Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 68 (67):6‑7, 36 God is in his holy place, God who unites those who dwell in his house; he himself gives might and strength to his people.

Collect O God, protector of those who hope in you, without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy, bestow in abundance your mercy upon us and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Jeremiah 26:11-16.24; Psalm 68; Matthew 14:1-12

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him. Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: It is not lawful for you to have her. Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 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 his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. (Matthew 14:1-12)

Satan The scene of this Gospel will resound till the end of time. Just as Judas Iscariot will always be known as the one who betrayed Christ, so will the perpetrators of the death of St John the Baptist always be known. While the shining personage of our text is the Baptist, St Matthew keeps our eyes on those who brought about his end. They are mentioned in order: there is vain and pleasure-loving Herod, who gave the order. There is the girl who dazzled him with her dancing, which may have verged on the erotic. There is her black-hearted mother, Herodias, who seized the opportunity to crush the one she hated. Finally, there are the worldly guests whose attitude was such as to precipitate Herod to sin grievously out of human respect. We have in that hall of feasting, an easy haunt of Satan and the demons. Invisibly, the Demon stalked among the tables of noise and merry-making. In the cauldron of laughter, illusion and self, the stench of sin filled the tetrarch’s palace. Conscience was entirely dormant, and Satan, grinning broadly, felt at home. His chance to strike at the prophet was approaching. We read in the Last Supper account by John that when Judas received the morsel from Christ, Satan entered him. He would have had easy entry into the hearts of those at this birthday celebration of Herod Antipas. Both Matthew and Mark simply refer to the bewitching girl as being the daughter of Herodias. Another source from Antiquity, Flavius Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, gives her name and some detail about her family relations. According to Josephus, the girl’s name was Salome (in Hebrew it is Shlomit, derived from Shalom, meaning "peace.") Josephus informs us that Herodias, the girl’s mother, was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, and the third wife of Herod the Great. Herodias was exceedingly beautiful and she married the brother of Herod, and from him had a daughter, Salome. After Salome’s birth, Herodias spurned the religious law of the Hebrews and divorced her husband and married Herod Antipas the tetrarch, her husband's brother by the father's side. At this point John the Baptist intervened and, to Herod’s face, fearlessly denounced the situation.

Herodias is the quintessential Lady Macbeth of history. She was incisive in her deed, and unhesitatingly used her light-headed and foolish daughter to murder a paragon of holiness, whom Christ said was greater than any other born of woman. Her resolute will overrode any intimations of conscience which may have flickered in the darkness of her heart. What can be said of the daughter, Salome? Her father by the original marriage was Herod Antipas’s brother, and they were the sons of the notorious Herod the Great. This famous Herod, wheeler dealer between Mark Antony and Augustus, had put to death the Innocents of Bethlehem for fear of losing his throne. Salome, granddaughter of this Herod, was bereft of anything like a moral upbringing. Glamour and worldly success were the objects of her life, and so she was utterly subject to temptation. In our scene today, temptation came from her ruthless mother, the beautiful Herodias. What playthings they were for Satan and his insinuations! What with Salome and her seductive romp, Herodias and her seething heart, Herod Antipas with his laughter and liquor, the guests in all their worldly finery, Satan had it made. Satan was master of the busy hall, and the angels shook with horror. The deed was done, and it shocked Christ for we read in the following verse that when the disciples of John told Jesus what had happened, he “departed by boat to a desert place apart.” The light of the land prior to his own emergence had gone out. John was the greatest of the prophets and had gone the way of the prophets, as would our Lord himself. So it is that we see two great sides of the field, God and Satan. Who will win the field? Fifteen hundred years after John, Thomas More was rowing across the Thames to enter his trial because of the stand he had taken. As they rowed he said to his companion, I thank God that the field is won. He had won the field because his soul was with God. He had decided for Christ and his Church.

Subsequent to the events of our Gospel today (Matthew 14:1-12), Salome was married to Philip the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus. We can only assume that her life unfolded without the light of a godly conscience. Let us learn from the horrible example of those in the hall of Herod’s feasting. There are but two standards on the field. There is the standard of Christ, and there is the standard of Satan. The field has been won, so let us take our stand with Christ and bring that victory to the world of our everyday life.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Matthew 14:1-12)

Be on Guard! It does not take much to fall into sin, including serious sin. So we must be ever on guard. Consider the Gospel scene in which Herod throws his birthday party. He intended to have a good time, to please and impress his guests, and to be popular. But he was not on guard, on guard over himself. The daughter of Herodias danced. Herod acted with bravado to impress everyone, promising anything she asked for, so delighted he professed himself to be. He fell into temptation which he was unable to resist. So he committed a terrible sin and the life of a most holy prophet was ended. It all happened in a few moments.

It does not take much to fall into temptation if we are not on guard. We must avoid temptation and its occasions, and ever live in the presence of God. We must be determined to avoid any deliberate sin, no matter how venial or light it may seem. If we fall into deliberate sin, we must immediately repent. Spiritual progress will depend on constant repentance from venial sin.

(E.J.Tyler)

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