3 For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison be-cause of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

A more pathetic soap opera has never been written than this vignette of discord in the Herodian family. The elements are typical, if not tragic: unfaithfulness, divorce, hatred, sexuality, revenge, fear, insecurity and stupidity. The importance for the gospel is in providing some detail on the death of John.

Though the specific reason for Herod arresting John is not recorded in Scripture, we are probably not far off the mark in surmising that John’s stirring up considerable messianic excitement may have had something to do with it. The rulers of Palestine were held accountable to Caesar for keeping the unruly Jews in line, a nearly impossible task given their tenacious, ancestral zeal. They were continuously on the precipice of rebellion against their overlords. Herod would have been quite nervous over John’s message, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Arresting him was expedient for quelling a potential uprising.

Additionally, the verbal and spiritual arrows of John’s denunciation against sin and calls to repent found an appropriate target in the cavalier behavior of Herod who disregarded the Jewish laws of morality. Jail did not dampen John’s prophet voice, as our story today indicates. Ironically, Herod had a certain fascination with John, as recorded in Mark 6:20, “Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man …and when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.” Yet John’s denunciation of Herod’s marital situation waxed strong.

The pathos of Herod’s household resulted in John’s grisly death. It was too late to stop the movement of Him about whom John said, “…is coming after me [who] is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals” (Matt 3:11).

Lord, help me to have the courage to root out sinfulness in my life. Any short term benefit is nullified by the long term consequences. Forgive my selfishness.