Preached this morning 6:30a and 8a at Christ the King -  for the Feast of the Passion and Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist:

            So King Herod married his brother’s wife.  If that were to happen today, they’d probably make a reality TV show out of it!  I mean you can’t buy a quart of milk at the store these days without being confronted by as bad or worse on the tabloid covers.  This one cheating with that one, sordid celebrity tales and the like, but hey, people buy this stuff.

            But it seems to me if one is to speak out against immorality in today’s culture, you’re immediately labeled “judgmental” – it’s a popular word these days, and the absolute worst sort of thing you can be called, don’t you know.  I dare say, in a society that has seemingly lost any sense of sin, personal sin or social sin, the only sin left is to be judgmental!

            John the Baptist was, without a doubt, judgmental.  He saw what was going on and wouldn’t be silent.  He saw, and labeled, sinful behavior.  And he called the people to repentance, “prepare ye the way of the Lord.  Of the One who is coming,” he said, “I am not fit to loosen the thongs of His sandals.” 

            To the King, Herod, who had the power of life and death, John had the courage to speak the truth – your marriage, your highness, is unlawful.  John fulfilled his calling as prophet – to speak truth to power.  And the King wouldn’t have it, nor His wife.  And he paid the ultimate price, the occasion of today’s feast.

            The bad news (or good news, at least the challenging news) is this.  By our own baptisms, you and I are called to be priest, prophet and king.  We are called to be prophets in our own world.  To not keep silent in the face of evil.  To not concern ourselves with “what are people going to think?”  or “am I going to get my head handed to me?”   

            We have had such prophets in our lifetimes – people like Martin Luther King who stood against injustice and, like John, paid with his life.  I recently witnessed such prophets during the Fortnight for Freedom.  Hundreds of ordinary Christians gathering and speaking out against unjust infringement on religious liberty.  Another example is this - while I’m not 100% on board with their message or tactics, there was a prophetic meaning in last year’s “Occupy” crowd in New York City – there is truth in the message that unbridled capitalism, the pursuit of profit without constraint, can cause great evil.

            But there is a real risk here – the downside of being prophetic – and that is this – we are all sinners.  We all need to heed John’s call to repentence.  We must look within our selves – for we have in today’s Gospel a case study of where evil comes from – it comes from within.  We saw this in yesterday’s Gospel and will hear it again this Sunday.  The combination of Herod’s pangs of guilt, Herodius’ grudge against John, Herod’s drunkenness and lust from Salome’s dance, and finally his pride, having sworn an oath in front of his dinner guests.  All this sin came bubbling up from within their hearts – it came together to lead to John’s demise – all came from within.

            So, my brothers and sisters, you and I do well to first be judgmental to ourselves – to examine our own hearts – to find what sin comes from within us, and to repent, asking God to create in us pure hearts.  So that we may be, as St. Paul tells us today, a model for others to imitate. 

            Let us approach the altar of grace, then, to be strengthened and purified, so that we may be courageous prophets in our own day.  And so that we may point the way to the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.