After John Had Been Arrested…

After John Had Been Arrested
On this 3rd Ordinary Sunday, in the Gospel of Mark, we hear that:

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
–Mark 1:14-20

Four chapters later in his gospel, not proclaimed at this Mass, Mark continued the news about the arrest of John:

Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee.

Herodias’s own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore [many things] to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.”

She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her.  So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
(Mark 6: 17-28)
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Herod the Great ordered mass infanticide in his attempt to kill the newborn Jesus. His son Herod continued the family tradition and married his own sister-in-law. If that corruption of marriage was not enough, he also evidently lusted after his own niece. When John the Baptist reminded him of his sin, Herod had him arrested so that he could no longer preach. Though urged by Herodias to kill the Baptist, he would not, preferring him to be silenced, impotent, but safely alive to sooth his own conscience and, perhaps, not to anger the populace.

We live, once again, in a time of the massacre of innocents, when marriage is mocked, families dismembered, and children sexualized.

The Church stands in this desert as a witness of this sin, and the world cannot bear its own shame. Confronted, governments seek to bind their accuser, to silence her, to render her infertile. “Stay in your fantasies,” they say. “Don’t tell us what to do.” “Hide in the dark, and you will be safe.”

Yet, Herod still prowls about his throne. Herodias watches from the shadows. And the girl has yet to dance.

Monday, January 22, 2024, is the Day of Prayer for the
Legal Protection of Unborn Children.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.