Luke 3:19,20

Such a little reading today, but one of importance - John the Baptist's imprisonment.  John didn't just baptize people in the desert.  He also spoke out against injustices in the leadership of the country. 

A little background on Herod:

"The Herod family were Idumeans. That is, they were descended from Abraham through Isaac and Esau, rather than through Isaac and Jacob. They saw themselves as Jewish, participating in God's covenant with Abraham, but their ancestors had not gone to Egypt with Joseph or returned with Moses and Joshua.  [While this family followed the law for the most part, they corrupted their faith with Roman ideals.  Basically, they followed the laws they liked & dismissed the ones that were inconvient to them.]

Herod the Great ruled when Jesus was born.  He was the king the Magi visited.  Jospeh and Mary fled to Egypt due to his order to kill all Jewish males under the age of 3 years old.

Herod Archelaus ruled Judea after the death of his father, Herod the Great. In Matthew 2: 22, Joseph decided to take his family north to Galilee, because he was also afraid of Archelaus. Archelaus

His brother, Herod Antipas, was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. In the New Testament, he is called Herod the Tetrarch. Another brother, Herod Philip, was tetrarch of Iturea, Gaulanitis, and Trachonitis. Their cousin, Herodias, first married and divorced an uncle living in Rome, then married Philip, and then divorced Philip to marry Antipas."  http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/herod.htm

So, John spoke out against this unlawful marriage as Herodias was not only a cousin, but had  married her way up through the family.  Herod Antipas was offended that anyone should dare to speak out against him, so he imprisioned John.  Hmmmm . . . sounds like pride to me.  How often do we let ourselves get offended when someone points out our bad choices?  We dig in & just make worst choices instead of listening to wise councel all because we our pride was wounded.  Nobody likes being told when they're wrong, but the wise person will admit their mistakes.

John was especially hard on Herod because he professed to be a Jew and he was a man of great power.  He helped to set the example for those under his leadership.  Unfortunately, his example said money, power, & lust are more important than God.  Remember - to whom much is given, much will be expected.  Those in power will always be judged more harshly.