Distress That Does Not Lead to Change
When the fame of Jesus reached Herod’s palace in Matthew 14:1–12, it produced distress rather than faith. Herod had no intellectual difficulty with the supernatural; he feared that John the Baptist had risen from the dead to haunt him. His real obstacle was moral. John had publicly condemned Herod for unlawfully marrying his brother’s wife, and although Herod wanted the prophet dead, he feared the crowds and so imprisoned him instead. At a birthday banquet Herodias’s daughter danced and delighted the guests; her mother seized the moment and had the girl request John’s head on a platter. Trapped by his own reckless oath and the watching eyes of the court, Herod gave the order.
Herod represents a life ruled by ego and the opinions of others. He felt the prick of conscience yet had no intention of changing. The irony is sharp: John died with a clear conscience while Herod lived with a guilty one. Scripture distinguishes two kinds of sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7:10. Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret; worldly grief produces only death, because it mourns the loss of human approval rather than the loss of fellowship with God. Many today remain open to spiritual ideas yet resist any call to holiness and purity. Encountering Jesus always brings a confrontation with sin. The question is how we will respond. Will we stay stuck in pride, managing appearances, or will we allow the Spirit to expose what must be addressed and turn to Christ for healing?
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