Vengeance still rankled in the breast of Herodias for John had said to
Herod: "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." She laid
her plans and awaited her opportunity; it came on Herod's birthday; he
gave a supper for the princes and tribunes and chief men of Galilee, and
she made her daughter come in and dance till they were all so pleased
that Herod swore to the girl: "Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give
thee, though it be the half of my kingdom." Herodias knew Herod and
expecting that this would happen had told her daughter to do nothing
without consulting her. "What shall I ask?" she said to her mother, who
replied without any hesitation: "The head of John the Baptist." Herodias
was evidently afraid that the king would change his mind and that her
wicked plans would after all fail, for she impressed upon her daughter
the necessity of haste. The girl went back _immediately, with haste_ to
Herod, and said: "I will that _forthwith_ thou give me in a dish the
head of John the Baptist." Herod was very sorry, for he was interested
in his prisoner, also he knew him to be "a just and holy man" (St. Mark
VI. 20) and he hesitated before such a crime; but he had taken an oath
and to break it before his guests would be inconsistent with his
dignity, besides "he would not displease" the girl, so he acted at once
as Herodias had bidden him: "he sent and beheaded John in the prison,
and his head was brought in a dish, and it was given to the damsel, and
she brought it to her mother."
"Faithful unto death."--"O Lord, Thou hast set on his head a crown of
precious stones" ("Communion" for the feast of the Beheading of St. John
the Baptist, August 29th).
"And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and came and
told JESUS," told the Bridegroom that His "friend" was dead. "Which
when JESUS had heard, He retired from thence by a boat, into a desert
place apart."
"Faithful unto death," I must be too, if my preparation this Advent is
to be anything like that of St. John the Baptist. He died to self long
before his cruel death in the prison; his whole life from the day he
went into the desert as a little child was a living death: "As dying and
behold we live" (2 Cor. VI. 9). This is how St. Paul describes the state
of all those who "_will_ live godly in Christ JESUS" (2 Tim. III. 12).
It is the death of "the old man," the death of self; the "I" must ever
be decreasing, ever receiving the blows which will one day, probably not
before the soul's last day on earth, cause its death. Such is the
prospect I have before me, if I would copy John the Baptist and be
faithful unto death. What is my consolation and strength? That JESUS
knows and sympathizes. Not one of the blows which cost me so much, not
one of the sufferings, not one hour of desolation or loneliness or
temptation or misunderstanding or unkindness, or any of the many things
which are conspiring together for the death of "the old man," are lost
upon Him. He knows, He cares, He sympathizes and He is glad, for in
proportion as the "I" is decreasing, _He_ is increasing in my soul.
_Colloquy_
(1) With John in the prison.
(2) With JESUS in "a desert place apart."
_Resolution._ To be "faithful unto death" to-day.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings and I was
not ashamed" ("Introit" for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the
Baptist).