April 15, 2025; Mark 6:14-29

Daily Dose of Hope

April 15, 2025

Day 2 of Week 3

 

Scripture – Mark 6:14-29

 

Prayer:  Almighty God, I come before you today with a sense of gratefulness.  You are Lord of all and yet you care for me.  Thank you, Lord.  Help me walk through this day with humility and your wisdom; help me represent you well.  Lord, in these next few moments of silence, help me gather my scattered thoughts, I want to hear your voice...Come Holy Spirit, and guide this time.  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today is day two of three in Mark 6 and our focus is shifting back to John the Baptist.

 

Our section starts with King Herod asking about Jesus, who was gaining quite a bit of fame in the area.  One person answered that he might be John the Baptist reincarnated.  This gets Herod concerned, as he had John executed not long before. 

 

Let’s talk briefly about the Herods.  These were political figures appointed by the Roman government to oversee Judea.  Most people consider them very insecure puppet kings.  They did what the Romans wanted and in return got to keep their power and wealth.  While they considered themselves to be Jewish, they really were not and they certainly didn’t behave they obedient Jews, which certainly did not endear them to the “real” Jewish residents.  Just for some context, Herod the Great was the ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth (remember the one who ordered all the male babies to be killed in Bethlehem?)  He was an extremely violent king and is said to have killed his wife, her two sons, and anyone he perceived as a threat.  Not a nice guy.  His own son, Herod Antipas, is the one in today’s Scripture. 

 

This Herod had decided to divorce his own wife to marry his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias.  It was quite a messy family situation.  Philip was still alive and Herodias was both Herod Agrippa’s and Philip’s niece.  Basically, Herod was trampling all over God’s laws and John the Baptist had called him out on it.  Herod could have easily executed John because he spoke out against the marriage, but he chose not to do so.  Herod keeps John in prison but alive. It seemed that Herod actually had a lot of respect for John because he considered him a righteous man of God.

 

But Herodias, the wife/niece, was a different story.  She hated John for the way he spoke out.  So she bided her time until she was able to get her revenge.  The time came when at Her