Innocent Pawn

Mark 6:24-25

      Feeling used. Unaware of the plans. Betrayed. Puzzled. Out of the loop. Blindsided. Taken by surprise. Have you ever felt any of these or similar emotions? Most of us have at one time or another. Plans were made and you didn’t know them, and you are allowed to feel like you were betrayed. This is probably how this young woman felt in our text.

      Her mother set her up. He mother had studied her step-father in order to get even with a political enemy. This enemy had dared to questions her marriage and point out the wrongfulness of the relationship. But unlike other political assassinations, she has a problem. Her husband is the one who is providing his personal security detail. Her husband wants him protected and is providing the protection.

      But this doesn’t stop this woman from getting what she wants. She sets up her daughter as the pawn in this game of chess. She orchestrates the moves perfectly. She doesn’t let the daughter know the real motives for dressing her up and having her dance before all these invited guests.

      So the daughter dances her heart out. And when her step-dad takes her by surprise by offering a present for the beautiful dance, she doesn’t know how to respond. She goes to ask her mother. Checkmate!

      I can almost see the glee in her mother’s eyes as this daughter asks the question. There is no hesitation in her reply: the head of John the Baptist. Imagine putting your daughter in this position. You are asking your daughter to have someone killed and then carry the man’s head. Vile. Disgusting. Calculated. Sick.

      I am sure that moment was burned into this girl’s mind. She certainly learned a powerful lesson about political power and manipulation that day. She learned that her mother would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. The depths of her scheming didn’t even consider the feelings of her own daughter. She didn’t really matter to her mother. She was just a pawn in her scheming.

Unwitting Partner

Mark 6:21-22

      Have you ever waited for just the right moment to ask someone? I remember several of these “right moment” experiences in my life. And if you ask my wife, she will tell you that I am not very good at keeping secrets, at waiting for the right moment. I almost always tell before the event has arrived. Maybe the right moment was about asking for a promotion at work, or a pay raise, or a date invitation. Or maybe it was about asking for a favor, or confessing a mistake. Finding the right moment can be difficult.

      The king’s wife, Herodias, has held a grudge against John the Baptist ever since John called her out in public and revealed the sin of her current marriage. Some people just don’t like public humiliation! What’s up with that!

      So Herodias has plotted and schemed of getting even with John for some time. She wants him dead for what he said about her marriage. Talk about a bad sport! Wanting to kill someone for what they said seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Words are just words, unless they prick your conscience and bring on guilt. That seems to have been what happened. John had spoken and it hit right at the heart of Herodias’ guilt. And she had held onto the pain in hopes of revenge.

      The King is throwing a big banquet for all the important people in the kingdom. It would be equivalent to a Whitehouse Dinner. Anybody who was anybody was there. And the queen knew the king. She knew his weaknesses. She had used those weaknesses in the past to get what she wanted. Now she was going to use them against him to finally get revenge.

      And the plot involved her daughter. I guess Herod must have had a lust problem. Perhaps he liked younger women. Perhaps Herodias had been one of those young women who had caught his eye previously. And she uses this to her advantage. Talk about sexual exploitation! Her mother uses her daughter. Yikes!

      Another weakness that she knows about her husband is that he values what other people think about him. If she can get him to commit to a course of action in front of the crowd, he would feel compelled to fulfill it, or he would lose face before his guests. His reputation would be on the line.

      The last thing the king’s wife knew about her husband is that he is impulsive. In the heat of the moment he makes rash decisions. He lets his feelings get the best of him. He will commit to things and then later regret it.

      Herodias has studied her husband and now uses these traits to get what she wants. She doesn’t do it directly, that would be to straight forward. She instead uses her daughter. She can’t confront him directly, so she uses the kids.