When the opportunity comes!

Matthew 14:1-12

1 At about this time, Herod, the regional ruler, heard what was being said about Jesus. 2 He said to his servants, "This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead. That's why he's able to work miracles!" 3 Herod had arrested John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison to placate Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. 4 John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias "adultery." 5 Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid because so many people revered John as a prophet of God. 6 But at his birthday celebration, the opportunity came. Herodias's daughter provided the entertainment, dancing for the guests. She swept Herod away. 7 In his drunken enthusiasm, he promised her on oath anything she wanted. 8 Already coached by her mother, she was ready: "Give me, served up on a platter, the head of John the Baptizer." 9 That sobered the king up fast. Unwilling to lose face with his guests, he did it 10-- ordered John's head cut off 11 and presented to the girl on a platter. She in turn gave it to her mother. 12 Later, John's disciples got the body, gave it a reverent burial, and reported to Jesus.

Food for thought!

"The opportunity came!" This statement summarizes it all. As long as the opportunity had not come, things were like normal. But then the opportunity came on Herod's Birthday. Once the opportunity was there, the rest was just a follow up one after another. The end result was the beheading of John the Baptist. 

What does this mean to you and me? It means that it is but by the grace of God that we have not committed similar atrocities; if and when the opportunity comes, when the circumstances are there, when all the conditions are fulfilled, sin is inevitable. It means that the opportunity has not come for you and me, and this is by the grace of God.

The gospel says Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid because the opportunity had not come. When it came, Herodias seized it and did what she always wanted to do but could not.

The trouble with Herodias was that she wished to eliminate the one man who had the courage to confront her with her sin. She wished to do as she liked with no one to remind her of the moral law. She murdered John that she might sin in peace. She forgot that while she need no longer meet John, she still had to meet God.

Whenever you see someone with a misfortune or even a criminal, say: "There but for the grace of God go I!" It means that I would likely have been or done the same bad thing as that person or criminal if the opportunity had come. You can say this to refer to someone who has had bad luck; implies that the person is no less virtuous than you are but is now miserable purely because of bad opportunity, which might happen to you as well. If and when the opportunity comes, many of us would do just as Herodias, Herod and many criminals do. If the Lord had not been on our side...! (Psalm 124:2); Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death (Psalm 94:14).