Herod was the patron saint of dissolute living. Who is your patron saint?

Saturday, 8/4/12

Herod Antipas is history’s best example of dissolute living. The musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” portrayed him very well when we heard him beg, “Come on Jesus, play the fool, walk across my swimming pool.”

When Herod cast off his wife, taking on Herodius, the wife of his brother Philip,  people kept quiet about it, because Herod would take the life of anyone who criticized him.

But John the Baptist spoke out against the royal adultery, and Herodius demanded that Herod kill John. It irked her no end that her husband was keeping that trouble maker alive. But Herod had a superstitious nature that feared the consequences of killing a prophet. What he did was cage John in the cellar of a castle of his across the Jordan from Jericho. There, his morbid curiosity had him hiding half way down the stone stairway. There he was able to listen to that holy man talking to the guards.

In the end Herodius utilized Herod’s perverted gentleman’s honor. She knew that his pride would not let him go back on his word in front of his guests. So she had her slinky daughter back Herod into doing any favor she asked of him.

 If you are regularly breaking some of the Commandments, but still thinking of yourself as a basically good person, you are deceiving yourself much as Herod did.