GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 3:19-20
19 But after John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things he had done—20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
Luke doesn’t tell us what this sin was with his brother’s wife, but we know from other sources that Herodias was married to Herod’s half-brother. Herod divorced his wife to marry his sister-in-law. Luke also adds that Herod was involved in other “evil things,” but they aren’t recorded. The one that topped them all was the imprisonment of John. This didn’t happen immediately; John continued to preach and baptize during the early part of Jesus’ ministry (John 3:23-30). Luke is simply bringing the “John Account” to a close before introducing Jesus.
John was faithful in his ministry, even though it cost him his freedom and eventually his life. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that Herod’s sins and adultery were repulsive to the Jews, but it was John who rebuked him for his sin. In fact, Luke uses a participle instead of a typical verb, showing that this was something John did again and again, whenever he got the opportunity. Perhaps Herod and Herodias were sometimes part of the throng going out to hear John preaching, and John did not hold back when they came.
John was the only Christian preacher in the world at this moment. How simple a thing it would have been for him to say, “I need to be careful. I can’t upset the Tetrarch too much, or he may silence me, and then who will point to the Messiah? There is no one else besides me.” That wasn’t how John thought at all. He proclaimed the truth, even when it meant the end of his ministry. Instead of thinking, “There is no one else besides me,” John confessed, “Whom have I in heaven but you? Earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).
How easy it is for us to say nothing at all when yet another sin erupts in our families or among our friends. If you are too timid to point an accusing finger, you can still speak the truth in love. “I believe the Bible when it says that murder is a sin, that adultery is a sin, and that gossiping is a sin. I also believe that we have forgiveness in Jesus.”
Pray for strength to speak; to tell the truth. Pray for courage and for the right words. Jesus assures us, “Say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). Stands firm! You have the truth, and like John, God places us where he needs us to share the truth—with our families, with our friends, and sometimes even with sinning tetrarchs.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota