So here we are at this swanky party in Matthew chapter 14.

It's a very odd collection of people, but like a lot of parties, everybody's there to make

everybody else feel better about their weird stuff.

And in particular, we've got a tension here between a guy who has been publicly shamed

by a truth teller with nothing to lose.

And his wife who's also sort of his niece and his former sister-in-law and current wife

is all the same person that I'm talking about here.

This is a very strange social setting.

And the host of this birthday party would really like to kill the person who's sitting down

in the prison cell, but understands they'll be too big a political price to pay.

But his new wife slash former niece slash former sister-in-law doesn't feel any such

hesitations about the political fallout.

She wants that truth teller in that prison cell gone.

So at Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodius, Matthew 14.6 here, danced for them and

pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

This feels so much like the book of Esther.

It feels like the banquet where King Xerxes is hosting everybody and getting all licked

up.

Not a thing.

As the original audience is reading this text, they all would have had come to mind the

story of Esther.

I mean, this is a book that was read aloud to the entire assembly every year as part of

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