GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:26
Peer Pressure
Of all the forces acting on an individual, peer pressure is probably one of the most powerful. It squeezes the individual to fit into the “mold,” to be like everyone else. Customers line up for hours, sometimes days, before its release to purchase the latest edition of the iPhone, not because their phone doesn’t work anymore, but because it is out of date—all peers have the latest edition. Among the TikTok generation, there’s the current trend to join in the dance challenge—filming themselves performing short, trendy dance routines they then post on TikTok.
Among adults, peer pressure is often stronger and more subtle than it is among younger people. One advertisement even suggested that if someone didn’t have the latest model refrigerator, they were “out of date.” Recently, there was the felt need to have an “air fryer,” if one wanted to be current. Presently, if one has a bathroom that is “out of date,” they are not with the “HGTV syndrome.”
Mark described a classic, tragic example of “peer pressure”: Herod Antipas hosted a birthday banquet for himself in his palace in Machaerus, a fortified hilltop fortress located east of the Dead Sea. He invited his leading military leaders and political supporters. As a host, he likely supplied abundant wine. During the banquet, Herod’s stepdaughter danced for the revelers, and Herod was so pleased by her performance that he promised her over and over that she could have anything she might want, even up to half of his kingdom. Conspiring with her vengeful mother, the girl told the tetrarch that she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter. “And although being very sad, the king, because of his oaths and those reclining with him, did not want to refuse her.” (Mark 6:26)
It appears that Herod, likely inebriated, made repeated oaths to the girl. Her request for John’s head on a platter, however, saddened him because he seemed to have liked John and knew him to be a righteous and honorable man. He was the governor, of course, so he could have refused such a hideous request. His military leaders and prominent supporters, however, heard his repeated oaths. If he refused her request, he would appear to be weak and vacillating. They might jeer at him, laugh at him, and see him as weak; so peer pressure goaded him into committing a sickening deed—the murder of an innocent man.
Avoiding Herod-like submission to peer pressure requires knowing one’s own values, being clear about what one truly cares about and believes, and having a clear set of presuppositions. One has to be able to politely but firmly set boundaries, draw the line, and say “no.” Reacting immediately to a suggestion may be an example of submitting to peer expectations, so pause and ask, “Do I really want this?” And, of course, one can always find like-minded associates, those whose values he honors and shares.
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