Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead … Luke 9:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 3, 2014): Luke 9

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has warned the United States and Europe that the extremists who call themselves ISIS are not just a danger in the Middle East. ISIS has recently taken control of a wide swath of territory in Iraq and Syria, but the Saudi King does not want the Western powers to somehow believe that this disturbance will be contained in the Arabic territories. ISIS is an act that is coming to a city near you, and the whole world needs to be aware of their agenda.

The comments seemed to be aimed at bringing the strength of the United States and NATO into the fight against terrorism in the Middle East. According to Abdullah, the time for sitting on the sideline has long past. The world has to get involved in fighting the terrorism on all of the fronts before the terrorists are successful at reaching their goal – the tearing apart of the Middle East. And it is quite likely that Abdullah is right, and maybe wrong at the same time. Terrorism is coming. 9/11 was not the end, it was the down payment. But taking a stand against terrorism is harder than just getting the Western powers involved in the fight. Our reality is that these groups are often segmented and even when they have a clear leader, the removal of the leader simply changes the nature of the group; it will not stop them. Abdullah’s prediction are likely to come true and Western involvement cannot stop it. All that it can do is change it.

Herod had feared John the Baptist. He was never quite convinced that the strange man from the desert was not Elijah come back to life. And if he was Elijah returned to life, then killing was not going to stop him. At best it would simply change him, and change the movement that was sweeping Israel.

So it is not a wonder that when he caught wind of Jesus (evidently he had not been aware of the Jesus movement prior to this) he openly wondered if John – and Elijah – had returned again. And if he had, he wondered what that was going to mean to him? Was it only a matter of time before this movement sought revenge against the king?

But Herod did not understand the Jesus movement, of which John was the forerunner – this movement that was not built on revenge, but love. He also did not understand that Christianity, like the modern day terrorist groups, could not be defeated by simply killing the head of the movement. They would repeatedly try that tactic, first killing John the Baptist, then Jesus, eleven disciples, Paul and many of the early Church Fathers, and still the movement would continue. Jesus message of love for everyone was much too powerful to be stopped. And throughout history many have tried to wipe out the teachings of Jesus, and yet the church continues to flourish and change the world, and provide an alternative to all of the terrorist agendas that this world has to offer.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 6