Matthew Costner

I wanted to try and come up with some clever way of introducing this next section in Mark, but I can’t. I am really shocked at what I read, and seriously had to pull up Mark 1:14, 15 on the internet and see if other translations were reading the same way. I am at a little coffee shop this morning called Fido and only brought one of several Bibles I typically have beside me when I am reading Scripture. I know I said I have a hard time reading Scripture, and I do, but when I read it, I like to read it in a bunch of different versions to see if somebody is trying to pull a fast one on me and get me to believe something that isn’t true.

Well, unfortunately John, the one who baptized Jesus, is put into prison while Jesus goes off to Galilee and begins preaching the good news of God. Now, I don’t know about you, but this kind of bothers me. I want Jesus to turn around and go get John out of jail or something. I can’t believe that Jesus kind of blew his friend off and then skipped town. This just doesn’t seem right. I wonder if John in this moment thought, why me God? Why would you use me for such a great occasion, and then have me caught and arrested? I wonder if he thought his ministry was finished when the guards shackled him.

To make matters worse, in Matthew 14:6-8 John later is beheaded because some young girl named Salome delighted Antipas so much with a dance that he vowed to grant her any wish to which she demanded the head of John the Baptist. This is a tough pill for me to swallow (although every pill is tough for me to swallow). I seriously want John to come out ahead on this deal (no pun intended), but as soon as Jesus leaves, John is killed.

Now, how can we find comfort in any of this or what can we make of it? I don’t know how comforting it is, but I believe that this lets me know in a weird sort of way that God has a plan for each of us and we will be here on this earth till we fulfill it. What an honor and joy it would have been to baptize Jesus! The truth for us all, is that just as special as that was for John to do, there is something just as special for each of us to do.

None of us know what that “something special” is and none of us know when we will be finished on this earth. But here’s the thing, back in that same section of Matthew 14, John sent word asking Jesus if he was the Messiah to which Jesus sent word back that He was. So in my mind John died a content man. The Messiah, the Savior, had come, what and who did he have to fear. The same is true for us today. God is here; the Savior has come, and will come again to get us.

As we go this week let us go boldly knowing that we are here for a purpose, and when we fulfill that purpose we will get to be with our Heavenly Father forever. I don’t know about you all but this encourages me. I am glad that God has put me on this earth for something unique and won’t let me stop till I fulfill it!