Introduction
The October 2018 edition of Premier Christianity magazine carried an interview with a remarkable man called Benjamin Kwashi. Some of you will know who he is. For those of you who don’t, he is the Archbishop of Jos, in northern central Nigeria, one of the most dangerous areas in the world to be a Christian.
And, in the interview, he talked about a traumatic day, several years earlier, when 30 armed men raided his home and sexually assaulted his wife, breaking both her legs and leaving her blind. Archbishop Benjamin’s eldest son was knocked out cold in the attack and his youngest son, just six years old, suffered a broken jaw.
They came back the following year - big guys with sledgehammers. With the aid of a ladder, they got over the back wall and into the compound. While they were breaking down doors, trying to force their way in, Archbishop Benjamin was making what he thought were his last phone calls to friends before his death.
“I was afraid” he says, “but after I made all the phone calls, I heard the last bang, then silence, and I knew they were inside and coming for me. I was no longer afraid; I was ready to die.”
They found him and led him outside, where a man was standing holding a gun and a long knife. The man demanded 3 million naira (about £2,000) and when Benjamin said he needed time to get the money together, they didn’t believe him, saying he was delaying so someone could alert the police.
Then the leader of the gang ordered some of his men to take Archbishop Benjamin to his bedroom, for his immediate execution.
“They brought me back to my room” he said, “and I asked their permission to pray.” They agreed, so he knelt down, asking God to spare the others in his household and take only his life. His wife Gloria was with him and she held his hand, encouraging him to be strong in the Lord and persist in prayer.
Then they closed their eyes and waited for the end. The next thing they knew, their son was in the room explaining that the men had all suddenly left. “We still don’t know to this day why they went,” he says.
It’s an amazing story of deliverance in the face of mortal danger and we may never know why the attackers suddenly fled. Perhaps there were angels. Maybe the Holy Spirit brought a sudden conviction of sin and judgement on them. We may never know. All we do know is that Benjamin Kwashi and his family now have a powerful testimony of God’s power to deliver and to save.
But here’s the thing; everyone I know who has a story of miraculous signs and wonders, probably has at least one other of heartbreak and bewilderment when God says no.
John Wimber used to say, “The good news is that Jesus is praying for us. The bad news is that we are going to need it!”
If we go after the things of the Spirit, were going to have days of incredible breakthrough and days of perplexing, crushing disappointments.
There is an Arabic proverb which Christians in Iraq often quote. It reads: yom asal, yom basal. It means “one day honey, one day onions.” They know from experience that the realities of spiritual warfare mean we are going to have some days as sweet as honey and others as bitter as peeling onions.
Why do I start with this thought? Because, Matthew, up to now has been describing the world-changing ministry of Jesus and the powerful advance of the kingdom of God. We’ve enjoyed his stories about the miraculous multiplication of food for the hungry, healings, exceptional catches of fish, deliverance from demonic oppression, calming storms and resurrections from the dead.
But the end of chapter 13 and the beginning of chapter 14 seem to mark a turning point. Jesus starts to be rejected, not just by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, but by ordinary people from his own home town.
Matthew ends chapter 13 and opens chapter 14 with two real downers. Yom asal, yom basal. We’ve had 13 chapters of honey. Now it’s time for the onions.
So let’s get right into it, we’re in Matthew 13.53 - 14.12.
When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he left that part of the country. He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” [Now get ready for the abrupt change of mood]… Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?” And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.
When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.” For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favour to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.
But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
Prayer…
We began this series in Matthew’s Gospel almost a year ago, last July in chapter 3, with the ministry of John the Baptist.
When Everything Goes Wrong
As a young man, he should have had a long and successful life before him. I mean, even before he was born, his father was told, “he is going to be a great speaker and will lead many people back to the Lord.” Because of his miraculous birth, his mother being well past childbearing age, he was tipped to be a star. People would look at him and say, “that boy is going to be special.”
In Matthew 11.11, Jesus called him the greatest person who ever lived. That’s quite a commendation. And yet… it just didn’t seem to go according to the script. From his promising beginnings, John ended up living on his own in a solitary place. He dressed unfashionably. He ate locusts for lunch (probably baked but possibly raw). When people saw him, they would whisper, “There’s that strange man. Whatever happened to him?”
But one day, in about the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, the Bible tells us that the word of God came to him in the desert.
It’s worth remembering that when God gives you a promise, it may take years before you see it fulfilled. Someone once had a startlingly accurate prophetic word for me, most of which was for then - but one particular detail only began to be fulfilled seven years later. When God gives us a promise or a prophetic word, the time between its being spoken over us and its fulfilment is to stretch and exercise our faith.
Maybe some of us today are still waiting for a prophetic word or a promise from God to come to fruition. This is a season where God is increasing your authority in faith.
John bursts onto the scene as a controversial, provocative figure. His message is confrontational and direct.
People come from everywhere to see him because God’s anointing is on him. The crowds keep getting bigger and bigger. Hundreds fall on their knees in repentance before God. It’s a revival. He baptizes so many people they start calling him John the Baptiser. Nothing like this has happened for centuries. Some are thinking he might be the Messiah.
But he says, “No, someone else is coming, greater than me. He will baptize you not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
The day John sees Jesus, he says, “That’s him! This is the one.” And from that day a steady trickle of John’s disciples begin to follow Jesus instead.
With Jesus’ fame taking off, John’s audience starts to decline. And John says, “He must become more prominent, and I must fade out.”
Some of us here today are dealing with personal disappointment. A feeling that the future is probably not going to be as bright as the past. A sense of personal loss through life-changing illness or the death of a loved one. Fading health and strength and energy. Everything going wrong at work.
It’s not because you’ve got it all together, or have wonderfully behaved children, or enjoy perfect health, or live a carefree and prosperous life that people will see Christ clearly in your life. God’s grace shines brightest in and through life’s unexpected twists and turns, and all our bad surprises.
And look, the glory that awaits us far, far outweighs any current suffering or sighing or pain.
Not long after this pivotal moment in John the Baptist’s life, and this is what today’s passage refers to, John preaches a sermon about marriage, and he uses the domestic arrangements of King Herod Antipas as an illustration for one of his points.
Herod is a puppet king, a client king, who answers to the Romans and he governs the Jordan valley and Galilee. He’s a regional ruler who reports to the Roman emperor. This is not the Herod of chapter 2 who ordered the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem; this is his son.
Herod’s castle, called Machaerus, is in modern day Jordan; it's just ruins now, but it’s a hilltop fortress built on a rock on the eastern bank of the Dead Sea. At the base of the mound there is a network of caves which are the perfect setting for a dark dungeon and you can still see them in the ruins to this day. This is where John will have been imprisoned.
Herod has incest and murder all over his family tree. He is married, as it happens, but there is a lot of gossip leaking from the palace to the marketplaces. There’s plenty of people who love a juicy bit of scandal about the royal family? At this time, Herod is having an affair with his niece, who is also brother’s wife – it’s all very incestuous - her name is Herodias, and everyone is whispering about it.
Herod forces his own wife out of the palace, so he can get into bed with the niece and sister-in-law he has seduced. Quite apart from ditching his first wife and breaking up his little brother's marriage, sleeping with your brother’s wife is forbidden under their law and classified as incest.
All the chief priests are keeping their heads down, staying off anything controversial, avoiding hot potatoes… They hate what Herod is doing but they say nothing. They’ve got good stipends, nice houses and cushy jobs. Like in Russia and Iran today, if you publicly slate the supreme leader you’re going to end up in the bottom of a well with a knife in your back, so they stick to platitudes and generalities whenever they get in the pulpit.
But John? He isn’t interested in opinion polls and popularity. He is a man of God who fears nobody. He knows the risks, but he openly calls sin “sin.” Herod cannot tolerate any kind of public criticism, so he has John arrested and put behind bars.
How does John feel now? He was obedient to God. He preached the truth. He feared God, not man. He didn’t compromise an inch. And now he’s in jail, while the corrupt priests are living in comfort.
John starts to doubt. In fact, in chapter 11, from prison, he sends some of his followers to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” That’s a long way down from “This is God’s Chosen One, he must become greater and I must become less.”
Everybody here has times when faith wobbles. Everyone says to themselves from time to time, “Well, how can that be right, Lord?”
It comes at moments of illness or tragedy when God does not seem to care. It comes at moments of trial or temptation when God does not seem real. It comes at times of failure or unfulfilled dreams when God does not seem to be in control. It comes at times of waiting when God seems silent or absent altogether.
Isaiah 45.15 says, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, God of Israel, the Saviour.” And there are seasons in our lives when God seems to withdraw and go quiet.
These are the low ebbs of following Jesus and we all have them.
Psalm 56.3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Notice: it doesn’t say, “I never fear anything.” “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” The Bible never says that true believers will have no fears. Instead, it tells us how to fight when anxiety rises up in us. I put my trust in you.
There is a place for questioning in the Christian life. You’re not a failure if you’re perplexed and your faith wobbles after a hard hit.
If that’s where you are today, you’re not alone. But this season you’re in is designed to lead you towards greater faith and not towards displaying unbelief as if it were some sort of Christian virtue.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the castle, Herod is worried because he is a superstitious man. We know that because in v2 he thinks Jesus must be a reincarnation of John the Baptist. And he has a guilty conscience as well; we know that because this verse shows he can’t get it off his mind that he ordered the execution of an innocent man.
And then v3 is a kind of flashback to what happened. Herod has a very unhappy new woman in his life. She has been slighted in public. John the Baptist has denounced Herod’s quicky divorce and remarriage. And the new bride is holding a grudge. “Who is this zealot, this evangelical extremist with his moralising sermons? How dare he criticise the queen! Who the hell does he think he is?”
Soon afterwards, it’s Herod’s birthday so he has a party in his castle. No expense is spared. The food is plentiful, the wine is flowing, all the top bras is there, there’s the sound of laughter and the entertainment is top rate.
In particular, Herodias’ daughter - Herod’s step-daughter - who historians outside the Bible name as Salome, turns out to be a beguiling dancer. As the music plays and the drums beat in time, she moves around suggestively, provocatively. All eyes are on her. Her long hair is down. The curves of her young body moving to the music leave all the men spellbound. Matthew says she “greatly pleased Herod.” I bet she did.
Herod is probably drunk. If ever you need a reminder about how an hour of alcohol-fuelled lust can give birth to a monster, remember this story.
In v7-9, he foolishly promises with a solemn oath in front of his guests to give the girl anything she wants. Mark, in his Gospel, adds another detail. It says there that he offers her up to half his kingdom. That is another way of saying, “I will even make you my new queen to reign alongside me if that’s what you ask for.”
And he says this with Herodias, his new trophy wife, and the girl’s mother sitting right there next to him. He is basically saying, “I will replace her with you as my queen.” Can anything be more crass than that?
Yes, it can. In v8, Salome’s mother Herodias sees her chance to visit her fury on the man who has humiliated her.
If ever you need a reminder about how just nursing a bit of a grudge can give birth to a monster, remember this story.
She demands John the Baptist’s severed head on a tray. Imagine how that went down at the party... Stunned silence and awkward shuffling amongst the guests. Herod cannot lose face in front of them, (did you notice in v5 it says, “he feared the people”).
If ever you need a reminder about how the fear of man can give birth to a monster, remember this story.
Herod has no moral fibre, no principles. All he cares about is “What will people think of me?” He doesn’t want to look weak in front of his guests. So he gives the order. And the gruesome deed is done.
It feels like the wrong ending. How could this have happened? Why wasn’t there a great and mighty deliverance, like for Benjamin Kwasi? Jesus could have done a great miracle to get John out of prison, but he didn’t. Why not?
John is a man who speaks for God, he has the anointing of the Spirit, and he’s arrested for telling the truth, and ends up losing his life because some teenager does a sexy dance before her inebriated and creepy old stepfather.
Who would expect that for a man or woman devoted to God? Where was God when this happened?
If you have made a serious commitment to follow Christ, the likelihood is that you will experience times (if you haven’t already) when you will say, “Lord, this has not turned out like I thought it would. When I first came to faith, you opened my eyes and answered my prayers so amazingly and everything fell into place. But now, nothing seems to be like it was. I’m not so sure anymore.”
You might be saying that to yourself today. “Where did it all go wrong?”
Somebody once asked Billy Graham, “If Christianity is true, why is there so much evil in the world?” To which he replied, “With so much soap, why are there so many dirty people in the world?”
We don’t yet live on a new earth with new heavens where there is no more crying and no more death.
John’s mission was to blaze a trail for Jesus Christ. He did his job, and he did it well. He couldn’t have guessed that his reward would be not living to see his 35th birthday. By the time John was executed, Jesus’ ministry had taken off and John was on the way to being a forgotten man.
But I believe, if you could meet John now and ask him if it was worth it, he would say, “Worth it? To be his cousin? To know him? To point others to him? To blaze his trail? To watch his fame increase? I would not trade that for all the riches in the world.”
Ending
As I end, I want to ask God for grace if you are struggling at the moment with a sense of “how did that happen?” or “where did it all go wrong?” or “when will this all end?”
Savour times in your life when God has done great things; Psalm 77 says, Will [God] never show his favour again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? … Then I thought, “To this I will appeal… I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
Remember, one of the reasons God has designed the Church is so we can encourage each other, pray for one another, bear one another’s burdens and spur one another on. If you’re low today, or in a season of discouragement, ask someone to pray for you today, that the Lord will lift your head, renew your hope and restore your fortunes.
Let’s stand to pray…
Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 16 June 2024
