The Greatest Sin; The Greatest Virtue
Mark 6: 14-29
The Gospel for today reveals the details of John the Baptist's death; it is also
a story of pride, of courage, and of resisting one's conscience.
This passage speaks of a man named Herod who ruled over one-fourth of
Palestine at the time. His father was Herod the Great, the king who had
been ruling when Jesus was born. It was Herod the Great who had ordered
the deaths of all the infants in Bethlehem, in an effort to destroy Jesus.
When Herod died, the Roman emperor divided his kingdom into four parts.
One part was given to the man in our text, Herod Antipas.
He wasn't really a king; he was actually a “tetrarch”, which means “the ruler
of a fourth part.” He did demand, however, that his subjects call him “king”.
Herod Antipas ruled from 4A.D. To 39A.D when he was banished to what is now
France by the Roman emperor for demanding to be made a king.
There is, moreover, a parallel between Herod's behavior in this instance and
Pilate's on Good Friday. What's more, there are important lessons for us in
analyzing why and how Herod behaved as he did.
Let's take the role of pride first. In his classic work, Mere Christianity, C.S.
Lewis devotes an entire chapter to what he calls the great sin. He observes that
there is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are
less conscious of in ourselves.
And the more we are plagued by the great sin, ironically, the more we dislike it
in others.
For Lewis, the great sin is pride.
He concludes that pride leads to almost every other vice and is therefore, the
complete anti-Christ state of mind.
The point that Lewis strives to make clear is that pride is essentially competitive.
Pride gets no pleasure out of possessing something, only having more of it
than the next person.
The vast majority of instances of greed, selfishness, gluttony or injustice are,
in essence, products of pride.
Now Biblical instruction comes in many forms: metaphor, allegory, parables, and of
course, the positive example of Christ Himself.
But the Bible uses negative examples to instruct us more often than any other form.
This is not surprising since human history is so consistently marked by the results of
human sin and disobedience. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were forever taught
the price of that disobedience. Cain murdered Abel out of self-interest and was cast
away from God's presence and made a fugitive on the earth. Saul, for example, fell
victim to pride and ignored God's commands. He was replaced by David, whose
pride led to adultery, murder, and the death of his son.
Mark tells us that Herod feared John, knew he was righteous, and even protected
him. In other words, in spite of John's criticism of Herod, the tetrarch's conscience
compelled him to fear and protect John, for he knew the Baptist spoke the truth.
Before we go any further in our analysis of Herod's behavior we must come to
grips with what conscience is and does. Conscience is an awareness of morality
in regard to one's behavior; a sense of right and wrong that urges one to act
morally.
Conscience is a source of moral or ethical judgment that encourages
conformity to one's own sense of right conduct.
So acknowledging that Herod saw John as righteous, in order to accommodate his
daughter's request, he had to override his conscience; he had to knowingly choose
to do the easier, more expedient wrong rather than what his conscience told him
was right.
You see, once Herod promised his daughter anything she asked, he was trapped
by his pride.
“The king was deeply grieved,” the Gospel says, “yet out of regard for his
oaths...he did not want to refuse her.” Regard for his oaths, of course, is
another way to describe his pride.
In this case, pride proves stronger than conscience as it usually does, and
as a result, John the Baptist is murdered.
In contrast to his branding of pride as the greatest sin, C.S. Lewis identified
courage as the greatest virtue.
Courage has been defined poetically, and in stark contrast to pride, this way:
“Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend to mean devices for a sordid
end. Courage great in itself, not praises of the crowd, above all vice it
stoops not to be proud.”
So the story of Herod's decision to execute John is a story of pride overcoming
conscience and of cowardice overcoming courage.
It is also a story that foreshadows another similar confrontation.
When Jesus was hauled before Pilate, Pilate knew, as did his wife, that Jesus
was innocent. Having listened to the accusations of the Jews, Pilate concluded
on two occasions, “I find no case against him.” Pilate's conscience told him that
Jesus was without guilt.
But the Jews responded that, “If you release this man you are no friend of the
emperor.”
Pride in the form of self-interest immediately entered the equation and
like Herod, Pilate allowed pride to overcome his conscience, and cowardice to
overcome courage.
Courage scorns to bend to mean devices for a sordid end. Courage...stoops
not to be proud.
Honesty and mercy that yield to danger or risk are honest and merciful only
under conducive circumstances and are, therefore, counterfeit.
Herod knew what was right: deny the request of his daughter and preserve
the life of the Baptist.
But to do what he knew to be right, to follow his conscience, he had to
risk his reputation, his self-interest. He had to swallow his pride.
He chose the easier wrong decision rather than the harder right one.
That is the lesson in this Gospel account for all of us.
Now it is unlikely that we will ever have to make a decision on which a
life depends. But it is absolutely certain that we will face choices that
will require us to listen to our consciences, to choose justice and mercy over
pride and self-interest.
May God give us all the courage to choose the harder right over the easier
wrong.
Amen.