Who was the Girl who Danced?

So here's Jesus, sending his friends out to preach, wandering the countryside--maybe not alone, but without so many beside him. And there's John, in jail. And there's the "evil king" and the "conspiring queen," together with the "innocent daughter"... We know the story don't we? And her name? Who was the girl who danced?

But, just maybe, some of the things we know aren't so sure. Maybe some of the details we remember aren't so relevant, and some of the assumptions we make aren't so helpful... in the present as well as in history.

This week, our Bible study group's going to read the Biblical story of the death of John the Baptist. Join us!

(40) Paying the Ultimate Price

Mark—“nothing but the facts”—recounts John’s death straight after the sending out of the twelve. With Luke, he adds the rumors of Jesus being “the resurrected John” (fitting, if John has just died). But Matthew inserts the story of John asking if Jesus is “the one” here (we studied this earlier), and recounts John’s death in a flashback later. In our chronology, Jesus will hear of John’s death after the 12 have been preaching (and news-gathering?) on his behalf. So…

John has probably been in jail for around a year (see last week’s chronology). Before reading the Bible accounts of his execution, how do you remember the story? What names do you connect with the death of John? What atmosphere?

Read Matthew14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29, Luke 3:19-20, 9:7-9

1.       Did you read all the names you expected to find? (Josephus says Herod Philip married Herodias’ daughter Salome, so her name in movies is historical but not Biblical, as are her seven veils.) Why do we remember irrelevant details? Might this relate to why people thought Jesus could be John?

2.       Government wasn’t particularly moral in those days and times, so why would Herod have felt compelled to arrest John? What kind of thing worries immoral leaders today?

3.       Read Matthew 14:1, Mark 6:14. Historians say Herod Antipas wasn’t actually a king. He wasn’t even a particularly successful tetrarch. His first wife’s family, the Nabateans, took offence when Herod divorced her; they invaded Galilee sometime later. The Romans intervened and saved the region, but Galileans believed the attack was God’s punishment on Herod for killing John. Do we ever imagine world events are God’s judgement, without necessarily waiting for God to tell us? Was AIDS God’s judgement (on whom)? Was 9/11?

4.       Herodias’ brother Agrippa was appointed king of Gaulantis in AD37. Herodias persuaded Herod to ask to be made king, and the Roman emperor banished him to Gaul. So Mark may have been being ironic in verse 14. In any case, this “king” Herod is not Herod the Great who killed the boys in Bethlehem. But he is the Herod who wanted Jesus to perform a miracle in Jerusalem before his death. Does this story give us any sense why Herod might expect miracles? How is our expecting miracles different?

5.       King Herod Agrippa is the one who was “eaten by worms” in Acts 12. Does reading about the messed up politics of Jesus’ time (and the time of the apostles) make you feel better or worse about the present day?

Read Matthew 14:3-4, Mark 6:17-18 Why was John in jail?

1.       Why wasn’t Jesus in jail?

2.       How many years do you think John preached? And how huge was his following—bigger/smaller than Jesus’?

3.       Read Matthew 14:5. Do you think Jesus never spoke out against the government’s immorality, spoke more carefully, or just hadn’t got a big enough following yet to be a threat?

Read Mark 6:2, Matthew 14:5 How did Herod feel about John? Does this change you view of what John’s imprisonment was like?

Read Mark 6:21-23, Matthew 14:6-7 Given they’re under Roman rule, could Herod give her half the kingdom, or might it be just an expression? Should he have been more careful how he expressed himself? When should we be more careful?

Read Mark 6:24-27, Matthew 14:8-10 Do you suppose the “head on a platter” is just an expression too? What image do you get of Herodias? Does it fit the historical information above? Does history help us read the Bible?

Read Mark 6:27-29, Matthew 14:11-12 Which disciples buried the body? Why couldn’t the disciples just bury Jesus’ body privately later?

Read Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:30, Luke 9:9-10 Why did Jesus go to a quiet place? When you recalled John’s death, did you connect it with the feeding of the 5,000 (which happens in this quiet place in next week’s study)?