HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEROD
Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl. ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with and oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the Baptist,’ she answered (Mark 6: 21-24).
Happy birthday, Herod! Why the birthday party? Was this a “big” one, like sixty or seventy? Probably not. Just an opportunity to indulge all the lusts of the flesh with his bigwigs. Perhaps like the party Belshazzar threw in Babylon the night he lost his throne and his life. Birthday parties didn’t end well in the Bible, so it seems!
I guess Herodias’ daughter was as sensual as her mother. Her dance pleased the king and all his dinner guests. No responsible ruler in his right mind would offer a young girl a gift up to half his kingdom so, perhaps Herod wasn’t in his right mind. Perhaps he was so filled with the “spirit” that he promised what he promised, not realising that he was falling headlong into his wife’s trap.
Oh, I’m sure Herodias must have had it all planned. What an opportunity to get rid of her enemy! Get her husband drunk, send in her daughter to seduce him, and that was easy; and she had him in the bag. And it worked. Did you notice how quickly she had an answer for her child’s question? Not ‘Well . . . a-ah . . . now let’s see. What about a wardrobe of new clothes? No, perhaps a new car or a luxury mansion down by the sea? I know. That beautiful necklace and bracelet set we saw in the jeweller’s ship. Remember? The one with diamonds, emeralds and rubies . . .” No, emphatically no! She wanted John’s dead head on a platter, nothing less.
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother (Mark 6: 25-28).
Herod was trapped. This was definitely not what he meant. He was suddenly more sober than he had ever been. He had a decision to make. Would he refuse and look like a fool in front of his subjects? Would he give in and become a murderer? Who was boss in his house anyway? He knew very well who was behind this. Didn’t he have to listen to Herodias’ ranting and raving about John and his accusations all day long, day after day?
He could go with his conscience and put up with Herodias or he could silence his conscience, so he thought, and shut Herodias up once and for all. And what about his oath? After all, didn’t the Scriptures say you had to honour your oath, no matter what? Decision made, and the deed was done.
What did he think when the executioner brought him the bloodied head of John on a platter? What did he do when John’s sightless eyes stared back at him and his accusing mouth hung open but said nothing? He had listened to that mouth speak God’s word into his ears, even pleading with him to repent and receive the truth about the Messiah, but he had never done anything about it. Then there was Herodias. She would never tolerate a religious type for a husband. He could not imagine the strife in his life if he did what John said.
But now it was too late. He had added murder to his list of sins and he could not escape the torment of his guilt and shame. If he thought the dinner guests would mock him for not keeping his oath, what about the voice of the accuser that mocked him now?
Happy birthday, Herod! It was a birthday he would never forget because it marked the end for him, long before he had to face Jesus (Luke 22: 8-11), or before he himself died an ignominious and agonising death because he thought he was God (Acts 12: 23). From that day on it was all downhill. He had his opportunity; he made his decision. There was no turning back.
Strange, isn’t it, how our opportunities come when we least expect them! Unannounced, Unheralded. If we are as unprepared as Herod was, we will not notice, just as he did not, that this is a turning point and a decisive moment. Jesus warned us to be prepared.
On hearing this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb (Mark 6: 29)
Where was John’s head? Sitting on Herodias’ dressing table, a trophy for her to gaze at, a symbol of her victory, rotting and stinking like her rotting and stinking soul? Really?
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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