OIA Mark 6.6-29

Observations

• Who: Jesus, the 12; John the Baptist, King Herod, his wife and step daughter, nobles and military leaders of Galilee, executioner, John’s disciples.
• Where: In the villages; in Herod’s palace
• When: After Jesus’ rejection by his home town; during the disciples’ mission.
• What: Jesus sends the 12 on their first ministry assignment with delegated authority including the command to demonstrate judgment; the mission is successful; Herod murders John.
• Contrasts: Jesus’/Herod’s authority; spiritual interest/social pressure.
• Connections: in the villages; preaching repentance; unclean spirits vanquished; spiritual power opposed;
• Responses to Jesus:
• The 12 are obedient and experience Jesus’ delegated power and authority 

Interpretation

• The sending to the 12 introduces a new section in Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ training of the 12 is one of the key themes of this section. In the coming stories Jesus will gradually open the eyes of the 12 to key elements of his kingdom: partnership in the kingdom under his delegated authority; suffering at the hands of political and religious leaders; responsibility for those impacted by their ministry; and inescapable dependence on Jesus’. This section culminates with Peter’s partial recognition of Jesus’ identity, immediately followed by Jesus’ teaching about suffering, death, rejection, and resurrection. Jesus clearly explains the difference between God’s ways and man’s ways. The first mission of the 12 contrasted by Herod’s temporal depravity sets the stage for this section.
• This section is another example of a Markan sandwich: the story of Herod’s depravity is set in the middle of the 12’s first mission and return, and flows immediately into the feeding of the 5000 which sets up a dramatic contrast between the chaos and callousness or Herod’s kingdom as compared to the compassion, provision, and calm order of Jesus’ rule and reign.
• Herod: this is not the Herod the Great (47 – 4 BC) who welcomed the Magi and murdered the male Bethlehem toddlers under two years of age. This Herod, Antipas (20BC – 39AD; Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea 4BC – 39AD), was Herod’s son by his fourth of ten wives, Malthace. Herod was considered by Rome to be an effective ruler. He built the major city of Sepphoris, the largest city in Galilee, and his capital for many years. Sepphoris is only about four miles from Nazareth, and it is likely both Joseph and Jesus might have worked in this city as carpenters. Herod Antipas left his first wife after falling in love with his half-brother Philips wife and her daughter during a stopover on his trip to Rome in 29AD. (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels: IVP)

Application

• A disciples’ effectiveness for ministry is far more dependent on the call and equipping by Jesus than it is on the disciple’s ability to accomplish the task on his/her own abilities and merits.
• Herod’s banquet, based on willful confusion, political expediency, pride, and wanton disregard for life could have happened in any governmental venue in the world. Such power-based activities haunt the halls of power to this day.
• John’s role is described in Mark 1: prepare the way of the Lord. Even in his death – a senseless murder at the hands of power hungry and lust-besotted political rulers – John prepares the way for Jesus’ immanent lynching by the powers of Rome and Jerusalem. The greatest of all men born to women is sacrificed to a drunken boast; Jesus will die for human reasons not very different.