GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:27
Passing the Buck
Historians claim that on the frontier, when people played poker, they used a marker, often a knife with a buckhorn handle, called a “buck,” to identify the dealer. When the next player became the dealer, he passed the knife, “the buck,” to him. If a player did not wish to deal, he passed the knife, “the buck,” to the next player. In common parlance, the term began to appear with the meaning of “shifting” responsibility or blame to someone else. “Pass the buck” no longer referred to only poker, but to anyone who dodged responsibility.
An early example of “passing the buck” was Adam, who said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Gen. 3:12) More recently, President Richard Nixon blamed subordinates, insisting that he wasn’t involved in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee in 1972. When the Enron Corporation collapsed in 2001, financially ruining many investors, corporate executives “passed the buck” to lower-level employees or accounting firms. In 2018, Cambridge Analytica illegally used millions of Facebook users’ data to influence elections. Facebook “passed the buck” to third-party developers; the developers “passed the buck” back to Facebook’s weak data policies.
Refreshingly, President Harry Truman had a plaque on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that read, “The Buck Stops Here.”
Another infamous example of “passing the buck” was Herod Antipas’ murder of John the Baptist. According to Mark, Herod gave a banquet for his military leaders and supporters, at which his stepdaughter performed a dance. Pleased by her provocative display, Herod promised to give her anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. The girl, whom historians call Salome, conferred with her mother, who advised her to ask for the head of her hated critic, John the Baptist. The girl made the request, and though Herod seems to have admired John, he did not want to refuse the girl and go back on his promise before his guests. “And immediately, the king commanded an executioner to bring his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison.” (Mark 6:27) Herod “passed the buck” to an anonymous soldier, who performed the terrible injustice. The soldier’s name is lost, but Herod was stained forever stained with the blood of John the Baptist.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:12; see also 2 Cor. 5:10) Hmm, it appears there will be no “passing the buck” there.
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