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Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
There are no small number of Christians who relate to Jesus in the way Herod related to John. They know that he is righteous and holy, that he speaks the truth with the living voice of love. And yet they keep him in custody. They let him entertain them with his speech, because, like with Herod and John, when they hear him speak they are much perplexed yet they like to listen to him. They like to listen but they don't want to give him enough freedom to move in their lives in ways that might be disruptive. They don't want him challenging relationships or habits of behavior that may need to change. They may well proceed for some time and seem relatively respectable, as though they were still the proper sovereign over their own lives as Herod seemed to retain his rule.
Herodias' own daughter came in
and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
"Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you."
The enemy has designs on our sovereignty over our lives. He wants to further snuff out the voice of truth to eliminate the risk that we may one day listen and be converted. He patiently prowls on the watch for someone to devour until an opportunity arises. He is on the watch for something that it is within his power to give us if we will only fall down and worship him. For Herod, it was the sensual delight of the dance of the daughter of Herodias that caused him to lose his rational self-control and give away the authority over himself.
He even swore many things to her,
"I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom."
When Herod made promises as a reward for the dance he wasn't anticipating just how far those promises would lead him to fall. They were promises that were easy to make. But once he regretted them it seemed almost impossible to change his mind, as in fact he chose not to do.
The result of sin was that no one was happy. It is improbable that the daughter of Herodias felt great delight in receiving someone's head on a platter when just about any other gift might have been better. Herod was unhappy since he knew killing John was something he should not do. The disciples of John were obviously also deeply saddened and emotionally crushed. Probably even Herodias herself didn't experience the satisfaction or closure to which she hoped that the killing of John the Baptist would lead. Sin may promise pleasure and delight but it only leads to sadness and despair in the end.
Let's let the voice of truth out of prison before we too make any critical mistakes. The more this voice is locked down the easier it will seem to take further steps to silence it if there is ever a benefit for us to do so. Let us instead give Jesus free reign to be as disruptive as he himself desires to be in our lives. If there are relationships that he wants us to change, let us rely on him for help to do so. If there are ways in which he wants us to stop acting or new virtues he wants us to start practicing, let us receive from him the grace to do so. He does not take from us our sovereignty, but helps us to experience it in a new and deeper way. But he can only help us if we let him do so. If we try to lock him down and limit him, he won't force his way into our lives.
What is the extent of the grace Christ Jesus wants to bestow on us? It is no less than the grace for which Paul gave thanks in the lives of the Corinthians:
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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