Feasting on power

In the end, Mark's story is about Jesus.  A good author could probably explain the reason this story about John the Baptist is so effective in unveiling Jesus' real identity, however it is good to remember that in the end, this is a story about Jesus.

And power.

Even with all his great power, Herod couldn’t silence the preacher named John who was not afraid to speak out against wrong. Herod knew that John was right, and he feared him as a holy and righteous man, but John was a problem.  First, Herod had him imprisoned.  Next, Herod served John up on a platter. In the end, Herod's own (infrequently used) conscience told him he was wrong, on all counts.  Herod's feast led to him feasting on his own evil and ego.

That is how power deals with uncomfortable or inconvenient truth.  It squashes the opposition, jails the journalists, martyrs the activists, and insists on its own (alternate) reality.  Or it grounds the teenager, turns a deaf ear to the spouse, fires the employee, labels the woman, shoots the black man.

Meanwhile, Jesus was feeding people on bread and the Word of God.  There was no power to equal the power of Jesus, the man teaching and healing in the streets and breaking bread on the hillside.  In a short time, Jesus would be on the top of another hillside feeding the world on his own body and blood.

Herod was feasting on power.  Herod would never be satisfied.  

Jesus feasted on love and had twelve baskets of leftovers.   That's who Jesus is.

Mark 6.14-29