Herod’s twisted morality of absolution
Proper 10B | Mark 6:14-29
Herod Antipas throws a party and tells his step daughter she can have whatever she wants. He asks her. And what she picks…is a little murder. Just, you know, an execution. A beheading to be precise. To offer her a severed head on a platter.
That story, friends! It probably needs a trigger warning, don’t you think? My guess is few of us woke up with “the head of John the Baptist on a platter” on our church bingo cards. I bet there are a lot of lectionary Baptists tugging at their collars this morning, saying Don’t get any ideas! I’m not that John the Baptist.
What a gross story, isn’t it? I remember being confused by it; wondering why we even read it in church. We skip other stories, so…we’re clearly not against doing that.
But now I think we need to confront the dark stuff in the gospel too. Particularly passages people use to condemn people—especially women and minorities—and protect the powerful.
The full text may be found here.
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