Above: The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, by Caravaggio
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts.
Created by you, let us live in your image;
created for you, let us act for your glory;
redeemed by you, let us give you what is yours,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 50
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 14:3-11
Psalm 96:1-9 [10-13]
Matthew 14:1-12
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He [the LORD] will judge the world with righteousness
and the people with his truth.
–Psalm 96:13, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Herod Antipas (reigned 4 B.C.E.-39 C.E.) was a bad character and a client ruler (a tetrarch, not a king, by the way) within the Roman Empire. He had marriedHerodias, his niece and daughter-in-law, an act for which St. John the Baptist had criticized him. This incestuous union violated Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21 and did not come under the levirate marriage exemption in Deuteronomy 25:5. John, for his trouble, lost his freedom and his life. Salome (whose name we know from archaeology, not the Bible), at the behest of her mother, Herodias, requested the head of the holy man on a platter.
The text from Isaiah 14 is an anticipated taunt of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence has ceased!
–Isaiah 14:3b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
That oppression and insolence did cease in the case of Herod Antipas. He had deserted the daughter of King Aretas IV of the Nabateans to wed Herodias. In 36 C.E. Aretas took his revenge by defeating Herod Antipas. The tetrarch sought Roman imperial assistance yet gained none, for the throne had passed from Tiberius to Caligula. Herod Antipas, encouraged by Herodias, requested that Caligula award him the title of “King” as the Emperor had done to the tetrarch’s nephew (and brother of Herodias), Herod Agrippa I (reigned 37-44 C.E.). Yet Herod Agrippa I brought charges against Herod Antipas, who, having traveled to Rome to seek the new title in person, found himself exiled to Gaul instead. The territories of Herod Antipas came under the authority of Herod Agrippa I who was, unfortunately, one of the persecutors of earliest Christianity (Acts 12:1-5).
Oppression has never disappeared from the face of the Earth. Certain oppressive regimes have ended, of course, but others have continued the shameful tradition. You, O reader, can probably name some oppressive regimes in the news. Sometimes they fight each other, so what is one supposed to do then? I remember that, during my time as a graduate student at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, I took a course about World War II. The professor asked us one day that, if we had to choose between following Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler (a decision many in Eastern Europe had to make in the early 1940s), whom would we select? I said, “Just shoot me now.” That, I imagine is how many people in Syria must feel in 2014.
Only God can end all oppression. Until God does so, may we stand with the oppressed and celebrate defeats of oppressors. Some good news is better than none, after all.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 31, 2014 COMMON ERA
PROPER 17: THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT AIDAN OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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