“At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus. And he said to his servants: ‘This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him.’ For Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. For John said to him: ‘It is not lawful for thee to have her.’ And having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people: because they esteemed him as a prophet.”
Herod, surrounded by much pomp, hears of Jesus only after He has worked many wonders and attracted an incredible following, not paying much attention to the voice of love but to his own affairs, thus does Wisdom say: “To you, therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it” (Wisdom 6:10), for the ruler that is well-versed in sound teaching and a genuine love for the spiritual well-being of his people is a gift from God, whereas the crooked and unjust is a blight for those that pursue goodness: “A just king setteth up the land: a covetous man shall destroy it” (Proverbs 29:4); “By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown” (Proverbs 11:11). At the news, however, Herod supposes that John the Baptist was raised from the dead and was doing great works. While many thinkers have posited from reason alone that there is, in some form, a resurrection of the dead, which is itself a harsh condemnation on the Sadducees: “That day there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection” (Matthew 22:23), some point to the idea that a single soul uses many bodies, whereas Herod here points to an elevation of the human person by way of the resurrection. What was infirm in the person is stripped away in the resurrection, with greater abilities seen therein: “It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44), and in this he is somewhat oriented to truth. While the glorified body will have greater capacities than seen now, the greatest gifts will be to know and love God as He is: “We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12) and to know and love each other perfectly: “Therefore judge not before the time; until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). Ah, to see the very essence of Love, and to love as one is loved, this is a heaven outside the mind of pagan thought, and how beautiful this thought is! Now, having shown Herod’s thoughts, St. Matthew then recounts the events that led to St. John the Baptist’s death, beginning with his arrest. There are two ideas concerning the marriage which he denounces. The first is that Herodias, the daughter of King Aretas, was used as a chess piece, given in marriage to Philip the brother of Herod, but in a quarrel between Aretas and Philip was given to Herod to grieve Philip. While this flies in the face of love, as no person deserves to be used as a pawn but rather to be loved and treated as such, it is not likely that the Baptizer would have gone to Herod for this. Rather, it is that Herod Antipas and Herodias forsook their own spouses for the sake of each other, a grave corruption of the greatest image of love on earth, which is marriage: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14); “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother” (Leviticus 18:16). See the warrior’s spirit for the sake of love! While many men would lose their lives for a beloved, St. John the Baptist goes for the sake of Love Itself: “The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 18:9). Because John touches a heartstring inflamed with passion, one corrupted by bad love but in love nonetheless, Herod seeks to kill him, but doesn’t due to the great following he had. While the fear of God leads to love: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) by being drawn by justice and proper worship into an encounter with Jesus and eventually knowing the Beloved and thereby how to love: “Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), fear of men simply puts a temporary bind on the one seeking to sin, as one’s indulgence is temporarily held from them. Therefore, the way of the Lord is not a restraint or repression as is to adherence to the ways of men, but a divine eros that leads to the fullest expression of a happy, love-filled life.