Caving In to Pressure
Mark 6: 14-29
Lloyd J. Ogilvie, in his book “Life Without Limits”, tells the story of a pastor who in the space of one week heard the following comments from various people:
A woman said, "I'm under tremendous pressure from my son these days. I can't seem to satisfy him, however hard I try. He really puts me under pressure."
A young man said, "My parents have fantastic goals for me to take over the family business. It's not what I want to do, but their pressure is unbearable."
A young pastor at a clergy conference said, "I hardly know who I am any more. There are so many points of view in my congregation, I can't please them all. Everyone wants to capture me for his/her camp and get me to shape the church around his/her convictions. The pressure makes me want to leave the ministry."
All of these persons shared a common experience: They were being pressured by other people.
We all, at one time or another, experience people-pressure – times when we are pushed to act in a certain way. The question we have to consider is how such pressures affect our judgment?
That is the issue that King Herod faced. He made an oath to his step daughter - who had charmed him with her dance - that he would give her whatever she asked for, even half of his kingdom. After consulting with her mother, she surprised him by asking for the head of John the Baptist.
Mark 6:26 indicates that the King was thrown into distress. Herod actually liked to listen to John, he believed that he was a holy man, and he protected him (verse 20). Even if the king was offended by John’s criticism, he did not believe that it was enough to warrant his death.
In addition, Herod feared the prophet and dared not harm him. But people have a way of pressuring us to do things that we would not otherwise do.
Herod knew that what he was being asked to do was wrong, but because of his oath made to his step daughter in the presence of his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse. He did not want to lose face - he had an image to protect. So he sent the executioner and on a platter was delivered the head of a holy man.
This is a story about a man who caved in to pressure. A man for whom saving face was more important than saving another’s life. A man who was more concerned about immediate gain than eternal loss. A man who allowed pleasure to triumph over principle.
We all from time to time experience people pressure, when we are asked to deliver up that which we ought to be preserving and protecting. We may not, like Herod, be pressured to deliver anyone’s head, but we are sometimes pressured into doing things that make us lose ourselves and our way.
One such thing that we are often pressured to deliver up are the convictions upon which our faith rests and around which our lives are built.
We are often under pressure from various individuals and interest groups whose primary agenda at times seems to be to promote their own narrow interests at whatever social cost.
It is not uncommon for truth to be sacrificed in pursuit of such narrow interests, as persons are pressured, often subtly, into compromising their principles and convictions in the name of politeness, correctness or openness.
We live in a world of varying and often conflicting views and values. While we may not wish, to condemn others for the position they hold, there can be no excuse for us not standing up for our own convictions and the truth, as we understand it, even if doing so may causes offence.
When we attempt to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it can often mean that our understanding of "truth" is different from others. John the Baptist was not beheaded because he went along with the status quo. John lost his life because of his commitment to truth, as he understood it.
John must have known that what he had to say about Herod’s marriage to Herodias would have caused offence. I am also sure that because Herod was favourably disposed to John, John could have made amends by apologizing and retracting his criticism of Herod. But John had no intention of caving in to pressure. He stood by his conviction.
I think what our society needs to hear are not only those voices that seek always to sing in harmony with all else, but more of the voices like John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness, even if the note they sounds is a discordant note. For truth will never be in harmony with falsehood, and right will never be in accord with wrong.
The fact is that the truth sometimes hurt, and those who dare to uphold it often pay a high price for so doing. But in spite of all the pressures one may feel, it all comes down to a matter of choice.
For Herod, the choice was saving face, or saving John’s head. He chose to save face. The pressure to look good and powerful in the eyes of his daughter and his dinner guests was greater than the conviction he held that John’s offence did not warrant his death
The pressures of life are real, and at times they can be great, but whatever they are, and from whomever they come, we don’t have to cave in to them, for we are never without a choice nor are we ever without a champion in Jesus, who can help us to stand with and for the truth.
The more firmly we stand in Christ, the more firmly we stand against the pressures of life, for in Christ we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.