Saturday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Jeremiah 26:11-16,24 | Psalm 68:15-16,30-31,33-34 | Matthew 14:1-12
In today’s Gospel, Herod gets himself into a sticky wicket by making an inadvisable oath to give his step-daughter anything she asked for, and ends up having to behead John the Baptist.
That’s the trouble with oaths: the oath-taker often doesn’t truly appreciate the gravity and/or scope of said oath. In particular, I’m quite sure no couple in history ever really understood what their wedding vows truly encompassed – the trials of figuring out how to live with each other’s quirks and irritations, the stresses of child-rearing, the wandering eyes and other body parts.
Over time, we learn by getting burned, and so we start protecting ourselves with pre-nuptial agreements, with waivers and disclaimers, or even by hiding our crossed fingers behind our backs. Small wonder that Jesus says quite clearly: “do not sweat at all.” (Matthew 5:34)
Yet God Himself has made an oath, a statement of fact that couldn’t be simpler:
I love you.
No hesitations, deviations or prevarications, just a simple, definitive and unconditional declaration.
I love you.
He sealed that oath by sending Jesus to sacrifice Himself in atonement for all our sins.
I love you.
As Christians, we are called to promise our unconditional love in return, both to Him and to everyone around us, in whose faces we see Him looking back at us.
Will we do so?