Politicians and the Word of God: A Meditation on Mark 6 for the Season of Pentecost

And they went out,

and preached that men should repent.

And they cast out many devils,

and anointed with oil many that were sick,

 and healed them.

 

And king Herod heard of him;

(for his name was spread abroad:) and he said,

That John the Baptist was risen from the dead,

and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

Others said, That it is Elias. And others said,

That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.

But when Herod heard thereof, he said,

It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John,

and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake,

his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.

For John had said unto Herod,

                                       It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.          

 

The 6^th chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel begins with a description of how Jesus’ preaching among his own kin in his home town was generally disregarded, reflecting the old aphorism that Jesus shared which said that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country.  Next Jesus commissioned his 12 disciples to go out and preach repentance, heal the sick, cast out demons, and to shake the dust off their feet in testimony against anyone who refused to hear them.  And while the disciples worked many wonders in the Name and power of Jesus, they must also have met resistance, too, for Mark includes a parenthetical story about the persecution and death of St. John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was not one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, but the last of the line of Old Testament Prophets who was sent to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, to declare the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  John told his own disciples to follow Jesus, teaching them that with the coming of the Messiah, the old Prophetic ministry was coming to an end as Jesus was come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  John rejoiced as the friend of the Bridegroom, noting that his prophetic influence must decrease as Jesus’ saving Gospel must increase to fill the whole world.  And as Jesus told his own disciples, that of those born of women, none had arisen in the history of the world, who was greater than John the Baptist.

 

But there were similarities in the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples.  They all called for repentance and faith, to return to God by the power of His Word and Spirit.  They condemned sin in every human heart, regardless of the trappings of power and prestige the hearer may have wrapped around themselves, from poor to rich, weak to powerful.  They taught that faith and repentance was the path to reconciliation with God, because only by faith and repentance could the saving grace of forgiveness and life be received.  Trusting in the Word of the Lord, empowered by His Spirit to turn from evil and strive for the good, was the only way to be at peace with God.  This same message rang down through the centuries in every ancient Hebrew Prophet, from Moses and Joshua, to Samuel and David, to Isaiah and Jeremiah, to Amos and Malachi, and every other Prophet in between.  John the Baptist preached it, as did Jesus and His disciples, until Jesus as the very Incarnate Word of God died for the sins of all people so that His grace might pour out upon every faithful and repentant heart in every age of the world.  And just to ensure no one missed the point of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, He rose from the dead three days after His crucifixion, ascended into heaven, made Apostles of His disciples and sent them in the power of His Word and Spirit to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to every tribe and tongue in every corner of the world, in Jesus’ Name alone.  The Church of Jesus Christ has continued this mission until this day, and will continue it until the Last Day, when Jesus returns to consummate all history by His final judgement of the living and the dead.  Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Word of the Lord has been calling all people to faith and repentance that they might receive forgiveness, life, and salvation from Him by the grace earned only by the shed Blood of Jesus.  The ancient Prophets looked forward to it, and the Apostolic Church looks backward toward it, even as we all look forward to the final removal of all evil from the world at the Last Day.

 

As one might expect, and as history has recorded, there are a lot of people who don’t appreciate a message of faith or repentance.  Many people, particularly those in positions of political power, don’t like being told to stop doing some evil they enjoy.  From evil King Ahab with his despicable Queen Jezebel who hunted the Prophet Elijah in the deserts of Israel after having killed most of the remaining prophets in their land, to King Herod who imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist for pointing out his adultery, to Jesus who was sentenced to death by the offended Jewish and Roman authorities, to the Apostles who all suffered persecution and most suffered a martyr’s death, to Christian pastors murdered by Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, or imprisoned in Communist Chinese slave labor camps to this day, those who bear the Word of God often find themselves attacked by politicians, ecclesiastical and secular.  As persecution of the preaching of God’s Word grows in previously Christian western countries, we will continue to see those in positions of power and authority using their resources to persecute God’s messengers.  This isn’t new—it’s been happening since Cain rose up to kill his brother Abel, and according to the Prophets and Apostles who were granted visions of the End of Days, it will get much worse as we approach the Last Day.  But until then, these cycles of peace and persecution, particularly by those in positions of power and authority, will continue just as the wickedness in every human heart continues to wrestle between faith and unbelief.  We might mourn the transition from peace to persecution in our times and places, but it should not shock us, as Jesus Himself told us that we would have trouble in this world even as He has conquered it.

 

But notice the pattern which emerges in the text of Mark 6:  where persecution of the Word increases, the proclamation of the Word increases even more.  With the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist, came the preaching and discipleship of Jesus Christ.  With the persecution and murder of the Apostles, came the great missionary journeys of St. Paul across the Mediterranean basin, of St. Mark to North Africa, of St. Thomas to India, of the converted Ethiopian Eunuch to East Africa.  Out of the crucible of rising persecution by Roman emperors and local governors, came the emergence of the great Christian Creeds and the beginning of the great Ecumenical Councils.  Out of the persecution of corrupt popes and emperors in the West came the various Reformers, Monastics, and Missionaries who eventually brought the Light of Christ to the Americas, the Pacific Islands, and the Far East.  Everywhere the power of tyrants and bureaucrats have tried to suppress or remove the Word of God by attacking those who proclaim it, God has sent even more messengers with His call to repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  While John’s prison cell with the executioner’s ax falling upon his hallowed neck may have looked dark and conquered by evil, the countryside exploded with the proclamation of Jesus and His disciples, bringing many to new life reconciled with God.  As the sun grew dark during Jesus’ crucifixion, the powers of hell were sent reeling as the Lord of Life took from them the power of death, returning to give His Apostles the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven.  Wherever the blood of Apostles and martyrs were spilled, the Word of the Lord broke forth in the conversion of many hearts and souls.  Even today, the courage and heroic faith of martyrs from Middle Eastern sands to African jungles, from Communist slave camps to Islamic torture cells, from cosmopolitan cities to rural villages, the Word of the Lord is not stopped.  To the contrary, every drop of martyrs’ blood fuels a new explosion of evangelism, and the Lord of Hosts sends even more messengers with His life-giving Word of faith and repentance, grace and salvation, in Jesus Christ alone.

 

It is tempting to despair of the persecutions growing in our day, in lands which used to ring with the freedom to preach the Gospel to every creature, to make disciples of all nations in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach everyone who will listen all that the Lord Jesus taught us by His Word.  We may rightly lament that so many of our secular and ecclesiastical leaders have not only abandoned the Word of God, but seek to write laws and inspire mobs to attack those who bear that Word today.  Yet our calling has not changed to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all people in Jesus’ Name alone, from home and hearth to the public square.  And whether we see times of peace or persecution, we may remain confident that the Word of the Lord endures forever, that no political force of man or demon can withstand the Lord of Hosts, and that even if our faithfulness to the Word of God costs us our lives or livelihoods, every persecution of the faithful eventually becomes even greater conquest over the kingdom of darkness.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.