Reflection for August 5, Saturday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 14:1-12

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 were 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 were 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 in 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 we will pay severely someday. – Marino J. Dasmarinas