All Because. Matthew 14:1-12

Guilt and regret. We have all experienced it. Because of a drunken party Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded. Why the guilt and regret? He already had him in prison. What was John the Baptist to him? John had publicly, privately and  continually preached against Herod's actions. Herod had divorced his wife and was now living with his brother's wife.

But John was an interesting guy. Herod went often to the prison cell to listen to John preach about the coming Messiah. Could this be the same King his father had tried to erase all those years ago? Surely it couldn't be. His father had stopped that threat hadn't he?

Now John was dead and here was this Jesus, this Christ performing miracles, healing people. Could it be John raised from the dead?

He would never know the answer. In order to marry Herodias’s, he divorced his first wife, a princess from a neighboring kingdom.  Her father was offended and waged war against Herod defeating him in battle. Later his brother Agrippa accused him of treason against Rome. Herod was banished to Gaul, a distant  Roman providence where he and Herodias committed suicide.

All because of lust, all because on sin. All because of guilt, all because of regret.
All he had to do was repent. Jesus would have forgiven him too.

Matthew 14:1-12 NLT

The Death of John the Baptist

1 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, 2 he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why He can do such miracles.”

3 For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). 4 John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.

6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, 7 so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” 9 Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison,11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

Blessings, Cecilia