Peer Pressure - Part 2

In part 1, we talked about how Herod was pressured by his wife to imprison John the Baptist because she didn't like what John had to say about her. The peer pressure keeps on coming in the second part of this story.

Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!” She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!” So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”

Mark 6:21-25

If your dad was one of the richest, most powerful men in America and he told you that he would give you anything you wanted in the world, up to half of everything owned, what would you ask for? Justin Bieber tickets, sure. A Twilight poster signed by the full cast, absolutely. But in our second demonstration of peer pressure we find a request more gruesome and terrifying than both of those.

Herodias asked for John’s head
Herodias' (the daughter - weird) could have had anything she wanted. She could have had a pony. She could have had Taylor Lautner escort her to that Justin Bieber concert where the three of them could sit backstage and play Uno. Think of how much money she could have had if she'd asked for half of all her father had. But what happened? She asked her mom what she should do, and her mom pressured her into asking for a guy’s severed head.

Girls, seriously, for one moment I want you to contemplate that. You could have a diamond studded platinum necklace. You could be driving around in a new lexus. You could go to Disneyworld every month, but instead you have a hairy, bloody, stinky decapitated head on a silver platter. And why? Because, Herodias' mom wanted something for herself, and she put pressure on Herodias to get it. And that’s another important thing to remember – peer pressure is never for the good of the person being pressured, it is about getting the pressurer something that they want.

I used to be in a band that would travel around playing shows. At every show there would always be a group of guys there to help set-up and tear-down. Having just spent hours trapped in a van with three other guys, we were always very ready to hang out with some new people and do something exciting. The excitement we found was often in something called "The Chocolate Milk Challenge."

We would basically challenge one of the stage crew guys to the semi-impossible task of drinking a gallon of chocolate milk in an hour or less and then holding it down without throwing up for another hour. What ensued was at least an hour of laughter as we watched this fella's face turn from excited to sick to puking. Needless to say, we entertained ourselves often by getting people to throw up (yes, we did the challenge amongst ourselves too).

I tell you this not to make me or my band look like a bunch of jerks, which we kind of were, but to illustrate this fact about peer pressure: Nothing made us laugh harder than watching someone throw up a gallon of chocolate milk, and that's why we would get someone to accept the challenge. Not because we wanted to see them beat it, but because it would be a great story to tell. Peer pressure is about getting the pressurer something that they want. Nothing else.

Peer Pressure - Part 1

I challenge anyone to tell me that peer pressure is not a force at work in our lives at any and every age. I guarantee you that your grandpa feels pressure to pull his pants up just a little bit higher when he's around other grandpas with high pants. There's a crazy story in the Bible that is just chock full of the negative consequences of peer pressure. In Mark 6:17-28 is the story of a Jewish ruler named Herod.

Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.

Mark 6:17-20

Herod was put in place as the ruler over a large part of ancient Israel by the Roman government right around the time that B.C. became A.D. Herod had married Herodias, who was formerly his brother's wife. This was somewhat scandalous at the time because Herod's brother was still alive, and it's not totally kosher to romance your sister-in-law away from her husband to marry her yourself. John the Baptist made a lot of noise about how this was wrong, which made a lot of waves in Herod's house. Which leads to our first bit of peer pressure in this story:

Herod imprisoned John
The Bible says that Herod liked John and enjoyed talking to him, even though John criticized him for marrying his brother’s wife, but he arrested John and had him imprisoned because of pressure from his wife. Herodias, Herod's wife (Herod and Herodias...it's like a couple named Terry and Terri) was very put out by the constant criticism of her marriage and took matters into her own hands. Either Herod was a big sissy or his wife was a hugely annoying nag, maybe a combination of the two, but Herod bent to the pressure from his wife and did something that he knew was wrong. He threw John into prison. And that’s an important thing to remember – peer pressure almost always wants you to do something you know you shouldn’t do, and the people who are pressuring you know that you don’t want to do it but are pressuring you anyway.