Sermonette: May 1, 2023

Why was John the Bap-tist arrested?

Do you remember why John the Baptist was arrested? Much of John the Baptist’s life and ministry is remembered by most people. His miraculous birth, his wild “Florida-man” style of preaching, his baptism of his cousin Jesus and his final beheading are known by most people who attend church. However, people often forget the crime that ended his career and put him behind bars, where he died.

“For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had been saying to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’”

Matthew 14:3-4

John the Baptist’s career as a prophet and preacher was ended because he publicly denounced who Herod was sleeping with and wanted to marry. Herod Antipas  divorced his first wife, then stole Herodias from his half-brother. This is forbidden under Jewish law and despite Herod not being a Jew, John denounced these actions. Not just once either, the tense in the Greek suggest John frequently spoke against Herod’s violation of marriage law. Until Herod and Herodias threw him in prison.

In the church today, many teachers and leaders would have you believe that Jesus came to bring love to the world and as his followers our only mission is to love everyone. Spread soft, fluffy, marshmallow love and never hurt anyone’s feelings. Never call out sin, never say anything aggressive, just be nice. That is not Christianity. Or rather, that is a weak sauce, watered down version of Christianity and it betrays some very poor scholarship. Read the gospels. Jesus, John the Baptist and the disciples are very loving, but Biblical love isn’t always soft and fluffy. True love has an edge. Real love hurts sometimes. When someone is doing something directly in violation of God’s plan, often the most loving thing to do is clearly and concisely say “you are in sin.”

Now, obviously, this sort of thing must be done in love. Nobody has any need for soapbox preachers shaking their fists at people, nor will you find that in the Bible. But true love is always honest. It loves the clarity of truth and hates murky “you have your truth and I have my truth.” As followers of Christ, we are commanded to be “the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14-16) Being “the light” means sharing the truth, even if it costs us, as it did John the Baptist. But he never backed down. Be brave. If you see sin, call it out in love as best you can, but don’t let courtesy out-weigh the truth.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 3:16-21