Bad Compromises

Gospel:  Matthew 14: 1-12

Herod did not want to kill John, but he does.  He kills John for a light and transient cause: Herod promises Salome any request she might have because she performed a dance that was so pleasurable to him.  So, when she asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, Herod considers his promise more important than human life itself.  So it is with the powers of the world.

Similarly, Pilate will find himself dealing similarly with the life of Jesus.  Pilate did not want to kill Jesus, but he does so in order to appease the crowd who press for the death of Jesus.  In exchange he gives them the life of Barabbas, an actual zealot who killed other people.  That religious leaders were in consort with this work foreshadows how often religious institutions up to our own day behave.

In seeking the approval of worldly leaders and the power and privilege therein, religion compromises its core values for utilitarian concerns.  They often claim to do so in order to "defend human life" but in reality they protect their own self-interests and some human lives in exchange for the lives of other people they will not speak up for.  To be a follower of Jesus is to stand with him on the mount of temptation and reject the offers of power and privilege from the evil one, it is to stand for every human life and not just a few.