July 24, 2011, Homily, Saturday, July 30, 2011.

Matthew 14:1-12.

Herod the Tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servant, "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 ofHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to 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 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 went and told Jesus.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Ayn Rand: "The hatred of the good for being the good."

The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Herod's bloody deed has appalled people throughout the ages. It seems that a truly vile deed can turn the world upside down, such is its power of infection. Describing Herod's evening party, Peter Chrysologus (c. 280-450) wrote: "The house changed into an arena, the table changed to a stand at the amphitheatre, the birthday guests turned into spectators, the feast turned into an uproar, the wine into blood, the birthday into a funeral, sunrise into sunset, the banquet became a bloody murder, and the musical instruments began to play the tragedy of the ages."

Herodias was the grand-daughter of Herod the Great; her first husband Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great and the uncle of Herodias. Herodias and Herod Philip had a daughter Salome and then divorced. While Herod Philip was still living,Herodias married his full brother Herod the Tetrarch. That was John the Baptist's complaint; it was not that Herodias had again married an uncle; it was that Herodiashad married the full brother of her ex-husband while her ex-husband was still living (like incest). To compound, the problem, Salome danced for her uncle[by her father]/grand-uncle[by her mother] and "delighted Herod so much". It was a scandalous bacchanal; Salome and Herodias knew it was scandalous and sought to stanch the criticism by cutting off the head of John the Baptist.

It is the hatred of the good for being the good: Herodias/Salome hatred of John the Baptist for John the Baptist being good.