013-Thorny Ground

Herod Antipas wasn’t necessarily evil – but he was weak…
And that could be just as problematic.

• Discussion Outline
• Discussion Audio (53 minutes)
• Text: Mark 6:14-29

The placement of this sordid story, which turns
Herod’s birthday party into a banquet of death,
is by no means accidental.^[1]

Mark once more employs “sandwich” rhetoric to emphasize the message he wants to communicate. This time a story of Herod and the circumstances of John the Baptist’s execution are placed in the middle of a story involving Jesus sending out his disciples as apostles for ministry work. The “bread” layers on the outside are very thin, and in fact the closing of the rhetoric involves just one verse (v.30). Between the sending out and their return is the story that will take our attention this time.

The story is told as a flashback, and when taken alone it seems a bit out of place. What is Mark attempting to communicate by this particular placement and extended treatment?

Who Is Jesus?

The story opens with speculations as to the identity of Jesus. Herod is quite certain that it is the resurrected John the Baptist, or at least someone working magical powers using the Baptist’s spirit. The others in his court speculate that it might be Elijah or one like the prophets of old. The irony is that while unclean spirits and demons have correctly recognized Jesus’ identity, no human so far has done so.

The Jews were anticipating a return of Elijah to usher in the Messianic Age. John himself had spoken of Jesus as one greater than himself, the one who was to come. But what John would never realize is that he was the Elijah who was to come. Mark, in his use of rhetoric and parallels to the Old Testament stories of Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah, weave this present story to show his audience that John was, indeed, the Elijah to come.

So who then, is Jesus? This may be the most important question for everyone. Jesus will ask the disciples about himself in just a short while (8:27-30).

Who Is Herod?

Herod Antipas never held the title “King” though he coveted it. Mark uses the title, perhaps because it was common usage to refer to him, or perhaps more because of the irony.

The royal title had been denied to Antipas by Augustus. Goaded by the ambitious Herodias, it was Antipas' request for the title of ‘king’ which officially led to his dismissal and exile in A.D. 39. Mark's use of the royal title may reflect local custom, or it may be a point of irony. Herod had modeled his court after the imperial pattern, and it is possible that the irony of designating him by a title he coveted, but failed to secure, would be appreciated in Rome where his sentence had been sealed.^[2]

In any event Mark is weaving a story in which he presents a banquet with a “king” and then in the next story (6:30-44) he presents another “banquet” story with a different “king.”

What Mark shows his audience about Antipas is that, just like Ahab of old, he is weak and vacillating. The true source of power is Herodias who works behind the scenes to manipulate Antipas. Antipas covets power, prestige, influence, and approval. Herodias uses these to her advantage to get what she wants.

Antipas is not necessarily completely evil. There is still a place in his heart and mind where he is able to discern what is right, and is even attracted by it. This story is a battle between what is right and what is desired.

The First Passion Story

The Gospel of Mark contains two "passion narratives," the first of which reports the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist.^[3]

Mark chooses to include details that will parallel Jesus’ passion story. Pontius Pilate, too, is weak and vacillating. He, too, knows what is right but succumbs to his desire for approval and to maintain his power among the people. A message is dispatched from his wife to try to influence his choice. In this case it would have been better if Pilate had listened to his wife. By these specific choices, Mark foreshadows Jesus’ road to execution.

This story provides no example of “working together for good” (c.f., Romans 8:28) through John’s death. Sandwiched between the story of the apostles’ sending out and return, what it shows is that we should not be surprised when bad things happen to good people for no visible future purpose. The call for Christ’s followers is not success, but faithfulness, just as was seen in John’s life and ministry.

It is as though Mark wants his readers to realize that despite high hopes for the ministry of Jesus and his disciples (6:6b–13) and the exciting things happening all around (6:14a, 30–56), sometimes bad things do happen to good people. These setbacks to God’s best and brightest hopes for the world must not be allowed to derail faithfulness to God’s kingdom among Jesus’ disciples, whether in first-century Jerusalem or Rome or twenty-first-century America.^[4]

Thorny Ground

The parable of the soils (4:3-8, 14-20) describes a number of soils. It was noted earlier that this parable could be taken as the lens with which to interpret the entire Gospel According to Mark. When we do this we can see that the religious leaders and the friends and family in Nazareth are examples of the soil on the path. They are so fixated on the mundane nature of Jesus that the gospel fails to take any root.

Antipas can be seen as an example of thorny ground. The seed (sown by John) appears to sprout and even start to take root, “but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” (4:19).

Because he failed to allow the gospel to grow, and by his deliberate rejection of the many warnings and admonitions sent to him, Antipas may also an example of one who commits the “sin against the Holy Spirit” (3:29) showing the logical end of continued refusal to acknowledge and accept the correct source of the gospel.

The next story will show the public high point of Jesus’ ministry, with thousands gathering to hear and experience him. But like the shallow soil, what is received with joy won’t last in many of them as the true nature of the kingdom of God becomes more clearly seen, until at the end many who praised Jesus turn against him.

Jesus, he argues, has been rejected from the beginning. That he should die for his message of transformation should come as no surprise; but along the way, his message has taken root in some, and his death will be like a seed that will become newness of life in the resurrection.^[5]

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[1] Feasting: Mark, location 6392.

[2] NICNT: Mark, 6:14-15.

[3] NICNT: Mark, 6:17-29.

[4] Feasting: Mark, location 6341.

[5] Feasting: Mark, location 6316.