Gospel: Luke 9:7-9
But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things? And he kept trying to see him.
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Reflection:
Have you experienced being bothered by your conscience?
At the back of his mind Herod was silently asking himself: Who is this man who is doing what John did? He certainly is not John because I beheaded John.
Why was Herod bothered by Jesus’ actions? Because Herod thought that John had risen from the dead and now he is again doing what he has been doing: to call for repentance, to speak the truth no matter who gets hurt, to heal and so forth. It was a disturbing déjà vu for the powerful Herod.
Herod was surely bothered, for he knew that what he did against John was against the law of men and God. But Herod was the supreme power during that time, and as such, he could practically do whatever he wanted, and nobody would dare to cross his path or pursue him.
But Herod’s power is limited to this world alone. There’s a much bigger power which controls everything in this world and everything that is beyond this world and that is the power of God!
Therefore the greater power which is God was already bothering the mind of Herod. Perhaps Herod was already losing sleep and incessantly being disturbed by his conscience because of what he did to John.
What is the lesson for us in this gospel episode? Worldly power no matter how enormous has its limitations too! Because God can pierce and burst that power whenever He wants. God can do something that is unseen by others to punish a powerful and arrogant person.
Therefore we should be careful on how we exercise our power we should not abuse it! We should know that it has its own limitations. And once we transgress the limitations of our power the justice of God would be upon us to haunt us as it haunted Herod. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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