Sermon Recap
The Message of Masada
October 25, 2026
Scripture referenced
- John 17:13-19
- John 17:14-15
- 1 Peter 2:9-11
The message drew a straight line between the Jews who lived in Herod’s palace at Masada while remaining devoted to God, and the life Jesus described in John 17 when He prayed that His followers would be in the world but not of it. The preacher had just returned from Israel, where a visit to Masada sparked the central image for the night. The sermon asked one practical question: how do you live in Herod’s palace without living like Herod?
What was said
The foundation was Jesus’s high priestly prayer in John 17, read just before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked the Father not to remove His followers from the world but to keep them safe from the evil one, making them holy through His truth. The preacher walked through the grammar of the passage carefully, sorting out who “I,” “you,” and “them” referred to, so the congregation could feel the weight of what Jesus was actually asking.
From there the sermon moved into history. Masada was built by King Herod as a desert winter palace, set on top of a mesa near the Dead Sea. The preacher described it in detail: a three-tiered palace with a freshwater swimming pool, a steam room, a cold plunge, mosaic tile floors, frescoed walls, vast storehouses of preserved meat, dried fish, and hundreds of gallons of wine imported from Rome. An orchestra played nightly concerts there. The point was to fix the picture clearly: this was luxury on a scale that is hard to imagine.
Around 70 AD, when Rome was moving to crush rebellion in Jerusalem, a community of roughly a thousand devout Jews left the city and took up residence at Masada. They occupied Herod’s palace for about eight years. Archaeologists found fragments of religious scrolls, evidence of a synagogue converted from one of Herod’s meeting rooms, and the remains of ritual mikvah baths. These were people living inside extraordinary opulence while organizing their entire lives around God. They could have enjoyed Herod’s sauna and told themselves nobody was watching. They did not.
The connection to John 17 was made directly: in the same way those Jews lived in Herod’s palace but belonged to God, followers of Jesus are invited to live in this world while belonging to Jesus. The preacher turned the lens toward Jackson Hole, calling it Herod’s palace by a different name, a place of natural beauty layered with luxury, convenience, entertainment, and comfort. The question is not whether to live there but how.
The answer came from First Peter 2, which the preacher read alongside the John 17 passage. Three things emerged. First, keep reminding yourself that you belong to Jesus, not to your employer, not to Strava, not to anything else. The Jews at Masada knew who they belonged to, and that knowledge shaped how they lived inside the palace. Second, belonging to Jesus means belonging to a mission. The passage says that being God’s chosen people has a purpose: to show others the goodness of God. The preacher described coworkers and roommates as people gulping salt water, hoping it will finally satisfy, and asked whether the congregation’s lives visibly reflect the contrast of drinking from living water. Third, from verse 11, keep worldly desires in their proper place. Fly fishing, skiing, rock climbing, motorcycles, none of those things are the problem. The danger is letting the couch of the palace become the posture of the heart.
The service closed with an altar call, something the congregation had not been able to do since leaving their previous meeting space. The front of the room was opened for anyone who wanted to step forward and, as the preacher put it, do business with the Lord. He invited people to consider any area where they had grown complacent or had let the comforts of the palace take up more space than they should, and to use those last minutes to get quiet before God.
Touch points
- Pick one activity or comfort in your life that may have taken up too much space and deliberately put it in its proper place this week, owning it rather than letting it own you.
- Remind yourself each morning this week whose you are by saying out loud, or writing down, that you belong to Jesus and not to your job, your social media, or anyone else’s expectations.
- Think of one person in your daily orbit, a coworker, a classmate, or a roommate, who is still drinking salt water, and look for one natural moment this week to let your life point them toward something better.
- If you felt the nudge to come forward during the altar call but held back, find a quiet moment this week to do that same business with the Lord, just you and Him, wherever you are.
- Fill out a connect card at the next gathering, or submit a prayer request, and let the church community walk alongside whatever the Holy Spirit put on your heart during the service.
Doing a Bible study?
- The preacher described the Jewish community at Masada as people who knew exactly who they belonged to, and that knowledge shaped how they lived even in the middle of Herod’s palace. What does it actually look like, day to day, to live as though you belong to Jesus rather than to your job, your social circle, or your own plans?
- Jesus prays in John 17 that his followers would not be taken out of the world but kept safe in it. Where do you feel the tension between staying engaged with the world around you and being pulled toward living like Herod?
- The preacher used the image of people around us gulping salt water, hoping it will quench their thirst. Without naming anyone, can you think of a moment when someone noticed something different about you because of your faith, or a moment when you wish they had?
- Three markers were offered for how to live in Herod’s palace without living like Herod: belonging to Jesus, belonging on mission, and keeping worldly desires in their proper place. Which of those three feels most difficult for you right now, and why?
- The preacher asked everyone to raise a hand if there was an area of life where they had been living like Herod, then said every hand should go up. Is there a specific area where you have noticed yourself getting comfortable on Herod’s couch, and what would it look like to step off it this week?
Resumen en español
El mensaje partió de un momento vivido durante un viaje reciente a Israel. La imagen central fue Masada, la fortaleza-palacio que el rey Herodes construyó en el desierto junto al Mar Muerto. Lo que llamó la atención fue que, siglos después de Herodes, una comunidad de aproximadamente mil judíos devotos vivió en ese mismo palacio durante años, manteniendo sus rituales, construyendo una sinagoga y preservando textos sagrados, todo en medio de la opulencia que Herodes había dejado atrás. Ellos habitaban el palacio de Herodes, pero no vivían como Herodes.
Esa imagen se conectó con las palabras de Jesús en Juan 17, donde pide al Padre no que saque a sus seguidores del mundo, sino que los guarde en él. El mensaje fue directo: vivimos en el “palacio de Herodes”, rodeados de lujo, belleza natural y comodidad, especialmente en un lugar como Jackson Hole. La pregunta no es si podemos disfrutar esas cosas, sino si las poseemos o si ellas nos poseen. Se propusieron tres anclas para no caer en la trampa de vivir como Herodes: recordar continuamente que pertenecemos a Jesús, recordar que vivimos con un propósito y en misión hacia quienes nos rodean, y mantener los deseos del mundo en su lugar correcto, sin dejar que nos gobiernen.
El tiempo de reunión cerró con una invitación abierta a pasar al frente para orar y “hacer negocios con el Señor”, como se expresó, reconociendo que todos, en alguna medida, hemos cedido a la comodidad del palacio. La pregunta no fue de condenación sino de honestidad: ¿hay un área de tu vida donde has estado recostado en el sofá de Herodes?
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Pasajes bíblicos utilizados
- Juan 17:13-19
- Juan 17:14-15
- 1 Pedro 2:9-11
Topics
Belonging To God In The World Not Of It Living On Mission Masada Worldly Temptation