Whims of the World

Gospel: Mark 6: 17-29

The parallels between the death of John and that of Jesus are striking.  Both are imprisoned by nefarious forces who oppose them for being a threat to their power, but those forces themselves lack the ability to put to death.  For that they need to convince the powers of this world to do so.  Both Herod and Pilate seem unwilling, both seem to have sympathy for the accused.

But in the end both rulers hand over their prisoners for execution, both on a whim.  For Herod it was to keep an oath of vanity, for Pilate it was to retain his standing before the religious authorities subject to him.  Neither ruler had any consideration for justice at the end of the day; both consented to unjust executions.  Both John and Jesus were executed on the whims of worldly power.

Today's feast gives us pause to consider our relationship to worldly power.  It is not something to be trusted.  It is not based on justice and truth; it is guided only by the vanity of its rulers and the whims of the day.  If we seek justice and truth in our lives, we must look to the kingdom not of this world, and not entrust ourselves to political power and its ideologies.