Two Feasts
One that kills, one that feeds. The difference between Herod & Jesus.
As we plow on through Mark to finish before Lent begins, we come to this always crazy story about John the Baptist and Herod. It’s the soap-opera-within-the-gospel. It’s a wild story that, if we try and make too much sense of it, it all just goes awry.
Today, I’m coupling it with the story that immediately follows. Whatever we think about the craziness of John & Herod, John was Jesus’ second cousin. He baptized Jesus. He was the first and earliest to recognize Jesus for who he was. So we might take a moment to imagine what it was like for Jesus to receive the news that he was dead in such a needless and thoughtless manner. He didn’t die of sickness or something that might have been more likely. He died because of the whims of a reckless leader.
So Jesus, between the busyness of all his teachings and healings and his cousin’s death, tells the disciples that they are going away for a bit. But they cannot, at least not immediately.
The crowd persists.
And Jesus feeds them.
What is it to contrast these two scenarios? The one who is supposed to be overseeing the Jewish people is gawking at a young, dancing woman and giving in to her weird demand for a head on a platter. And over here, Jesus is feeding the multitude of Jews who are hungry.
Maybe Mark places these stories side by side on purpose. Herod presides over a banquet fueled by ego, spectacle, and fear, and it ends in death. Jesus, faced with a hungry crowd, responds with compassion and shared provision, and it ends in abundance. Both men exercise power. Only one gives life.
James helps us name the difference. Faith that exists only in words, appearances, or internal conviction is empty. It has no body. Herod’s world is full of promises and oaths, but they mean nothing to the greater collection of people, collapsing under pressure. His promise produces nothing but harm. Jesus’ faith is enacted. He does not merely feel compassion. He feeds people. In a chaotic and reckless world, faith is made visible not by what we claim to believe, but by the life we help sustain.
Mark 6:14-44
Herod the king heard about these things, because the name of Jesus had become well-known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and this is why miraculous powers are at work through him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the ancient prophets.” But when Herod heard these rumors, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised to life.”
He said this because Herod himself had arranged to have John arrested and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. Herod had married her, but John told Herod, “It’s against the law for you to marry your brother’s wife!” So Herodias had it in for John. She wanted to kill him, but she couldn’t. This was because Herod respected John. He regarded him as a righteous and holy person, so he protected him. John’s words greatly confused Herod, yet he enjoyed listening to him.
Finally, the time was right. It was on one of Herod’s birthdays, when he had prepared a feast for his high-ranking officials and military officers and Galilee’s leading residents. Herod’s daughter Herodias came in and danced, thrilling Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the young woman, “Ask me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” Then he swore to her, “Whatever you ask I will give to you, even as much as half of my kingdom.”
She left the banquet hall and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”
“John the Baptist’s head,” Herodias replied.
Hurrying back to the ruler, she made her request: “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head on a plate, right this minute.” Although the king was upset, because of his solemn pledge and his guests, he didn’t want to refuse her. So he ordered a guard to bring John’s head. The guard went to the prison, cut off John’s head, brought his head on a plate, and gave it to the young woman, and she gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came and took his dead body and laid it in a tomb.
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.” They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place.
Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.”
He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay and give it to them to eat?”
He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.”
After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”
He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Everyone ate until they were full. They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. About five thousand had eaten.
James 2:24-26
So you see that a person is shown to be righteous through faithful actions and not through faith alone. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute shown to be righteous when she received the messengers as her guests and then sent them on by another road? As the lifeless body is dead, so faith without actions is dead.
Prayer - Adapted from St. Augustine
God,
God,
You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Turn our loves toward what gives life. Heal what is disordered in us. Let us not cling to what destroys, but learn to desire what endures.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.