Herodias’ story is introduced in both Mathew’s gospel and Mark’s with Herod Antipas hearing reports about Jesus’ astonishing miraculous powers.
“Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.'”
Mark 6:14-16 (NRSV)
In spite of others’ reassurances to him about Jesus, Herod was sure it was John the Baptist risen from the dead—the implication being, in haunting judgment of having been executed by Herod.
And so the dark and dreadful tale begins of intrigue, seduction, manipulation, and murder, all swirling around the Hasmonean princess and Judean noble, Herodias.
Listen in on this twenty minute tale that explores the world of Herodias, how she came to be who she was, and how the Lord was also at work. We’ll look at Herodias’ story in four parts:
I Background and Ambitions
II Bitter Rage
III Blocked Goals and Unfulfilled Desires
IV Blessing Lost
Along the way, we’ll hear from Moses, James, and Jesus, who teach us that “The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving”
Restoration begins when we “Welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”
The sobering truth made plain in Herodias’ life is that, in God’s judgment, God will often allow sin to run its course, but there is always a path that leads back to God, to restoration and life, for: Those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
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God is so beautiful and precious beyond our mere limited comprehension; we’re in God’s case speaking to the Alpha and the Omega who has infinite understanding!
So what a perfect statement you’ve provided here in conclusion, for to behold this infinite love and grace you’ve described that God must surely have for those that genuinely love Him is so inspiring; “God will often allow sin to run its course, but there is always a path that leads back to God, to restoration and life, for: Those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
God’s forgiveness is so powerful and earth shattering, knowing and encompassing all things seen and unseen!
Amen.
Only God truly knows each and every one of us in every detail throughout our lives!
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.”
Dear brother-in-Christ, Lawrence, I sang hallelujah along with the throngs of heaven at your phrase “God’s forgiveness is so powerful and earth shattering, knowing an encompassing all things seen and unseen!”
I also say Amen, as do the elders in heaven, and all the angelic host, and the four Seraphim, the living creatures before the throne of God.
This is how we keep our minds turned to heavenly things, never despairing of what happens here in the earthly realm. For whatever it is, God is always greater.
“He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4.
Grace and peace, your sister-Christ, Joanne
Sister Joanne-in-Christ Jesus!
I’m sorry, but please bear with me on this as I’m very troubled by what I see and hear in this sick world now and especially when it comes to many professing the Faith in one form or another or just being so tolerant and politically correct that they promote a phony baloney version of what Jesus Christ ministered and died for! What I see favors the antichrist not God our Maker! You see this sickness in our government, media, entertainment, culture, education and pretty much throughout! I hate to be morbid but this is one evil place now!~
The great danger as I see things changing for the worse rapidly is too many people have a nonchalant attitude to faith or our very existence; thus paganism has taken center stage with so many youth, while all groups are being softened up or primed for the arrival of the antichrist who will powerfully deceive the masses of soft headed people around the planet! That is why I see a true Real McCoy, “Genuine Article Catholic” as a person of “devout true faith in Jesus Christ and God’s plan,” sadly most are of the now watered down protestantized 2nd Vatican Council altered version which along with all of the other absolutely horrendous fake Christian denominations are empty of the “actual love and faith in God” which is all part of the Devil’s work to see to it that more people than not will accept the imposter who is on the way in short order. I know that actor Jim Caviezel who was struck by lightning during the filming of the Passion is right when he said that he heard God say “they don’t love me!”
I can’t think how anyone could have put it any better than the Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen had not that many years ago!
“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”
― Fulton J. Sheen
Catholic Apologetics Online
“There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics “adore statues”; because they “put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God”; because they say “indulgence is a permission to commit sin”; because the Pope “is a Fascist”; because the “Church is the defender of Capitalism.” If the Church taught or believed any one of these things it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.”
“If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates… Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which, in seasons of bigotry, men say must be destroyed in the name of God as men crucified Christ and thought they had done a service to God. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because He called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which is rejected by the world as Our Lord was rejected by men”
“If then, the hatred of the Church is founded on erroneous beliefs, it follows that basic need of the day is instruction. Love depends on knowledge for we cannot aspire nor desire the unknown.”
“When therefore you, the readers of “Radio Replies” in the twentieth century, wish to know about Christ and about His early Church, and about His mysteries, we ask you to go not only to the written records but to the living Church which began with Christ Himself. That Church or that Mystical Person which has been living all these centuries is the basis of our faith and to us Catholics it speaks this way: “I live with Christ. I saw His Mother and I know her to be a Virgin and the loveliest and purest of all women in heaven or on earth; I saw Christ at Caesarea-Philippi, when, after changing Simon’s name to Rock, He told him he was the rock upon which the Church would be built and that it would endure unto the consummation of the world. I saw Christ hanging on a cross and I saw Him rise from His tomb; I saw Magdalene rush to His feet; I saw the angels clad in white beside the great stone; I was in the Cenacle room when doubting Thomas put fingers into His hands; I was on Olivet when He ascended into heaven and promised to send His Spirit to the apostles to make them the foundation of His new Mystical Body on earth. I was at the stoning of Stephen, saw Saul hold the garments of those who slew him, and later I heard Saul, as Paul, preach Christ and Him crucified; I witnessed the beheading of Peter and Paul in Rome, and with my very eyes saw tens of thousands of martyrs crimson the sands with their blood, rather than deny the faith Peter and Paul had preached unto them; I was living when Boniface was sent to Germany, when Augustine when to England, Cyril and Methodius to the Poles, and Patrick to Ireland; at the beginning of the ninth century I recall seeing Charlemagne crowned as king in matters temporal as Peter’s vicar was recognized as supreme in matters spiritual; in the thirteenth century I saw the great stones cry out in tribute to me, and burst into Gothic Cathedrals; in the shadows of those same walls I saw great Cathedrals of thought arise in the prose of Aquinas and Bonaventure, and in the poetry of Dante; in the sixteenth century I saw my children softened by the spirit of the world leave the Father’s house and reform the faith instead of reforming discipline which would have brought them back again into my embrace; in the last century and at the beginning of this I heard the world say it could not accept me because I was behind the times.”
Taken from Radio Replies, Vol. 1, p IX, Rumble & Carty, Tan Publishing
This is the horrifying prophecy of Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) about the condition of the Church at the time of the anti-Christ:
“[Satan] will set up a counterchurch which will be the ape of the [Catholic] Church … It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content.”
We are living in the days of the Apocalypse, the last days of our era. The two great forces – the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of the anti-Christ – are beginning to draw battle lines for the catastrophic contest.
The False prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit Church.
Christ’s Church the Catholic Church will be one; and the false Prophet will create the other.
The False Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association.
A world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all Divine content, it will be the mystical body of the anti-christ. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the false prophet. Satan will recruit him from our Bishops.
The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as “I am Who am,” and the Devil as “I am who am not.”
Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first “red.” Rather is he described as an angel fallen from heaven, as “the Prince of this world,” whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no heaven there is no hell; if there is no hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect–and certainly no devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?
The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves.
The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion–one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.
In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counterchurch which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ …
But the twentieth century will join the counterchurch because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world communism.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West)
AMEN.
All I can say is come on people let’s get real and stop all this wasting time with foolish social media likes and praise or following the “Crooked Ways of the World,” and start to “awaken” to all of the multitude of signs and evidence being provided to us to not become lost or run amuck, so that we can remain vigilant and strong in our faith in the Lord God, and through Jesus Christ our Savior; who tells us to pay attention, remain sober and be vigilant in order to not be tricked “making certain that we will remain now and forever in God’s good graces;” instead of accepting the polished lies of the Devil that will pull so many into the infernal region and pits of hell.
“Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but, He that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 7:21
Here is just an excerpt from This poem “To a Waterfowl”
By William Cullen Bryant It Does speak to what I see as how we can survive through the present turmoil and coming storm! The key is in each of our hearts if we will unlock through Jesus!
“Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form, yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.
He, who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must trace alone,
Will lead my steps aright.”
William Cullen Bryant
God Bless.
Brother Lawrence-in-Christ Jesus.
You may well be right, brother Lawrence, that these are the first stirrings of the prophecies John related to us through his Revelation. And I agree with you that the cultural and religious landscape of the United States is rapidly shifting. In fact, other researchers have been commenting on this phenomenon, such as this Gallup poll from three years ago:
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/353216/impact-shifts-american-culture.aspx
and this (one of many) article on post-pandemic religious shifts in America:
https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2023/04/20/first-post-pandemic-study-finds-significant-shifts-in-religious-beliefs-and-behaviors-of-u-s-adults/
The older the adult, the more dramatic these shifts appear, for we (I am 63) remember a very different kind of religious and cultural landscape from our childhood and early adult years. How do we cope with these unsettling changes? My own theology of change is pretty simple. Jesus told us these things must happen, and exhorted us to remain alert. We continue to be who we have always been, both salt and light, the incarnation of Christ on earth, leading with love. We certainly can (and really must) grieve harm to people and to the planet. God leads us in that grief (Genesis 6). We also do what we can in our community to repair and to restore, to preserve what is good, to let go of what is bad, and to keep the serenity prayer in front of us:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
May it be so that we are recognized as Christians because we love, we give the Gospel, we offer healing through the Lord’s divine power, we offer the peace that comes with surrender to God in Christ, we give grace (which is undeserved), and we have the aroma of Christ. We know that we will stink to those who reject God, and we will be the sweetness of life to those who will receive God.
John said a very interesting thing at the end of his first letter. He wrote,
“Whoever beholds their brother or sister sinning a sin not unto death, [that person] will ask, and He will deliver life to [that person], the sins not unto death. [There] is sin unto death—I do not speak concerning this—so that [that person] would pray. (Every unrighteousness is sin, but [there] is sin not unto death.)”
1 John 5:16-17 (my translation)
I don’t understand completely what John meant, but I -think- he meant that we begin with prayer wherever there may be sin in another’s life, and we expect God to act. God will not transgress the will of another, but the Spirit will certainly convict that person, in their heart, and give them many (increasingly painful) chances to repent. We are to cooperate with the Spirit’s work, never going ahead of the Spirit (especially when we think God is acting too slowly, or going in directions we aren’t prepared for or even like), and not lagging behind either. Certainly we are to say the things God inspires us to say (or write, which is more often the case for me). And we are to act as well, merciful, gracious, loving, while also always keeping integrity and pointing to righteousness.
John also wrote that we are to leave alone the sins that lead unto death. Is that physical death or spiritual death? Recently I heard an argument that suggests John meant physical death. There were times in the Christian Testament when death was God’s severest mercy to that person–Ananias and Sapphira are the first and easiest example (Acts 5), but also 1 Corinthians 5:5. We must never go against what God is doing–and here is one of the scariest examples of God at work in ways that will terrify anyone:
“The waters that you observed, where the idolator/prostitute is seated, they are peoples and throngs and nations and languages, and the ten horns which you observed, and the beast, these will detest the idolator/prostitute, and they will make her be deserted and denuded, and they will eat her flesh, and they will cause her to be utterly consumed by fire,
“for God committed their hearts to perform God’s purpose, and to carry out one single purpose and to give their realm to the beast, until the words of God will be brought to completion.”
Revelation 17:15-17 (my translation)
It will be God who commits the hearts of those political leaders to turn on whoever or whatever it is that leads the people into a false religion. Everyone is swept up into the turmoil, violence, destruction, and trauma of what happens next. Even Christians.
Yet, there it is. The Serenity Prayer, and John’s instruction on prayer, and our own limitations. At some point, we step back from the horror of it and bow our heads in humility before the Lord. These things must happen for so it is written and so it will be. We keep integrity, we continue to incarnate Christ, and we also do not despair, for we know that ultimately, God is at work and will prevail.
Grace and peace to you, your sister-in-Christ, Joanne
Sister Joanne-in-Christ Jesus! Fantastic perspective and great data with deep thought you provide here as usual! Yes I must get back to you in a bit more length on this later because “it all hits home” as the saying goes with me! I also always loved that saying, really one of my top 3 which I have on a wall plaque;
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
I will be able to settle into thought and responses later!
Thank you!
God bless you and yours!
Brother Lawrence-in-Christ Jesus.