Word to the Wise
Saturday, August 5, 2017 - Saturday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Lev 25:1, 8-17 and Matt 14:1-12]"Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." [Matthew]
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2017 SATURDAY IN THE SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
[Leviticus 25:1, 8-17 and Matthew 14:1-12]
"Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." [Matthew]
The story of the death of John the Baptist is the stuff of drama and Grade B movies. The opera by Strauss, Salome, has a grisly moment when Salome (the name tradition gives to the dancing girl) appears with the head of John the Baptist on a platter, just like the story says! John the Baptist had made the "mistake" of publicly criticizing Herod for supposedly marrying his sister-in-law. This landed John in jail. Of course, the lady in question was not pleased about this and wanted further revenge. Her daughter became the tool for that vengeance.
If only this kind of thing was just a story from the past! It is a story all too common in our own day when people in power are threatened by prophetic voices. Herod has only to give an order and John the Baptist is beheaded! We might remember how two of Jesus' disciples wanted special places in his "kingdom." The models of rulers that they knew were characters like Herod! This scenario is played out wherever entrenched power, whether it be political or ecclesiastic, feels it must show its power, as Jesus pointed out to those disciples. "Court intrigue" in any organization, whether it be a government, educational, church-related, or even a local club, is corrosive and dangerous because of the insidious nature of power and its attraction.
Prophetic protest against abuse of power is also dangerous. When people keep silent for fear of what happened to John the Baptist (or some version of the same scene), the abuse continues. We don't have to look far to see some of this happening in our own country. All power comes from God, as St. Paul reminds us (Rom 13:1-3) and there will be divine reckoning. But we too share in the responsibility to challenge the abuse by speaking out. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
90 ms
4
