Lethal Injustice

Gospel: Matthew 14: 1-12

The story of the death of John the Baptist is inserted into the Gospel narrative to provide a foreshadowing and an analogy to the death of Jesus.  John is imprisoned for threatening the power of Herodias, who would be dispossessed of her wealth and power as Herod's wife if John's message is heeded.  Herodias uses her daughter as a pawn in order to have John executed unjustly.  

In a similar way, Jesus is arrested by the religious authorities for threatening their power.  If people followed the message of Jesus, the entire Temple system and Law would be upended, and the religious leaders would lose their power and wealth.  They will use the power of the Roman Empire to execute Jesus, though Pilate uses Jesus as a pawn himself in order to secure a loyalty pledge from the religious leaders to the Roman Empire.  

In every age and place the death penalty system has been an unjust and arbitrary system used primarily to keep civil and religious leaders secure in their power.  It is bitterly ironic that Christians would continue to support such an unjust system to the present day.  It is one thing to be a victim of such a system as a martyr of faith; it is entirely another to be its driving engine in unjustly executing others.