Avoiding disaster
The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison (Mt 14:9–10).
A maximum security prison was an unusual place for a reunion between two bible college students. John was passionate and talented as a student, and it seemed that a bright future in ministry was ahead of him, but now he was beginning a lengthy sentence. After graduation, he’d made some terrible choices, blundered into a serious crime, and now was paying the price. Hand shaking, tears flowing, he sobbed, ‘I just wish I could go back and reverse those ridiculous decisions. I’ve ruined everything’.
John the Baptist was unflinching in his condemnation of Herod, who had taken his brother’s wife, and now, apparently, had an eye on his daughter-in-law. Probably fuelled by too much wine and not wanting to lose face, Herod gave the order for the Baptist to be killed. John’s execution was the fruit of his new wife’s manipulation, and so the prophetic irritation was silenced, but Herod was to pay a high price for his adultery. His former wife’s father, outraged at Herod’s rejection of his daughter, inflicted a heavy military defeat on Herod. This was disastrous both militarily and politically, because the people viewed Herod’s defeat as judgement from God because he’d murdered John. And then his new wife turned out to be a terrible advisor as well as a cynical schemer. She urged her husband to travel to Rome and request the title of king. That resulted in him being roundly rejected and sent off to Gaul in exile. Herod listened to the wrong voices, including the ‘voice’ of his own lusts. We reap what we sow. Let’s listen well. And choose well too.