We must now return to the history of John the Baptist; he was about
this time put to death by Herod, who, as we have already seen, had
thrown the Baptist into prison to please Herodias, who was angry with
him because he had reproved her and Herod for their sins. But this
wicked woman was not satisfied with the imprisonment of this holy man;
she wanted to destroy him, and watched for an opportunity of doing so.
It is a terrible thing to determine in one's heart to do a wicked
action: it is bad enough to give way to temptation, and so sin against
God, but to make up one's mind to break His commandments, is far
worse.
After John the Baptist had been in prison for some months, Herod's
birthday came round; and to celebrate this event, the king made a
great feast to the officers of his household, and the chief men in
Galilee. On this occasion, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, came in
and danced before Herod and his guests, in order to amuse them. This
was a very old custom among the kings of the East at that time, though
to us it seems a very strange and bad custom. Herod and those who sat
with him, were very much pleased with the damsel's dancing; and Herod,
very rashly and foolishly, made a solemn promise, that he would, as a
reward, give her anything she liked to ask for. "And she went forth,
and said unto her mother, What shall I ask?" Herodias had probably
expected something of this kind; at any rate, she had an answer ready,
and said, "The head of John the Baptist". It does not seem that Salome
was astonished at this advice, or that she was at all unwilling to
follow it: for she returned straightway with haste unto the king, and
said, "I will that thou give me by and by in a charger, the head of
John the Baptist". A charger was a large dish or tray: in some
countries, even to this day, when the king orders a great man to be
beheaded, the head is brought to him afterwards, to show that his
commands have been obeyed. Such a request as Salome now made,
startled even Herod himself: we read that "the king was exceeding
sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat at meat
with him, he would not reject her." He therefore sent an executioner,
who cut off John the Baptist's head in the prison, and brought it to
Salome, who gave it to her mother. This history teaches us many
things: first, although it is the duty of children to obey their
Parents, they must obey God before them: thus, if Parents are
unhappily so wicked as to tell their children to do anything that God
has forbidden, they must please God rather than their Parents.
Children should, be very thankful when they have Parents who will
never wish them to break the Lord's commandments. Another thing we
learn is, to be careful how we make promises. A solemn promise once
made ought to be kept, however inconvenient it may be to keep it; and
therefore we should never promise positively to do anything, unless we
are quite sure that we can do it. But though it is displeasing to God
that an oath should be broken, it is still more displeasing to Him
that it should be kept, when it can only be done by committing some
positive act of sin. Herod made a rash oath, and to keep it, he was
guilty of the murder of a good and holy man.
Although Herod was angry with John, he had a high opinion of his
holiness and goodness, and would not willingly have put him to death:
but amongst men it was considered shameful to break an oath; and
Herod, caring more for the praise of men than the praise of God,
sacrificed John the Baptist at the request of a bad woman.
When the disciples of John heard of their master's death, they came to
the prison, and took up his body and laid it in a tomb, and went and
told Jesus.
After this, Herod heard of the fame of Jesus, and of all the wonderful
things that He had done, and he was greatly troubled, and knew not
what to think. Some people said, "That John was risen from the dead;"
others, "That Elias, who was expected to come before the Messiah, had
appeared;" and others, "That one of the old prophets was risen again."
Amongst these different opinions, Herod was greatly perplexed: like
most of the Jews of high rank, Herod belonged to the sect of the
Sadducees, who denied that the body would rise again, or the soul live
for ever. He would not, therefore, willingly allow the possibility of
John the Baptist having returned to life; but his fears got the better
of his opinions. His conscience told him that he had done wickedly in
putting to death a true servant of God, and therefore, when he heard
that there was One going about the country working miracles, he feared
that John had returned to life, armed with power to punish all who had
ill-treated him.
Herod, disturbed by all he heard of Jesus, questioned his servants who
told him these things, and said, "John have I beheaded; but who is
this of whom I hear such things?" He could get no satisfactory answer,
and his guilty conscience drove him to the conclusion, "It is John
whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works
do shew forth themselves in him." "And he desired to see Jesus."
Herod's desire to see Jesus, does not appear to have been gratified
until just before our Lord's death; and then the king derived no
profit from the interview. Herod had had plenty of opportunities for
learning the truths of the Gospel from John the Baptist. He would not
make use of them. Our Lord has told us, that if we do not make a good
use of all the opportunities given to us, He will take from us the
blessings we will not use. In our country, the young are blessed with
innumerable opportunities of learning their duty to God: make a proper
use of them, and do not force the Lord to take them away, and leave
you in wilful ignorance and sin.
The Feast of the Passover was now drawing near: the second Passover
which had occurred, since our Saviour had entered on his public work.
For this Feast, our Lord went up to Jerusalem; and on His way, He fed
5,000 people with five loaves and two small fishes; and after they had
all eaten as much as they wanted, pieces enough were left to fill
twelve baskets; although the whole quantity of loaves and fishes, if
they had at first been broken into pieces, could not probably have
filled one of these baskets. In working this miracle, Jesus taught us
never to waste anything; he said, "Gather up the fragments that
remain, that nothing be lost." Let us remember that many things that
we do not want, may be useful to others, and that nothing should be
wasted. Children should be careful not to ask for more food than they
are sure they can eat, for that is wasteful.
The people, who had been fed in such a wonderful manner, now said,
"This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world":
meaning the Messiah, spoken of by all the prophets, and whose coming
was expected about this time. Having come to this conclusion, the
people, according to their mistaken ideas, that the Messiah was to be
an earthly sovereign and conqueror, determined to make Him king over
the land of Judaea. But Jesus desired only to rule the hearts of men;
"When, therefore, he perceived that they would come and take him by
force to make him a king," He sent His disciples by ship unto
Bethsaida, and having dismissed the multitude, He went up into a
mountain alone to pray.
A storm of wind overtook the disciples in the midst of the lake, and
then it was that Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. If the faith
of the disciples had been strong, they would have felt that it was as
easy for Jesus to walk on the water, as to work any other miracle; but
they could not believe it was Him, and "they cried out for fear." The
Lord, in His mercy, spake straightway unto them, saying, "Be of good
cheer; it is I; be not afraid." "And Peter answered, and said, Lord,
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And He said, Come."
Peter at once obeyed; but his faith was not strong enough to carry him
through this trial: for a little while he walked on the water to go to
Jesus, but when he found himself in the midst of raging waves, with a
boisterous wind howling around him, his faith failed, and he was
afraid. But he had not forgotten where to look for help; and finding
himself beginning to sink, he cried out earnestly, "Lord, save me."
Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said,
"Oh thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?--why didst thou
doubt my power and my will to save thee?" No sooner had Jesus with
Peter come into the ship, than the storm ceased, and immediately the
ship was at the land whither they went. They were sore amazed: but
"they came and worshipped Him saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of
God."