Sermon for Sunday, May 10th, 2026 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Esther 5:1-8 ESV] 1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” 4 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. 6 And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 7 Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
New Testament Reading:
[Revelation 16:1-6 ESV] 1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”
Gospel Reading:
[Matthew 11:1-6 ESV] 1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Sermon Text:
[Matthew 14:1-12 ESV] 1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
Introduction
I. John in Prison (v. 3-5)
Back in chapter 11 we learned that John the Baptist was in prison. Now, we find out WHY he was in prison. I’d love to be able to say John was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel; and indeed he was preaching the Gospel. But the reason stated for him being imprisoned is that he spoke out against Herod on account of the Herod taking his brother Philip’s ex-wife, who was his own niece.
So while John wasn’t imprisoned for the Gospel, he was imprisoned for defending the Law of God. This was a noble deed of John. It showed his boldness. He was not going to be quiet while the Law of God was trampled.
Herod was breaking the law of Leviticus 18:16 against “uncovering the nakedness of your brother’s wife” and the law of Leviticus 20:21 which calls “taking your brother’s wife” an “impurity.” And it should be pointed out that Herod’s brother Philip was still alive. So this marriage was not one of the type in Deuteronomy where a man is REQUIRED to marry his brother’s wife when the brother dies childless.
So John the Baptist was zealous for the law of God. He wasn’t defending or helping Herodias (the wife) but calling them BOTH out for an adulterous and illegitimate marriage.
And John the Baptist was a prophet. If a prophet were to call you out, you should of course REPENT. But that would not be Herod’s response.
Herod, naturally, did not like his sin being pointed out. And “he feared the people,” concerned that the growing supporters of John the Baptist could rise up against him.
So John was “bound and put in prison.” But Herod did not at first have him killed, because of that “fear of the people.”
I want to pause here for an application.
Application: Public sins are to be called out publicly
We know in Matthew 18 that PRIVATE sins (sins between two people) are to be addressed to them privately, in person. And if they don’t listen, then you are to bring another person or two with you. And if they still don’t listen, then you take it to the church. So that is about private sin, and in the context of believers. And you do this so as not to embarrass a person in their sin. The whole world doesn’t need to know when your brother has sinned against you. And you can make amends, apologize, forgive, and move on IN PRIVATE.
Then there are PUBLIC sins. That may be public drunkenness, or public scandal, or speech in a group that causes discord.
In the case of PUBLIC sin, everyone (or nearly everyone) already knows about the sin! There is no need to keep protect the sinner’s reputation; the sin is already out in the open. A rebuke is needed so that they might repent.
And what was the mission of John but to call for repentance! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)
So we hear of public sins in our world today. And often, there will be criticism of the person who publicly called for repentance. That criticism is generally not warranted. Public sins need public rebuke and public repentance with the goal of restoration, not humiliation. The humiliation has already occurred; the sin is known.
In Galatians 2:11-24 Paul confronted Peter in front of all who were present in Antioch because Peter had sinned publicly when for fear of the opinions of some Jewish men he no longer ate with the Gentile. That was a public rebuke to the public sin. And, by virtue of the fact that Peter later had changed his views at the Council of Jerusalem, supporting the Gentiles, we know that he repented.
This application – that Public Sins are to be called out Publicly (and repented of) – is perhaps more important to study in today’s world than in any time in the past, as there are many public figures in the Christian world who bring shame on the church with their sins. We can pray that they will admit their sins and repent of them, to the glory of God.
II. Herod’s view of Jesus. (v. 1-2)
We have something quite fascinating in the first two verses of this chapter.
Herod heard “about the fame of Jesus.” And he says to his servants that John the Baptist “has been raised from the dead” and such is the cause of Jesus’s “miraculous powers.”
This took a bit to understand; and I only understood what is being said hear after realizing the timeframe of it.
This is statement of Herod AFTER John the Baptist was killed. So, when he hears of the “fame of Jesus,” Herod thinks “Oh no, he has these miraculous powers because he is John the Baptist come back from the dead.”
It is hard to know what Herod’s religious views are. Maybe he didn’t know himself. But he’s definitely concerned about Jesus. He was previously concerned about John, not it is Jesus. Perhaps he considers the possibility that Jesus is a prophet, with power from God. That that is an awful (full of awe) feeling. Awe and fear.
This section is clearer in Mark’s gospel:
[Mark 6:14-16 ESV] 14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”
So the accounts of John the Baptist get us back to Jesus. We have to remember that the Gospels are primarily accounts of the life of Jesus.
III. John put to death. (v. 6-12)
But now we go back to John, and his death.
Herod thinks Jesus could be John the Baptist come back from the dead, and so now our author (Matthew) tells us about John’s death in the first place.
Now comes about Herod’s birthday. And his step-daughter dances before him and the company he has there. And this pleases Herod. So he says “I’ll give you whatever you ask for.”
A good father provides what is NEEDED for his children. But an overly indulgent father is a pushover, and gives a spoiled child all that he or she desires. And especially this is the case with father’s giving in to their daughters. You want new clothes? OK. You want a car? OK. You want John the Baptist’s head on a platter! Wait just a second!!
It just isn’t a good practice to attempt to win a person over by giving them whatever they want. You might gain some affection, but you’ll lose respect.
The daughter is prompted by her mother, so there is fault to go around.
But a father is to provide moral boundaries to their children. And vows are not to be carried out if doing so would be sinful. So Herod is at fault as well as Herodias and her daughter. They are a corrupt family.
Promising the daughter “whatever she might ask for” is the ultimate example of weak parenting.
So here is an application for Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day):
Application: Do not given into to the requests of a child so as to spoil them.
We are to train our children in righteousness, and more often than not, we are to NOT GIVE IN to their requests, nor provide so much as to spoil a child.
We can see that this is not good for the girl anyways. Children often don’t know what is good for them. They might say, “I want 1000 jelly beans,” but adults know that such a feat of consumption will have disastrous consequences. So too the daughter of Herodias would see a severed head on a plate, and remember that through her life; perhaps haunting her at times. What might have seemed like a good thing (especially to the mother to get rid of the prophet who was called out her sin), ultimately is a great evil, a murder. And, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Herodias’s life after the death of John the Baptist was marked by political downfall, humiliation, and eventual exile. Things did not go well for her in the wake of this sin.
Well, indeed John the Baptist was put to death.
And we often say that St. Stephen was the first martyr. You read of his death in the book of Acts. And you might know there is a Catholic church over in Warwick called “St. Stephen, the First Martyr.”
But isn’t John the Baptist the first martyr? Well, it all depends on how things are considered. Often, though John the Baptist is in the New Testament, he is considered the last prophet of the Old Covenant. So if we re-start the counting after John, then St. Stephen in the first martyr.
Such recognition is not what either was trying to achieve. Speaking the truth was their goal, and they lived (and died) by that truth. An honorable life indeed.
Applications:
Well, what can we learn from this passage? Why is the account of the death of John the Baptist here included in the Gospels?
For one, we see the rising hostility against the Truth. John the Baptist being killed by the authorities is a foreshadowing of the fact that Jesus himself will be killed by the authorities as well. And yet, the truth is spoken, despite all threats against it. John the Baptist preached the Gospel, and Jesus Christ preached the Gospel. And the Apostles after him. And Christians through the ages. Truth is more important even than life. So this is a courageous truth-telling.
And, we see the contrast in the kingdoms. We’ve just finished the Kingdom parables, learning about the kingdom of heaven. Now we see a window into an earthly Kingdom; Herod’s. And its not good. All sorts of sins are evident. Infidelity and adultery, lying, envy, lust, and murder. And, if the historians wrote the truth, then this lifestyle was the end of Herod and his wife, deservedly so.
What a contrast indeed between the kingdoms. The one murdering, the other willing to speak the truth even unto death, that we may know the importance of following Christ even through the harshest persecution.
Yet Truth reigns supreme. Not because we are foolhardy. But, because we know that the Truth brings us new life, eternal life, in the very Kingdom of Heaven.
Conclusion.
The book of Revelation, a section of which we read earlier, says that the blood of the saints and prophets was spilled. But there we also find in the Book of Revelation the servants of the Lord – all Christians – worshipping at the throne of the Lamb, the very Lord Jesus Christ, prophet, priest, and king, who was killed that we may life.
So let us have assured hope in the promised of the Lord.
Let us pray.