GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:20
Come Up Higher
In his autobiography, “The Confessions,” St. Augustine described his relationship with Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. As a young, upstart teacher with his own academy in Milan, Augustine heard about the bishop’s sermons and went to hear him preach. As a teacher of rhetoric, Augustine was interested in watching the technique Ambrose displayed in his preaching.
Augustine moved to Milan in 383 A.D. when he was 29 years old. He lived with his concubine (whom he never named), his son, Adeodatus, and his friend Alypius. He went to observe Bishop Ambrose’s rhetorical style, but the bishop’s messages reached not only Augustine’s head but also his heart. Through the gentle leadership of the bishop, Augustine became a committed believer, sending his concubine to a nunnery and vowing to live in service to God the Father.
Herod Antipas seduced his half-brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, in Rome and persuaded her to move to Palestine with him. This was a scandal to the Jews, especially since Herod belonged to the sect of the Sadducees. John the Baptist told the tetrarch that the union was not lawful; whereupon Herodias built up a great resentment against the preacher and wanted to kill him. However, she was not able to harm John. “For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, he guarded him. And when he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he listened to him gladly.” (Mark 6:20)
Unlike St. Augustine’s relationship with Bishop Ambrose, Herod never acted on John’s message. From Mark’s and the other gospel writers’ narratives, it seems that Herod and John met several times, and although John’s preaching troubled Herod, the tetrarch never changed his behavior. There are many voices, like those of Ambrose and John, calling, “Come up higher.” Augustine and Herod represent two different responses to those voices.
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