Gospel: Matthew 14:1-12
Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus
and said to his servants, “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 of Herodias, the
wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him “It is not lawful for you
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 in 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 they went and
told Jesus.
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Reflection:
There is a saying that, “Power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.” King Herod is an example of a man who was corrupted
by his absolute power. He allowed his power to rule over him and not him ruling
over his power. Otherwise if King Herod was in control of his power he would
have not ordered the beheading of John.
When a leader allows his power to get into his head
he would do many foolish things. For example, he may act as if he is more powerful
than God by saying words and doing things that are inconceivable for a normal
person to say and do.
In the gospel we have a character named King Herod
he is a perfect example of a leader who is drunk with power. His power made him
arrogant and it made him act as if he is more powerful than God for the reason
that he ordered the killing of John. But we also know that those who arrogantly
abuse power suffers defeat at the end.
So what is the lesson for us here? Simple, we should
not abuse the power that we hold otherwise we will have to pay for it someday.
As they say, “What goes around comes around.” In other words this simply tells
us that whatever evil that we do today brought about by our abuse of power will
eventually catch up with us someday. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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