Matthew 14: Death of the Baptist

The execution of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod marks a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. We will not see Jesus again teaching large crowds in Galilee, and in fact it is a safe assumption that Jesus’ trip up to the districts near Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 15-16 is a reaction to the threat of Herod arresting Jesus prematurely. Matthew has placed the story of John’s death right in the middle of his gospel, which is surely intentional. The death of John brings home the reality that Jesus’ movement will not be accepted by the established powers in Israel, and marks the point when the readers of the gospel are aware that there will be a significant conflict down the road for Jesus.

Herod is presented by Matthew as the example of the wicked, illegitimate king- the false shepherd- who stand in the way of Jesus’ work. In the brief story of his having John killed consider all that he does that contrasts with Jesus’ life and teaching:
He persecutes God’s servant (compare 5:11-12)
He puts more stock in pleasing humans than God (compare 10:28)
He indulges lust (compare 5:27-30)
He makes careless oaths (compare 5:33-37)
He cares more about his image than his people (compare 20:24-28)

Herod in this story looks like a typical, Gentile king in the Bible. In fact, he looks very much like Pharaoh in the story of the Exodus. It should perhaps not come as a surprise then that Matthew immediately goes into the story of the feeding of 5000, which obviously points us again towards Jesus as a new Moses, and leading a new Exodus to rebirth Israel.

While we in the United States don’t give much thought to the gospel facing this kind of political enemy, this story can serve as a great reminder to what many of our brothers and sisters face in parts of Africa and Asia. And it raises some questions for us: knowing that rulers like Herod exist and work against the gospel, what can we do about it? Do we use our political rights and abilities to advocate for our suffering family in Christ? Do we know about their struggle? If not, how can we change that? And how can we support gospel work in closed and dangerous parts of the world?