Fr. Kevin Drew: Defending Truth: Joy Doesn’t Come From Comfort

What did you go out to the desert to see?  A reed swayed by the wind?

What a great question by Christ.  After all, John the Baptist was hardly one to have weak, wobbly knees, for he was the bridge that connected the Old and the New Covenants.  What a fitting place then for John to be—out in the river.

But in Gaudete Sunday’s Gospel, John was no longer in the river.  He was in Herod’s dungeon.  His crime?  He called out the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and called out Herod Antipas for stealing his brother’s wife.

Isn’t it interesting that the Jewish religious leaders did not admonish Herod and Herodias for making a mockery of marriage and causing grave scandal to the Jewish faithful?  That was their job. But in doing their job, they may have ended up with the Baptist in Herod’s dungeon.  So, they chose to live with lies, instead of dying to defend the truth. …