't give Jesus credit for all He was doing?

Life application?

• Make sure we are giving credit where credit is due.

Before you think I am simply talking about giving God the glory for everything that happens good in your life, it is so much more than that! People everyday are giving God credit for good and bad things that happen.  We get this wrong so much of the time.  We say coincidence or fate, we say blessings and lessons, all which can be so wrong!  How is this any different that what Herod was doing?

How do we keep from doing this?

• Know Jesus
• Read his word
• Pray and be sure to listen while you pray
• Find people in your life who KNOW him and fellowship together, listen and learn together.
• Spend time in nature.  It speaks to His character.
• Remember, remember the way He has led in your life.

What would have happened if Herod had spent time with Jesus before drawing the conclusion he did?

What would have happened if Herod experienced Jesus healing his guilty heart? 

Would he have still said it was John raised from the dead?

This brings me to a very important point.  If we want to avoid doing what Herod did, in missing Jesus, we need to first come to Him and ask for forgiveness of our sins.  Can you imagine, if the guilt ridden Herod, had experienced the forgiveness only Jesus can give, if He could have been free, a new man.  We need that forgiveness if we are going to be able to Know Jesus with clear eyes and an open heart.

For most of my life I never needed glasses, but now I do and I am terrible about touching them and smudging them.  It is amazing to me how I can go throughout my day with terribly dirty glasses and not even be aware.  I can be struggling to see things, unable to read the computer screen, or see the tv and still not realize that my glasses are the problem. One day when I out loud expressed how challenging it was to see the screen, Chris reached over took my glasses off my face, and cleaned them.  Then he put them back on and WOW, I COULD SEE!   Our sin, makes it really hard for us to see Jesus! We need to let him take off our glasses and wipe away all the sin.  We are used to it and don't even realize it is there.  Unless we are willing to let him do that, even if we are trying the smudges are so bad, that we will not only NOT be able to see Him but we will see a distorted, view of Him.  That gets us all messed up.  Herod, was looking through glasses covered in a bunch of ick, and it kept him from KNOWING Jesus and that led to a completely CRAZY theology of who Jesus was.

I don't think it is too simplistic to say that when we get our theology wrong it is because we don't KNOW God! 

I want to challenge us all to continue really seeking to KNOW him.  Ask Him for forgiveness! Let Him "cleans you from ALL unrighteousness!" Read! Listen! Walk outside! Study! ASK Him to show you! (Remember when the disciples didn't understand and they asked Jesus, how clear he made if for them!) 

KNOW LOVE!

LIVE LOVE!

and DON'T forget to 

SHARE LOVE!!!!!   

Let's make Jesus go VIRAL!! from all the SHARING we do!!!!!!!