Before I offer my reflection on the Gospel today, I wanted to share my thoughts on the prelude to the Gospel. It says, “Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.” Most of us have had a very “interesting” last two years. Even people who do not watch the mainstream media or society closely, are seeing seismic shifts on how the world is operating.
Small, yet very vocal and well-funded minorities are at work to shred the very fabric of society. Right becomes wrong. Good becomes evil. Up becomes down. Truth is thrown out the window. Relativism rules the day. And we must submit or be cancelled.
I’m deeply troubled, especially for the younger generation who seems to be most malleable, and whose houses seem to be built on sand. As GVM subscribers, I pray that you can continue to stay with the word, and also spread it with generous hearts. This also takes perseverance, as hearts and minds take time to change, and to hear the truth and make sense of it. We know that the truth will set us free, but it will take time, generous hearts, and perseverance. I pray that we can all continue to stay on the right path. Like a pendulum on an old-fashioned clock, we pray that we reach the apex on one end of the swing, and rapidly swing back toward normalcy.
Drama
The Gospel today fits right in with the realities of our broken world today. The fascination of King Herod with a special figure named Jesus, and a local prophet named John (The Baptist), leads to a series of unbelievably bad decisions for all involved. The drama of the Gospel has all the horrendous features of a soap opera or a reality show. This one could be called Real Housewives of Galilee. Herod marries his brother’s wife, or ex-wife. I guess he thought that was acceptable, as he was the King. Makes perfect sense in our world today, and for a reality show. Herod’s daughter gives a dance for the crowd, and I can only imagine the nature of the dance. I doubt it was a waltz or square dancing, for the performance to garner such an overwhelming response by the men of power in attendance. Herod promises anything, yes anything, as a reward for the performance.
The daughter sought to get the most out of the offer. She consulted with her mother, Herodias, and the request was not money, fame, a new horse, clothes, or jewelry. In an act of rage and spite, the scheming “wife” of Herod decided that the head of an innocent man, who spoke the truth, should be delivered on a platter. Yes, the head of John the Baptist, who was being held in jail by Herod. So it was said, and so it was done. Herod did not want to lose face by backing out of his promise to offer “anything” as a reward for the dance.
Bad Decisions Spiral Out of Control
Note how this series of bad decisions, and the inability to stop the insanity, leads to death of a great man. At any point down the line, calmer heads could have used logic, reason, morals, past decisions, or just plain old common sense to normalize the situation. Mark Twain said that common sense was the least common of all the senses, and he was right!
Finally, as we watch the world today, we see a series of decisions and actions being taken; are we going to allow them all to snowball into larger problems? Do you think that living and spreading the word can bring some normalcy? I do. Do you think that good will defeat evil eventually? I do, but we sure need perseverance more than ever. We are living in the midst of a bad soap opera. We can change the plot, and we can change the ending. Don’t give up.
Thank you Paul.
Nice. Very thought provoking. Thank You
Excellent!!