Jesus' Response to the Murder of John the Baptist

Jesus Responds to a Horrific Murder (Mark 6:7-32) 

"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest" (Mk 6:31b).

v  How do you respond when a very good person you love is brutally beheaded by an evil person?

 

v  How did Jesus respond when his cousin John the Baptist was murdered by a drunken despot?

 

v  How did Jesus fulfill his role as a good shepherd when under enormous pressure to respond to a bad shepherd?

 

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (6:7-13)

 

1.    By sending out the Twelve two by two (7), how many teaching/preaching voices would there be (6b)?

 

2.    What would Jesus' instructions teach them (8-9)? Who would they need on their mission?

 

3.    What did Jesus teach them about failure (10-11)? What does "shake the dust off your feet" teach them? If they are bent on success, are they in the right business?

 

4.    What was their primary proclamation (12)? What did they do (13)?

Herod and the Horrific Murder of John the Baptist (6:14-29)

1.    Why was John put in prison (17-18)? Why did Herod protect John and like to listen to him (20)?

 

2.    Who were Herod's dinner guests (21)? Notice that 3 classes of people were invited. What kind of people were they? Who do they represent?

 

3.    Why (19) and how did Herodias manipulate a banquet into a murder scene (22-25)? Why didn't/couldn't Herod back down from his drunken oath (26-28)?

 

4.    How would the murder of John the Baptist affect Jesus (Mt 11:11; Lk 7:28)? Why did his disciples gather around him (30)? Why were so many people coming and going (31)?

 

 

 

5.    Did John's assassination interrupt the account of sending out the disciples?

 

The outline and setting of the emergence of Jesus the good shepherd in Mk 6:7-52 are:

1. Jesus sends out the twelve (6:7-13)
2. Herod and John [and the ministry of Jesus] (6:14-20)
3. Herod the bad shepherd feeds the powerful [at a banquet of death] (6:21-29)
4. The twelve return to Jesus (6:30-32)
5. Jesus the good shepherd feeds his flock [at a banquet of life] (6:33-43)
6. Jesus, as shepherd, leads his disciples and creates "still water" for them (6:43-52)