Today's Bible reading is the 14th chapter of the Book of Matthew. You can read it here at Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+14&version=NASB

Matthew 14 contains several accounts that speak of the wonder of our Lord Jesus. There is the feeding the five thousand, Jesus walking on water, Jesus quieting the wind as His disciples feared for their lives out on the sea and the many sick who were cured by simply touching the fringe of His cloak while He was in Gennesaret.

But it is the account of John the Baptist's death that we find in the first twelve verses that I will comment on today. The account seems to be a graphic display of sin and the depravity of man. We are told that John had previously spoken the truth about the unlawfulness of Herod having a relationship with his brother Philip's wife, Herodias. The text tells us that both offenders in the matter, Herod and Herodias, seem to have nurtured a hatred in their hearts for John that led each one to desire his death.

Anyway, the daughter of Herodias, having found favor with Herod when she had danced before him at his birthday celebration, was given the opportunity to ask from Herod whatever she pleased. I suppose that any young lady of that day could have developed quite a list of possible things to ask of Herod, but influenced by her mother and her mother's hatred for John, she asked for John's head to be delivered on a platter. Can you imagine the heart of a woman who would have her daughter ask for such a thing. To use her "one wish", if you will, for this purpose. John was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ' Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!'" He would be the forerunner of Jesus, the One who would bear my sins and the sins of Herodias and her daughter on Calvary. "What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul".