Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening
Herod heard about the activities of Jesus and his followers from the crowds who witnessed them. He was given to curiosity about such matters. We remember that for a time he enjoyed listening to John the Baptist speak while he held him in prison. John represented for Herod a physical manifestation of his own conscience. Herod recognized that he was righteous and holy and couldn't help being drawn to him, even while he refused to accept John's diagnosis of Herod's sin.
“John has been raised from the dead”;
How frightening for Herod, who had killed John by beheading him, that some suggested Jesus was this very voice of conscience back to haunt him. Herod himself seems to have giving at least passing consideration to the possibility. He realized on some level that no matter whose voice he silenced, he remained condemned for his sin in the depths of his heart by a voice he could not kill.
others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”;
still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”
The crowds were not then and are not now a good source of information about the identity of Jesus. The crowds can only speak of externals and what they see on the surface. This is not entirely their fault, for the truly deep truths of life resist being easily put into words. They therefore inevitably seek to place Jesus in a category by comparing and contrasting him to apparently similar figures.
There was indeed much of John present in the mission of Jesus, with his call to repentance and baptism. There was indeed much of the spirit and power of Elijah in Jesus, able, like him, even to raise the dead. Yet no combination of John, Elijah, or the other ancient prophets could begin to explain Jesus. They were similar to him because it was God's own power that was at work in them. But, precisely because of that, the difference between them was still greater.
"Who then is this about whom I hear such things?"
And he kept trying to see him.
Herod experienced the a draw to see Jesus, to sort out for himself the truth behind all of the extraordinary things that were being said about him. He seems to have been drawn by Jesus, as he had been by John, to the beauty of goodness and truth. But, unlike Matthew, he did not allow the pull of Jesus to move him in any significant way. It seems that he was still caught up in the vanity of all things, spoken of in the first reading. He had already demonstrated that he was unable to judge well between short and long-term goods, as when he offered up to half of his Kingdom for a dance. He was similarly unable to value the things of eternity over the things of the moment. He tried to cling to things that were merely temporary, still convinced that his labor under the sun might accomplish his every desire. Had he a bit more wisdom he might have been able to recognize in Jesus a greater good than those that distracted him, and that prevented him from sincerely seeking him. Had he sought him sincerely we know that he would have been able to see him, for all who seek shall find (see Matthew 7:7).
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Matthew seemed to understand better than Herod about the vanity of all things, that they could not satisfy in an ultimate way the deepest desires of the human heart. Life had perhaps demonstrated to him that all things were finally temporary and unreliable in ways that Herod's power had shielded him from having to realize. We too need to number our days aright, lest we attempt to find eternal fulfillment in things that "are like the changing grass". It is then we can recognize more clearly the beauty and the goodness of Jesus, who "is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (see Hebrews 13:8). We can then seek and find in him the fulfillment of our hearts desire. Then the things of creation, which are otherwise so frustratingly temporary, can be used without the risks of sadness and addiction they otherwise carry, by using them for the sake of him for whom they were made.
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. (see Romans 11:36).
No comments:
Post a Comment