Tragedy Strikes, Compassion Remains

In one paragraph

This message walked through a dark and often overlooked piece of the gospel narrative: the death of John the Baptist and what came just after it. Pastor Carl traced the story through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John together, letting the full picture come into view. The sermon sat honestly with tragedy, with the grief Jesus himself carried, and with what it means to keep doing what God has called you...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 13 covered the previous week at the fair, the love chapter
2. Matthew 14 one of the parallel gospel accounts used for the main sermon passage
3. Mark 6 one of the parallel gospel accounts used for the main sermon passage
4. Luke 9 one of the parallel gospel accounts used for the main sermon passage
5. John 6 three additional verses added to the parallel accounts, setting up the feeding of the five thousand
6. Acts 12 the account of Herod Agrippa the first being struck by an angel and eaten by worms
7. Leviticus 20 quoted to show that marrying a brother's wife is an act of impurity and dishonor
8. Leviticus 18 referenced as forbidding relations with a brother's wife

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl talked about John the Baptist speaking truth to power, telling Herod repeatedly that his marriage to Herodias was unlawful, even knowing it could cost him his life. When has telling the truth about something cost you something, and how did you handle it?
2. Herod enjoyed listening to John preach until John's message hit too close to home. Can you think of a time when you found yourself enjoying or agreeing with a message right up until it challenged something you actually wanted to do?
3. When Jesus heard the news of John's death, he withdrew by boat to a secluded place to be alone with God. What does that tell us about how Jesus handled grief, and what does it look like for you to do something similar when hard news hits?
4. Pastor Carl pointed out that John the Baptist was doing exactly what God called him to do and still ended up imprisoned and beheaded, while Herod was living in open sin and seemed to prosper. How do you hold on to faith when you see that kind of gap between faithfulness and earthly outcome?
5. Even in the middle of his retreat, surrounded by grief over John, Jesus saw the crowd and felt compassion for them and kept on healing and teaching. Where in your own life right now is God asking you to keep showing up for others even when you are carrying something heavy yourself?