A Man's Heart: June 17th, 2012

In Mark’s narrative of Jesus’ life, we find a fascinating story that is soaked with curiosity, deceit, mystery, adultery, charm, manipulation, passion, and murder.  And no, we’re not talking about the newest NBC drama; we’re talking about a story found in the Bible. 

Read it.  Mark 6:14-29

Let’s observe three elements from the above story that seem to be embedded in the genetic make-up of men.  Call them ambitions, appetites, hungers, yearnings; they’re descriptive of how God has wired guys. 

Truth.     Jeremiah 31:33 and Romans 1:18-32

What was it in Herod that made him respect John the Baptizer?  Why did Herod like to listen to this prophet?  There’s something inside of men that draws them to truth.  We like someone that “says it how it is.”  We enjoy honesty, logic, and ideas that make sense.  Give us the truth and we’ll be happy, but not too much truth, right?  Herod put the Baptizer in jail when he spoke too much truth.  When John told Herod to stop having an affair, Herod put him in prison.  This is the “too much truth” part.  Guys are ambitious for truth, but sometimes, truth hurts.  Truth has a way of messing with a man’s ego.  Herod appreciated the Baptizer’s truth until it got personal - real truth always seems to have a way of getting personal.  Like Herod, a man’s ambition for truth can be a powerful tool, if he allows it.  Truth can liberate to bring life, but it also can devastate and bring chaos.

Beauty.    Proverbs 6:20-29 and Psalm 27:4

What was it in Herod that made him offer a dancing girl half his kingdom?  What was it about this girl’s beauty that caused Herod to make such a stupid decision?  Apparently, it was Herod’s birthday and he gave a banquette to guests of high esteem.  When a woman came out and danced for him (this woman was the daughter of the woman he was having an affair with), he impulsively told her she could have half of his kingdom.  Men have an appetite for beauty, but this appetite can become warped.  A man’s acknowledgement of beauty can produce beauty in itself, but a man’s unhealthy acknowledgement of beauty can produce a ripple effect of destruction.  For Herod, a moment of unhealthy lust led to the Baptizer’s death.  In a moment of weakness or a time of lust, a man’s ambition for beauty can be the difference between life and death. 

Reputation.    Esther 9:4 and 1 Timothy 3:7 and Revelation 3:1

What was it in Herod that made him behead a man he listened to and respected?  Why did Herod value his reputation more than John’s life?  After Herod offered half his kingdom to the girl, she conspired with her mother as to what she should ask.  Her mother, still harboring bitterness towards the Baptizers truthfulness, asked for John’s head on a platter.  When the girl returned to Herod, she presented her request in front of his friends.  Wanting to keep the reputation of his word, Herod accomplished her request.  Men are created with a drive to have a reputation.  Like truth and beauty, the quality of this reputation can be the difference between life and death. 

Something interesting happens in this story.  These three hungers were about to be perfectly illustrated in the person of Jesus, all the while the prophet who was introducing (paving the way for) Jesus as the messiah was killed by Herod's distortion of these three hungers.  What?  Yes.  Herod's warped hunger for truth, beauty, and reputation killed John the Baptizer, and John the Baptizer was doing the intro for Jesus, the one who demonstrated truth, beauty, and reputation perfectly - beautiful irony all wrapped up and bundled into one little story.  Herod's dysmorphic hungers lead to death while Jesus' holy hungers lead to life.  

As we celebrate Father’s Day, may we recognize the tension men live among.  Between the ways of Herod and the ways of Jesus, the fathers among us need our prayers, encouragement, and support now more than ever.  May we appreciate what our father’s do (and have done).  May we learn to recognize the weight they carry and may we do everything we can to love them and inspire them with an agape kind of love.  Today, tomorrow and the next, may our fathers be inspired (“may they continue to breathe”).