Promises

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

PROMISES

Matt 14:6-12

6 On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

NIV

Oaths are extremely dangerous as we can see here. Jesus was clear when he spoke about oaths, saying that we should not swear by heaven or earth or by our own head, for we cannot make one hair white or black. Jesus said that we need to let our yes mean yes, and our no mean no, all else is evil. Herod’s oath to that daughter of Herodias is proof enough about oath’s being evil. Just think how horrible it would be if we broke our oath to the Lord, and yet it seems we do so every time we do something that is sinful. However, Moses told the people not to break the oath they took in the name of God. Still, Jesus knew that was impossible because of the nature of man, being descendants of Adam. Therefore, he made sure we should not take an oath at all, but just say, yes or no. Herod was caught between a hard place and a rock because of his oath. He really did not want to kill John the Baptist, but perhaps his plan was to simply keep him from speaking out publicly against him because he took his brother Philip’s wife to be his. There is one more problem afoot and that is regarding the reason Herod made the oath. Herod was the king and as such he was living the good life, in fact, a very good life, lacking in nothing. He had wealth untold and could have whatever he wanted. We cannot be sure just how this daughter of Herodias danced, but we can be sure it was very provocative. The fact that she was Herod’s stepdaughter speaks to this problem. She was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, so then she was not of the bloodline of this Herod Antipas and his infatuation and perhaps his arousal prompted his oath to give her up to half his kingdom. John the Baptist had already lambasted him about having his brother’s wife, and here, Herod might have been looking at having his stepdaughter as well, with such a great reward for her dance. Oh, how our eyes can lead to desires that should not be. The lust of the flesh is strong and wants what it wants. We are constantly bombarded with images that spawn desires of materialism, wanting more, better, bigger, or newer things. There are also images that insight the sensual nature of our humanness. There is also a problem with peer pressure, which in some sense drove Herod to make this oath, wanting to impress his guests of the banquet. We can also get entrapped by peer pressure, even in our attempts to look holy and righteous, or in our wisdom of spiritual things. Although we are to love each other and serve one another, it is clear that we are not to live to please men, but to please God. Herod shows us how not to live using oaths, and Jesus shows us how to live without making oaths, or in our vernacular, promises.