Speak up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

SPEAK UP

Mark 6:16-20

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man 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; yet he liked to listen to him.

NIV

This is the beginning of a longer narrative which deals with a situation slightly prior to where we are in the story with Jesus. If people were thinking Jesus was John rose from the dead, one of them was Herod because he had John not only killed but beheaded. It is not really easy for a man to rise from the dead without his head, but Herod must have thought it was possible. This is the beginning of the story as to how the beheading of John came to be. Herod was a powerful man and in his day was able to control the life and death of anyone under his authority, of which John surely lived. But John was not going to sit still and watch a man, even a powerful man live in such a way that he defiled God, without calling it to his attention. But it was not Herod who got really upset over what John said, it was the woman, Philips wife, who had married Herod to gain whatever she thought was to gain. Not only was Herod doing what was unlawful, so was Herodias. We have heard that phrase about a woman’s scorned and this appears to be all about that. Yet the truth here lies with the fact John could not keep silent about what was going on. John was standing up for what he knew was righteous in the sight of God and speaking out about what was unrighteous in the sight of God. Was John the only one God has called to speak out for his righteous ways?  Do any of us have that kind of courage? Do any of us have that kind of faith? Do we have that kind of strength of character to speak out for our righteous God and his ways, even at a cost to our own self? Sure we may not get beheaded, but we might get fired from our job. We might be shunned by our family if we speak up for God when unrighteous acts are being played out. We might even be seen as a nut case, a Jesus freak, a weirdo, or a self-righteous hypocrite. But what if people actually thought of us a righteous and holy person, like Herod thought of John? We still might receive some kind of retaliation for standing up for God can and calling sin as sin. On a personal note, I was once part of a small social group of believers, until one night the men were talking about cars, and one said that he loves to take his new powerful BMW on a certain expressway and take it up to 130 MPH. I mentioned that was sin, breaking the law like that. That was the last evening I was a part of that social group of believers; I never got invited to attend anymore gatherings. Have I stopped being like that?( back to third person) Are we afraid of the consequences of what will happen if we do stand up for God and against unrighteous behavior? If we want to be heard, speak up!