Bendy, not rigid

Matthew 14:1-12

          Being gay I am very well aware of how people have unbendable standards and fixed opinions on certain subjects. I have see parents disown their beloved child because they are gay. I have seen any number of lines drawn in the sand, people standing firmly for what they feel, nay, know what is right and what is wrong.

          Here in this passage  we have some really human dilemmas. First of all, there is the issue of Herod's guilty conscience, thinking Jesus is John the Baptist come back alive. Herod apparently had guilt over killing John the Baptist and rightfully so.

          What I find quite telling is the dilemma Herod got into the first place because he was so unbending. You make a promise to a little girl and the next thing you know she is asking for John's head on a platter? This is almost the definition of stupidity. It does show what happens when you get fixated on things other than what is right and loving.  In the book God vs. Gay, the author argues among other things that the ultimate arbiter is love. Perhaps the question could also be posed as "what would Jesus Do?" Whatever you want to call it, being beholden to fixed positions, no matter how logical they may seem is simply wrong. Love should be the guiding force. 

            I suggest you look at the far right of the political and sociological spectrum and notice the unbending, unwavering positions that are clearly not tempered by our loving, compassionate and understanding God. These often hateful and malicious positions leave the fowl taste of ignorance and intolerance that is not what Jesus lived for, showed us and then died for.  Now look at yourself and see what may be your own unbending and fixed positions on things. Is the far right the only group who can be fixated? Is it possible some of their positions, while presented in a loathsome manner, may have some truth? 

           Unbending, fixed positions on almost anything is not healthy and most often is not loving. So be bendy, not rigid. I will argue for all of us to have love, be loving, compassionate and understanding. 

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.’ The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.