From the responsorial psalm: “See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! For the LORD hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” Lord, in your great love, answer me.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 14:1-12)
But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
In today’s Gospel, King Herod hears about the ministry and miracles of Jesus and mistakenly believes that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead. Herod had previously imprisoned and eventually beheaded John the Baptist because Herodias wanted John killed. Matthew uses this story to explain how John the Baptist was beheaded, and it highlights the consequences of Herod’s ruthlessness. At his birthday celebration, quite possibly drunk, he swore to the girl that he would give her whatever she asked. He became distressed when she asked for John’s head and by upholding pride was trapped into following through on his promise before his guests.
God, help me understand the ruinous consequences of pride, the deadly sin of refusing to let go of power, honor, or wealth. There is something more to the story of Herod that I want to call to mind and keep with me today. Herod arrested John the Baptist because he had openly criticized his unlawful marriage to Herodias, who was his brother’s wife. So deeply has sin and dysfunction distorted Herod’s reasoning, that he believed Jesus was John risen from the dead, as if he were a ghost who had come back to haunt him. Keep me in your care, Lord; guide me in your ways and keep me from sin and its deadly consequences. Lord, in your great love, hear and answer me.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.