14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”
And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom 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.
-Mark 6:14-20
There is a sweetness to the Gospel—the story and teachings of God—even to the person that seem farthest from God.
King Herod obviously did not care much for morality if he wanted to steal his brother’s wife. Just a heads up, many scholars believe that his brother’s wife was King Herod’s niece. Just let it sink in how messed up this all is. King Herod wanted to commit adultery with his niece.
And while there aren’t many historical accounts of King Herod’s exploits, we know that as a pawn of the Roman empire, King Herod probably had to enact much cruelty to secure his power and protect his authority. He wasn’t a good guy to say the least.
YET, there was something that intrigued him about John the Baptizer. John was talking about repentance and the Kingdom of God and those topics touched Herod’s heart in some way. It says here in Scripture that “Herod feared John and protected him.” It’s weird to fear and protect someone you’ve put in prison. What Herod feared was the truth to what John was sharing.
Because we’re all made in the image of God, there’s something with the truth of the Gospel that resonates with each of us, even those who seem far from God. Don’t ever underestimate people’s desire for the truth.
Right now maybe there’s a King Herod type person in your life who just seems so far from God. Would you start praying for this person? Would you ask God to open doors so that you may gently and tactfully share God’s love for them? You might be surprised that similar to King Herod, they’re going to like hearing about God.
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