21 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. 22 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.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.
25 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.”
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
-Mark 6:21-29
It’s great to learn more about Jesus and about Christianity, but ultimately you need to make a decision about him. Is Jesus God and worthy of your obedience or is the cost of following him just too high for you?
Yesterday we mentioned that King Herod didn’t like getting rebuked by John the Baptiser for sleeping with his sister-in-law. Talk about breaking the bro code. He was sleeping with his literal brother’s wife. BUT, he respected John and John’s message about God.
Herodias, Herod’s sister-in-law and lover, didn’t like John rebuking them so she came out with this plan of forcing Herod to murder John. It worked, she used Herod’s pride and his love of image against him.
Herodias made her daughter request John’s murder at a party filled with important people. If Herod refused, his pride and his image would have been damaged. He had a choice to make. Either refuse the request at considerable cost to his social status or kill John the violation of his conscience and his curiosity about God.
Herod chose the latter. His pride and his image were more important to him than God’s truth. For Herod, the cost of believing John’s message was too high.
There will always be a cost to following Jesus. Many costs in fact—not just to our pride and image, but financially, materially, and socially. But when we do follow Jesus, the blessings of knowing him far outweigh anything this world can offer.
Would we call someone stupid for giving up a broken-down bicycle for a brand new Ferrari? And even this material analogy doesn’t do our spiritual reality justice. When we bare the cost of following Jesus, we’re simply giving up things of insignificance compared to the full weight of the glory of God. Do we even dare call what we give up a sacrifice?
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