Mark Chapter 6
As I read Chapter 6, I had similar feelings as I did about chapter 5 on Sunday. We read most of this in Matthew. I didn’t really want to go through it all again but I really want to give Mark as much attention as I did Matthew. So, of course, I put my bible away and did something else.
But as I lay awake in the middle of the night, I asked God to show me what to write about, where to focus in Chapter 6. I replayed the chapter in my head from memory and then my mind started wondering away.
So, pulled my thoughts back to prayer asking for guidance and suddenly the passages about Herod and John the Baptizer came back to mind. It came in and out of focus for a few minutes but then it was there.
Herod “found pleasure” in listening to John, though he didn’t really understand what he taught. It is says he was “perplexed by what he said.” And Still he knew John was a righteous and holy man.
Even in knowing this, he had him arrested because his wife, Herodias, was angry with John for saying she and Herod shouldn’t be together because she was Herod’s brother’s wife. So, to keep her happy, Herod had John arrested but he protected him.
But as the story goes, she didn’t just want him arrested, she wanted him dead. So she found a way to trick Herod into beheading John, by using her daughter.
I don’t want to tell the whole story here, so go read it, but it says, “because of his oath, and the guests at his table, he did not want to refuse her.” So because he didn’t want to lose face in front of his guests, he had a man beheaded. Even though he knew it was wrong and he knew John to be a “righteous and holy man,” he had him killed just to save face, to not look bad.
As I lay there awake recounting this story and asking for guidance, I thought of what all is going on in the United States lately. In Minneapolis, Chicago, Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Maine, New York, California… all over really, people are being hurt, killed, terrorized because of power, because of someone’s disdain. People who are standing up for justice, people who are just taking their kids to school, people who are going to their appointments to keep their documents (meaning they are not undocumented) up to date are being brutalized, arrested for no reason, refused lawyers, refused due process.
The people doing this, condoning this are people who claim to know Jesus. They are people who seem to enjoy listening to his teachings but perhaps are still perplexed as Herod was, so they keep him in their back pocket, not realizing that each person they brutalize, or let be brutalized, IS Jesus. And many people, fewer everyday, I hope, but still many look away, refuse to see what is right in front of their eyes, because… Well, I don’t know why. Maybe because they need to save face because they feel like it makes them look bad to change their mind? Maybe it’s because they would rather do as they are told, believe what they are told rather than have to face the cold hard truth that what is happening isn’t okay, it’s not Christ-like, it’s not right, it’s not just, it is just plain cruel, hate, brutal and it’s what they voted for. It’s hard to admit when we are wrong sometimes.
It breaks my heart. It breaks my heart to see people I once knew to be good people, to be kind and loving and caring people who had compassion, turn into hard calloused souls that are no longer recognizable to me. So many Herods, who don’t know they are Herods. So many Herodiases and they don’t know even know that’s who they are.
As I’ve said, many times, when in doubt, when you aren’t sure what’s right, which side is the good and which is evil, look for the compassion. Where you see compassion – helpers, people helping people- that’s the side you want to be on. Jesus taught compassion, he even taught righteous anger when he flipped the tables. But he led with compassion.
In Chapter 1:41 Jesus was “moved with compassion” to offer healing, in Chapter 6:34 “his heart was moved at the sight of them because they were ‘like a sheep without a shepherd’.” So he fed them.
Jesus was moved by compassion, his heart was moved at the sight, may we all be so moved.
Until next time…♥️
If you want to learn to a little more about immigration, here are some links to some articles for you.
https://forumtogether.org/article/undocumented-immigrants-are-integral-to-our-nation/
https://www.boundless.com/blog/myths-about-undocumented-immigrants-in-the-u-s
Simply Sherri 
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