What do you do with a guilty conscience?

“He Has Been Raised from the Dead”

(Matthew 14:1-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, October 21, 2007)

Matthew 14:1-12 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, ² and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." ³ For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, ⁴ because John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." ⁵ And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. ⁶ But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, ⁷ so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter." ⁹ And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. ¹⁰ He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Introduction – A disturbing fear

Shakespeare wrote a play that in part was about a very powerful and ambitious woman who was involved with her husband in the murder of a man. The woman’s conscience troubled her horribly after the man had been murdered and she began to experience strange things. She believed that the physical stains of the man’s blood were permanently on her hands. It can be very difficult to live with a troubled conscience. Most importantly, you need to pay attention to your conscience before you stop feeling it anymore. I gather that Herod still felt his conscience, and that was why when he heard about the miracles of Jesus that He came to the strange conclusion that the man performing these signs must be John the Baptist, who was killed on Herod’s orders, now come back from the dead with tremendous powers. Herod had a disturbing fear. It was a fear that came from a guilty conscience.

This is John the Baptist (1-2)

The news of Jesus was spreading everywhere throughout Judea and Galilee. We are told that Herod heard of the fame of Jesus. Most likely it was the miracles which made Jesus so famous. Who was this man? That was Herod’s question. Before we examine the answer he was considering, what do we know about Herod? There is more than one Herod in the Bible. The one who tried to kill Jesus as a baby was the father of the man in this passage, and was known as Herod the Great. His line is complicated because of multiple marriages and the frequent intermarriage of his descendants. The Herod in today’s passage is Herod Antipas, a man who ruled in Galilee for over forty years. It was this same man who was involved in the events at the close of Jesus’ life together with Pontius Pilate.

Before examining his controversy with John the Baptist, consider what Herod Antipas apparently believed when he feared that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. He believed in life after death, that man had a spiritual component beyond his physical body, and that at least in the case of John the Baptist, this spirit did not die with his body. Herod believed that there was a place of power that a spirit could go after death, and that from the strength of that place a person could be raised in some sense, and could use new powers for various things on earth.

None of these things can be taken for granted. By that I mean that a person can believe other things or nothing at all on these matters. For example, a person can believe what many Jews in high places believed at the time, that there are no spirits, no good place of power, and no possibility of any benefit on earth from one who has no more physical life here. According to these verses, Herod has these other beliefs that were much more supernatural, and his specific beliefs were connected to his fear of a man he had beheaded.

John’s Message to Herod (3-5)

What exactly was the trouble between Herod and John the Baptist? Herod had married the wife of his half-brother Philip. Apparently during a visit to Rome he had made a connection with this woman, Herodias, who was apparently also his niece. Both of them determined to bring about this new union, which they did. Obviously these were momentous events among very public people, so everyone knew about these things at the time. John the Baptist openly spoke against this relationship, claiming that it was a violation of Old Testament Law. At a minimum this relationship was a violation of Leviticus 18:16, which prohibited an intimate relationship with the wife of your living brother. While the people believed that John was a prophet, and in some sense Herod had to agree with them as his guilty conscience betrays, yet it was Herod’s desire to kill John.

The Events of Herod’s Birthday (6-11)

Herod feared the reaction of the people, but it was Herodias who seems to have laid the subtle trap. Here is a woman with an evil plan; or at least someone who has an eye for an evil opportunity – the murder of the one who brought the message of the Lord and who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah. This death also comes through a king’s foolish oath, and a daughter’s horrible request. What kind of anger insists on this particular plan of brutality? It is a vicious wrath against the messenger of God – the power of an inner conviction of sin attempting to get rid of the ugly clamor of a diseased heart by adding more disease. That will not work. Adding sin to sin does not take away sin. The conviction of sin may still remain after the messenger is murdered.

What the disciples did… Is that all there is to say? (12)

The disciples of John faced a horrible loss. What could they do? Verse 12 tells us. They did what they could. They showed respect for the body of John, compared to the horrible disrespect of beheading. They buried his body, and then they went to Jesus Christ – the person that John pointed to as the One who was greater than Him. They buried John, because like Herod they believed in the resurrection of the dead. And then they told Jesus.

What now? What can anyone think, say, or do in response to something like this? There has been, is now, and shall be much horrible brutality, sadness, and horrific disappointment in this world. When I think of things I have experienced or heard about concerning friends and acquaintances just over the last year I am sad. And these things are not the worst of it. What happened to John the Baptist was really unthinkable. But it was not hell. What happened to Jesus was hell. That was the worst of it. He took that hell on the cross so that you and I don’t have to.

That does not change the fact of the pain of this loss. Where is the hope? Where do you go when they have beheaded the best prophet that the Old Testament era could offer? Who will you tell about this? You go to Jesus, and you wait to see what His answer will be, when it seems that there is no answer. There is an answer in the cross if you will give that answer the position of honor in your heart that it deserves.

Is there any answer for the guilty conscience? Is the conscience a part of the body or the soul? How can you face God and not have a guilty conscience? Is the cross and the resurrection of the Son of God enough of an answer for you. Many people seem to decide that Jesus is not enough of an answer for them. Let me approach this from the standpoint of other possible answers – other answers than the cross for a guilty conscience.

Is there any other answer that you are aware of that is at all satisfying? First, let me say that I am aware of no other religious system out there that has any intellectually satisfying solution to the question of guilt, and we know that we do have a problem. It will do no good to tell Lady Macbeth that what she did was understandable, and that no one can say what is right or wrong. Her conscience is telling here the plain fact. She helped to murder a man in cold blood. What I want to explore with you is not some other religious system that works for a guilty conscience. I am aware of none that make any sense on this matter. What other possibilities exist for taking care of our conscience problem? Let me suggest three thoughts that seem to me to be common.

Other possibilities:

1. “There simply is nothing else but your body. There is no soul and there is no God.”

Yet if this is the case, where did the world come from? How could it be that there is no cause of all that your eyes see? Concerning the existence of the soul after bodily death, if there is no spiritual life, what did Peter see on the mount of transfiguration? (Read Matthew 17:1-8 and 2 Peter 1:16-18)

2. “God is going to accept everyone based on the goodness of Jesus.”

But what is your basis for this? What you are suggesting is not the message of Jesus or of the Bible more generally. Could it be that you are just engaging in wishful thinking that would excuse your guilty conscience without having to face any serious changes in your life?

3. “I don’t know. I don’t care. It probably doesn’t make a difference.”

This is the amusing-ourselves-to-death solution. Some people deal with their checkbook this way. Some deal with home repairs this way. Some deal with their kids this way. Some deal with their careers this way. Please do not treat your guilty conscience this way. It sounds kind of funny and easy-going until some day someone sins deeps against you, and treats it as nothing. Then you know full well that the “I don’t know. I don’t care. It probably doesn’t make a difference.” approach is just irresponsible and wrong.

There is something to Lady Macbeth’s bloody hands. There is something to Herod’s fear. There is something to Herodias’ guilt. There is something to her daughter’s complicity in murder. There is guilt, and it does not just go away by evaporation over time, or by pretending that it does not exist. Guilt requires an answer. It is a problem that demands a solution. There is a real answer. The answer is Christ. Do you want the real answer?

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What have we seen so far in Matthew’s gospel that led to the “fame” of Jesus?

2. Evaluate Herod’s involvement in the death of John the Baptist.

3. Consider and discuss the actions of John’s disciples in response to his murder based on verse 12.

4. What is the conscience, and how do people try to deal with a guilty conscience, outside of trust in Christ?