There’s a popular saying that our culture is soaked in. It’s the saying that goes something like this: follow your heart. Once you hear it, you can’t unsee it. It’s everywhere. Disney characters declare it. Mulan says, “You must be true to your heart.” Self-help books preach it. You are your own authority. Oprah Winfrey broadcasts it all over the world. “Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself.” It comes from this idea that’s popular in our culture that the path to the good life, to the best life, to the most authentic life is found inside you.
But what isn’t a popular saying in our culture today? A word that you won’t find in Disney movies, self-help books, or Oprah. It’s the saying, repent. We come to a dark and disturbing scene in Mark’s gospel. It hits all the beats of some kind of high-budget HBO drama or Stan drama. You’ve got lust, pride, revenge, manipulation, trickery, and to top it all off, as we just watched, there’s a gruesome, unjust execution. At the center of this whole conflict, this whole scene, is one word: repentance. It wasn’t a popular word then, and it certainly is not a popular word now.
But in this scene, we see what happens when these two commands, these two words of wisdom, come head-to-head: follow your heart and repent. Herod, the king, who has followed his heart in a way by marrying his brother’s wife, comes up against Jesus’s call, the gospel call to repent of your sins. We see these two ideas are incompatible. What unfolds is a case study in the horror, destruction, and death that comes from unrepentance.
What unfolds is a case study in the horror, destruction, and death that comes from unrepentance.
But here’s what I hope we’ll see from this passage: that whilst repentance may sound offensive or restrictive in our culture, for the follower of Jesus, repentance is vital. Repentance is a good thing. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s something we must pursue urgently. Here’s how we’ll see this. First, we’ll walk through the passage. Then, we’ll draw out three lessons on unrepentance. Then, we’ll talk about one on repentance.
The Fruit of Unrepentance Is Laid Bare
Let’s walk through the passage. What’s clear is that this whole terrible conflict between Herod and Herodias and John begins with Herod’s refusal to repent. Herod had married his brother’s wife, Herodias. And John, as the one who prepared the way for Jesus, that was his job. He’s the one who prepares the way for the Lord. He’d been telling Herod essentially, “Herod, you need to repent. You need to turn from this sin.” In verse 18, he said, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.”
Now, this may sound confronting to us, but it shouldn’t surprise us because repentance has been the message from the very beginning of Mark’s gospel. John preached it from the very beginning when Jesus began his public ministry. It was some of the first words that he uttered. And in chapter 6, verse 12, just before what we just read, Jesus literally just sent out his disciples to preach repentance. When people depict Jesus as this laid-back guy with a smile on his face holding a sheep on his shoulders, I don’t know if you’ve seen pictures like that or memes online. I just think there’s not a more incorrect picture of Jesus or a more incomplete picture of Jesus. Jesus cared a lot about sin and repentance. He cared a lot about the judgment that sin and unrepentance deserves from a holy God. And so whether you’re a king or a peasant, the call of the gospel is to repent. This is what John was preaching to Herod and it’s what Jesus is on about.
But instead of repenting, what does Herod do? He heaps sin upon sin by unjustly imprisoning John. And all this lays the groundwork for the tragedy to come. Verse 19 hints at this, and we see it in the video of The Chosen, don’t we? Herodias’s little looks to her daughter. We read in verse 19, “So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.” She seizes her opportunity at Herod’s birthday. Herodias’s daughter comes in and performs a dance that greatly pleased everyone, Herod and his guests. I’m confident Herodias put her daughter up to this. The makers of The Chosen seem to agree. She surely knew that she could trick her husband into doing something utterly foolish and stupid with some sultry, seductive dance.
That’s exactly what happens after the pleasing dance in verse 22 and 23. Herod makes a foolish promise, not once but twice. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you. I will give you whatever you ask up to half my kingdom.” The daughter asks her mother what to ask for. “The head of John the Baptist.” This wasn’t in The Chosen video, but she obviously went out to ask her and then comes back in because the daughter seems keen on this idea as well. In verse 25, she hurries back in, we’re told. And she says, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now.” Don’t delay. Right now. And she even adds her own gory detail perhaps. “On a tray. I want the head on a tray.”
This was a vital moment once she asked Herod for that. Herod could have stopped this. He’s the king after all. He’s boasting of all this power and authority, but we read that he’s bound by pride, image, and the fear of what others would think. And so, he orders this unjust execution. And there we have it. The fruit of his unrepentance is laid bare for everyone to see. A righteous man’s head on a plate. It’s an absolute moral disaster.
The fruit of his unrepentance is laid bare for everyone to see. A righteous man’s head on a plate. It’s an absolute moral disaster.
As confronting as it might be, there are some important lessons that we can learn from Herod and unrepentance from this scene. I have three.
Three Lessons on Unrepentance
Lesson One: Repentance Can’t Be Delayed
I skipped over this before, but verse 20, have a look at verse 20. It’s very peculiar, isn’t it? We’re told that Herod, despite imprisoning John, he protected him because he respected John. And knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. “Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John. But even so, he likes to listen to him.” He respects him, knows he’s a godly man, protects him, even likes to listen to him. But he never really listens to him, does he? He never takes his message to heart. What we see is that Herod sits on the fence when it comes to repentance. You might say he toys with the message of Jesus and the call to repent, but he never actually embraces it. He delays.
At the start of the parliamentary year this year in Canberra, I saw several politicians post or you might say boast on social media about how they went to some church service in Canberra to kick off the parliamentary year. I just remember thinking how odd it is. You might even say how Herod-like it is to go to church, to do this outward display of religion, to post it on social media, to hear the message of Jesus, to engage with it on some level, but to ultimately walk out still sitting on the fence, still toying with the message about Jesus, still delaying repentance.
You can’t sit on the fence when it comes to repentance. You can’t delay repentance. You can’t put it off.
The lesson here is you can’t sit on the fence when it comes to repentance. You can’t delay repentance. You can’t put it off.
Lesson Two: Unrepentance Always Rears Its Horrifying Head
The reason you can’t is lesson two. Because unrepentance, you can’t delay because unrepentance always rears its horrifying head. No pun intended. Or maybe there is, but it always rears its head. Herod delayed repenting of sin in favor of an immoral, ungodly relationship, and what we see is it comes back to bite him badly. Herod thought that his sitting-on-the-fence solution would work. He thought he could just cover up his unrepentance with a jail cell. He thinks, “Look, I can have my brother’s wife and if I chuck this prophet in prison, I can just keep listening to him and it’s a solution that might work.” But that same lustful heart that led Herod to take his brother’s wife leads him into the foolish oaths that we read. And the grudge he tried to manage explodes into an unjust execution.
Sin never stays small; it grows. We’ve seen it too often recently that there are church leaders who try to cover up their own sin or even try to cover up the sins of others, but it eventually erupts. Hidden sin eventually erupts, damaging lives and dishonoring Jesus and the gospel. You can’t cover up sin forever. It will rear its head. And even if it seems hidden now, it will not remain hidden forever.
Lesson Three: Unrepentance Ultimately Leads to Death and Judgment
Which brings us to lesson three from Herod and unrepentance. Because what we learn from Herod is that unrepentance ultimately leads to death and judgment. Now, this isn’t obvious from our passage today, because Herod won in a way. John is dead and Herod has his head. But this isn’t the end of Herod’s story. If you keep on reading the events of Jesus’ ministry, his trial and his crucifixion and his death, what we see is that Herod is instrumental in the unjust execution not just of John, but of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory.
And Acts 4 is important. This is after the resurrection of Jesus. The gospel is going out. When the Apostle Peter is preaching, what does he do with Herod? He lumps Herod in amongst the kings who raged against God’s king, fulfilling Psalm 2. We read in Acts 4:27, this is Peter speaking. He says:
“For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant whom you anointed.”Acts 4:27
Peter tells us that this is a fulfillment of Psalm 2. And Psalm 2 has a very stern warning to the kings of the earth, to the Herods. Psalm 2 says, “You kings, submit to God’s royal son or face destruction.” What we learn from Herod’s fate in the rest of the Bible, the rest of what happens in history, is that Herod’s unrepentance is no light matter. It’s that seed of unbelief that led to him killing Jesus. It’s the seed of unbelief that ultimately leads to his judgment and condemnation.
So, let’s get real here. What can we learn from Herod practically for our everyday lives? It’s easy to be a Herod, isn’t it? To keep the call to repent, Jesus’ call to repent, at arm’s length. To delay putting off sin. Maybe we’re fooled that sin won’t rear its head or won’t force us to make a choice eventually like we have in this scene. Maybe we imagine that like most of our world that there won’t be a day when Jesus returns as the righteous judge of all. There’s a particular danger for the seasoned Christian. The Christian who has been coming to church for years, hearing the same old stuff and thinking, “Oh, it’s quite nice to come and hear all this stuff.” But like Herod, never really been listening. It’s all just head knowledge and not heart change.
I feel I’m in particular danger of this. And everyone else at Bible college, we’re at even greater risk of this. Too much head and not much heart, not really embracing the message, not listening. The lesson is don’t be a Herod. Don’t keep the message at arm’s length. Don’t delay repentance. One of the reasons repentance is an unpopular idea is because it begins by admitting to God, “God, I am wrong. Even though I think I’m right, I feel like I’m right. You’re God. I am your creature. You know what’s best.”
So ask yourself, which sin am I delaying repenting of? Which sin do I need to bring before God in humility? Is it pride? Is it lust? A sinful relationship? Desiring a sinful relationship? Is it peer pressure, acting in sinful ways to please man rather than God? Is it the other sins warned about elsewhere in the Bible? Fits of anger, rage, hurtful language, deceit, lying. We have a God who always loves to hear our prayers. He loves to hear these prayers of repentance. That’s the amazing thing about our God. That’s the amazing thing about the gospel. In a few minutes at the end to finish up, I’ll give us some time to confess these sins to God and ask him to help us and to move us by his Spirit to repentance. That’s our main takeaway from Herod. Don’t be a Herod. Don’t delay repentance. Don’t continue in unrepentance.
With Repentance Comes Life
Now, that’s all quite heavy, isn’t it? And it’s right to feel the weight of this. Passages like this show us the horror of unrepentance, of unbelief, of sin and its consequences. But God is kind. He doesn’t show us this horror to crush us. He shows us this horror to rescue us. I promised an encouragement from this passage. And here’s the encouragement. It’s our fourth lesson from this passage. It is that with repentance comes life.
A little later in Mark chapter 8, it’s a key section on what it means to follow Jesus and be in his kingdom. Jesus says:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the good news, you will save it.”Mark 8:34-35
It’s a remarkable paradoxical promise, isn’t it? That those who try to save their life will lose it, but those who give up their life will be saved. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to not see Herod and John in these verses, isn’t it? It’s almost like Jesus is describing Herod and John. Herod tried to save his life, his image, his power, his pride, and ultimately he lost it. John, on the other hand, lost his life for the sake of the gospel. And because of this promise, he gained eternal life because of Jesus. And brothers and sisters, we have that same beautiful promise, that amazing promise that those who repent and give up their own way like John, maybe even those who hold out this message, this unpopular message of repentance like John, they have the promise of eternal life with Jesus.
One of the reasons people dislike the idea of repentance is that it often conjures up images of the super religious person, the people who have a whip and are whipping themselves as some big display of repentance. “I need to follow these sets of rules rather than follow my heart.” But that’s not Christian repentance and that’s not what Jesus is talking about. Christian repentance, think of the parable of the prodigal son, one of the greatest short stories of all time. I love that scene when the father sees the son in the distance, the son who wished him dead essentially and squandered half of his money. The father isn’t standing at the door, ready to discipline him. No, he runs to him. He embraces him. He restores him not as a servant, which is what the son was happy to be. He restores him as a son, as an inheritor, and he celebrates him.
It’s a beautiful picture of Christian repentance because with repentance comes joy, restoration, and freedom, and life. What we see is that Jesus loves and delights in repentance because he loves restoring sinners. He loved them so much that he died for them on the cross so that they would be forgiven. And so repentance for us, rather than being some sort of religious burden, it’s something that we can joyfully desire and pursue because with repentance comes life.
Jesus loves and delights in repentance because he loves restoring sinners. He loved them so much that he died for them on the cross so that they would be forgiven.
Let’s not be a church that just follows our heart. That’s what the world says. But let’s be a church who says, “I want to submit my heart. I want to turn my heart and humble my heart to Jesus because that is where life is found.” Let’s be a church who takes repentance seriously and confesses our sins to one another and to God, but also who speaks those precious sweet words of Jesus, those declarations that say in him we are forgiven.
A Prayer of Confession
Given it’s Ash Wednesday this week, a season of repentance traditionally in the church calendar, and given everything we’ve seen in this passage, I thought it’d be good if to conclude I led us in a prayer of confession from Psalm 51. I’ll pause for a time when you can confess your sins before God and after that I’ll pray a declaration of forgiveness from Psalm 103. Because with repentance comes the forgiveness that Jesus brings through his death and resurrection.
With repentance comes the forgiveness that Jesus brings through his death and resurrection.
Please pray with me as I read these words from Psalm 51.
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.Psalm 51:1-3
And now hear these words of forgiveness from Psalm 103.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. For as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.Psalm 103:8-12
Thank you, Lord, that we can come before you in repentance, confident of the forgiveness found only in your Son, Jesus, who removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. We thank you and in his name we pray. Amen.