It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife

8 FEBRUARY (Mk 6,14-29)

The law of levirate allowed a brother-in-law to marry his sister-in-law, only in case of the death of his brother. If this had happened while the other was in life, he committed a real sin of adultery. Herod is an adulterous king. Herodias is also an adulteress.

“When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. The first-born son she bears shall continue the line of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. If, however, a man does not care to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and declare, ‘My brother-in-law does not intend to perform his duty toward me and refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel.’ Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon him and admonish him. If he persists in saying, ‘I am not willing to marry her,’ his sister-in-law, in the presence of the elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, saying publicly, ‘This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother’s family!’ And his lineage shall be spoken of in Israel as ‘the family of the man stripped of his sandal.’ (Dt 25,5-10).

John the Baptist had just denounced Herod this adultery and Herodias hated him for that reason to the point of wishing his death. A sin is never left alone. It is enough that one enters into our hearts, and a myriad of other sins immediately arise in it. Who wants to watch from falling into most horrendous sins, must guard against falling into the sins that today are accepted by all as the style and form of life, even as the law of true modernity. Today, all sexual experiences are the law of modernity. Abortion is modernity and progress. Divorce is the law of civilization, progress in human development. Who fall into these sins by now accepted by everyone, sooner or later comes to the most sins, nefarious horrendous of true perversity.

King Herod heard about it, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah”; still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.” But when Herod learned of it, he said, “It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.” Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’s own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore (many things) to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Never had Herod wished to kill John the Baptist. However, he does not know that in the heart of the wicked who rules is sin. His sin of adultery turns him into a lustful, into a depraved person. He has also lustful desires on the daughter of his concubine. These desires make him utter an foolish, insane and ignorant oath. Herod is doomed to be the murderer of the greatest of the prophets right by his own sin. It is a sad story, but it is not just of Herod alone. It is of anyone that lets sin come into his heart and be governed by it. Who is ruled by sin, knows where he starts and will never know where he will end. This is the real slavery of sin.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints free us from all sin.