Bible Study with Danelle

We begin this part of the chapter with Jesus sending out the twelve. After Jesus left Nazareth, where he was rejected by his own town, he continues teaching and at some point decides to send his twelve disciples out two by two to continue to spread the word and remove unclean spirits.

Mark tells us that Jesus told them to take nothing with them. Not even extra clothing or money. They were to rely on the people of the towns for assistance. (And trust God to provide.) If they were rejected, they were to “shake the dust off their feet”. I find two lessons in this short passage.

Lesson one – We come into contact with many people who do not believe and sometimes those interactions can be tough. Just as Jesus told the apostles, we need to shake the dust off. Remember that this is between them and God. We can speak Jesus, but we can’t change them. Only God can do that.

Lesson two – God will call us to drop everything for him. To take nothing and rely on Him. I have experienced this and it is a tough thing to do, but in the end, God always provides. Sometimes you don’t know how or why, but when you place your faith in Him, it will work out for His glory.

We next come to the story of the death of John the Baptist. John, as you remember, is the cousin of Jesus. They are only a few months apart in age and John is the one that baptized Jesus at the beginning of His ministry.

We learn of John’s imprisonment by King Herod (son of Herod the Great) due to John’s disaprovement of Herod’s marriage to Herod’s sister-in-law, Herodias. Herodias wants John dead, but Herod is fearful of John. I find it very interesting that Mark states he was fearful of him.

But, when Herod’s stepdaughter dances for him and his friends at a birthday celebration, it must have been quite the show because he promises her anything she wants.

Unfortunately for John, the wife uses this to her advantage and the stepdaughter demands John’s head on a platter. Herod, not wanting to look bad in front of his friends, gives her what she wants.

How sad is it that Herod sacrificed John to “save face” with his friends? Has there ever been a time when you have gone against your better judgment to “save face” or impress someone? We probably all have.

As you go further into this week, I pray you will think about these three lessons in this section. For a short section, it has some very important lessons we can all learn from.