John the Baptist dies

Mark 6:14-29

Jesus had done some very powerful things. So people wanted to know who he really was. Even the king wanted to know who Jesus was.

The people had many different ideas. The Jews did not believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea that a person can be born many times. But the Jews did believe that God can make dead people alive again. And many Jews thought that this had already happened to Jesus.

King Herod was very afraid. He thought that God had made John the Baptist alive again. And so Herod believed that God was very angry with him. This was because Herod had caused John‘s death.

This Herod was a son of the king who tried to kill the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:16). Like his father, this Herod was a cruel king.

Herod had taken another man‘s wife. John said that this was against God‘s law. So Herod put John into a prison. But Herod did not want to hurt John.

Herod‘s wife was called Herodias. She was angry with John, and she wanted to kill him. But Herod would not let her.

Herodias waited until Herod‘s birthday. Herod had drunk much alcohol. And he wanted his visitors to think that he was a great king. But Herod was a fool. He made a promise to Herodias‘s daughter. He should have never made that promise.

The daughter seems even worse than her mother was. She told Herod that she wanted John‘s death. Herod should have refused. But he had made a promise. And his visitors had heard it. Herod did not want them to think that he was a fool. So he did the thing that Herodias‘s daughter wanted. He sent a soldier to kill John.