Mark 6:16 Commentary and Bible Study

‘When Herod heard thereof, he said,’ – and you have to say this in the right way; in the Greek all the emphasis is on the ‘I’ – ‘It is John, whom I beheaded.’ Herod's conscience roared and shouted, and troubled him deeply. ‘It is John whom I beheaded’, and so concerned was Herod Antipas that he didn't care who heard him say it. He said it in front of the courtiers; he said it in front of the officers of state. The regional ruler, courtesy king Herod, was convicted of sin. ‘He is risen from the dead.’ ‘Therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him’, he had said (verse 14). John the Baptist never did a miracle, not even one. He was a mighty prophet but did no miracles. ‘But now’, thinks Herod Antipas, ‘he is risen from the dead. He is demonstrating so with miracles. I must be on the list for vengeance. I have to pay.’ Herod, partly religious, partly just superstitious! A very cunning man – like father, like son. Herod the Great was cruel and cunning. He was the one who gave the order for all the babies to be executed, because he feared the birth of Christ, the Messiah. Like father, like son: Antipas was also very cruel and very cunning. But now he is shaken to the core, because he thinks the one he murdered has been [raised from the dead]. ‘It is John, whom I beheaded.’ This was Herod’s superstitious view, but it was superstition born of deep guilt. It was an admission that John had been put to death entirely unjustly, so unjustly that God, Herod feared, had even reversed what Herod had done and brought him back to life again. John deserved to live; Herod knew that perfectly well.