Mark 6 - Mission of The Twelve and The Death of John The Baptist

Mission of The Twelve and The Death of John The Baptist

Jesus sends the Twelve (the Twelve Apostles) out to the various towns, in pairs, to heal the sick and drive out demons. They are only to take their staffs and that if any town rejects them "...shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." (11) which is "...a gesture both of contempt and of warning."

Mark then tells of the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod Antipas. Herod is married to his wife Herodias, former wife of his brother Herod Philip I. John condemns Herod so Herod incarcerates John. Herodias seeks revenge on John during a birthday party for Herod. Her daughter dances for Herod and persuades Herod to kill John. John's disciples take his body and put it in a tomb. This is also found in Matthew 14:1-12. The year in which John died is unknown. Josephus has Herod killing John to quell a possible uprising around AD 36. Herod Philip died in 34 and Herod Antipas died sometime after 40 after being exiled to either Gaul or Spain.

Read more about this topic:  Mark 6

Famous quotes containing the words mission of, mission, twelve, death, john and/or baptist:

    It is the mission of the twentieth century to elucidate the irrational.
    Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907–1961)

    I cannot be a materialist—but Oh, how is it possible that a God who speaks to all hearts can let Belgravia go laughing to a vicious luxury, and Whitechapel cursing to a filthy debauchery—such suffering, such dreadful suffering—and shall the short years of Christ’s mission atone for it all?
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    The twelve Cells for Incorrigibles ... are also carved out of the solid rock hill. On the walls of one of the cells human “liberty” is clearly inscribed, with the “liberty” in significant quotation marks.
    —Administration in the State of Ariz, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    To die, to sleep—
    No more, and by a sleep to say we end
    The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
    That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
    Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.
    To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
    For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
    When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
    Must give us pause.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
    —Bible: New Testament St. John the Divine, in Revelation, 2:10.

    You should approach Joyce’s Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith.
    William Faulkner (1897–1962)