Mark 6v14

And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

From this verse, where Herod is discussing Jesus, we can see that there was a clear expectation that baptism, resurrection, and mighty works would all be linked together. Herod could not see past John the Baptist, due to his feeling of being guilty of sin – firstly marrying his sister-in-law, and then compounding it by having John the Baptist beheaded. Because of his blindness, Herod could not see that Jesus was more than just a prophet in the mould of John the Baptist, but was the promised Messiah.

A few short verses after this one, we find that Herod’s relationship with John was that of possibly most-trusted advisor – Herod gladly met with John on many occasions, knew him as a just and holy man, feared him, and followed his advice (v20). No doubt John would have had many opportunities to mention resurrection, and you can easily imagine Herod asking him to put this into the context of John’s own death. From there it is only a small leap to see Herod expecting that perhaps John the Baptist would come back to ‘haunt’ him from the grave. Perhaps John, being the prophet that he was, had also foretold some of the mighty works of Jesus beforehand to Herod. No matter what the thinking of Herod’s mind, the fact remains that he had tried to classify Jesus according to his previous experiences, rather than see Him for who He is – totally unique in the experience of not just Herod, but every person that has ever lived.