On A Platter

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” 

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. 

But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus. (Matthew 14:1-12)

It seems Herod Antipas (not his father Herod) used his oath sworn to Herodias as his excuse to kill John the Baptist by blaming her for the beheading.  After all, our reading says Herod wanted to kill John, and indeed he did.  This reading makes it seem Herod had no choice.    

Herodias also urged her husband to discredit her brother Herod Agrippa I, who had received the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis, to the east of the Sea of Galilee.  That plan antagonized the emperor Caligula, however, and the couple was banished to Gaul in 39 CE. Little is known of their lives following their exile.  Quite the couple.

How many of us have asked for someone’s head to be brought to us on a platter?  Revenge likely would have been the motive.  Let’s always remember what goes around comes around.  Eventually we might find our own heads on a platter.  

Deacon David Pierce