24 February 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
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“But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.” Genesis 19:16
The angels tell Lot to gather his family and leave Sodom, for the city will be destroyed. His sons-in-law think he is joking. At dawn the angels urge him again, “But he lingered.” Lot knows the danger and still cannot bring himself to go; his house, his goods and his habits hold him back. Then comes one of the most tender lines in Genesis: “the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out.” Even outside he bargains: not the hills, but a little town nearby, “is it not a little one?” And God grants it. In the third week of the Fast many of us are like Lot: we know what we must leave, and we linger. God does not abandon the one who lingers. He takes us by the hand. But he also says: “Flee for your life; do not look back.”
Paul's words are blunt: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one… All have turned aside.” Every mouth is silenced before God, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” No one escapes Sodom by his own goodness; all of us need to be taken by the hand. Today the Church remembers the finding of the head of St John the Baptist, the prophet who called Israel to repentance. The Gospel tells how he died: John had told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have her,” and for that truth he was imprisoned and beheaded at a banquet, to keep a foolish oath. St John Chrysostom contrasts the two men: John in chains was free, and Herod on his throne was a slave to his passions and to the opinion of his guests (in substance). Herod lingered between conscience and pride and chose pride. John did not linger; he spoke the truth and gave his life. His head, honoured by the Church through the centuries, reminds us that the voice which said “Repent” was not silenced.
Theme: “The Lord being merciful to him.”
On the day of the finding of John the Baptist's head: the man who lingered, the truth that all have sinned, and the prophet who did not linger.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;” Isaiah 55:6
“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” 2 Corinthians 6:2
Apply: Make your Lenten confession this week instead of waiting for Holy Week.
“They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.” Psalm 14:3
“since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:23–24
Apply: Each time you are tempted to judge someone this week, pray: Lord, have mercy on us both.
“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:8
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30
Apply: Speak one necessary truth this week, gently and without fear.
God's mercy takes the lingering by the hand.
John, who did not linger, was free even in chains.
Take-home resolution: Leave behind, this week, the sin you have lingered over longest.
Dear friends, the angels urged Lot to leave Sodom. But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out (Genesis 19:16).
We too linger over what we know we must leave. God is patient: he takes us by the hand. But he also says: flee for your life; do not look back (Genesis 19:17).
Paul reminds us that no one escapes by his own goodness: there is no one who is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). We all need the hand of mercy.
Today we remember the finding of the head of St John the Baptist. He told Herod: it is not lawful for you to have her (Matthew 14:4), and died for it. Herod lingered between conscience and pride and chose pride. John did not linger. Let us not linger either. Amen.
Children, Lot was slow to leave the bad city, so the angels took his hand and led him out. God is kind and patient with us too. St John the Baptist was brave and always told the truth, even to the king. Ask Jesus to make you brave to tell the truth.
Merciful Lord, when Lot lingered in Sodom you took him by the hand and led him out. Take us by the hand when we hesitate to leave our sins. We confess that none of us is righteous before you; have mercy on us. Give us the courage of St John the Baptist, who spoke the truth to the powerful and gave his life for it, and keep us free from the pride that enslaved Herod. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today's two main readings show two kinds of hesitation. Lot knows he must leave, and lingers, and God's mercy takes him by the hand. Herod knows John is right, and keeps his oath and his face instead of the truth. The Epistle (Romans 3:10–20) sets all of us beside them: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one”. The Church also remembers the finding of the head of St John the Baptist.
Setting.
The night of violence is over and the messengers now explain why they came. The “outcry” heard in 18:20 has reached the Lord, and the city is to be destroyed. They give Lot time to warn his family. What follows is a slow, almost painful escape, and most of the delay comes from the man being rescued.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.” (19:14)
A warning from someone who has lived comfortably among them for years does not carry much weight. Faith that has not been lived sounds like a joke.
“But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.” (19:16)
One of the tenderest lines in Genesis. Knowing that one must leave is not yet leaving. God does not wait until Lot is brave.
“do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain;” (19:17)
Rescue comes with an instruction. Being taken by the hand does not end the need to walk.
“is it not a little one?” (19:20)
Even now Lot bargains, and God allows it. This is a very human picture of someone who wants to be saved, but only partly and close to home.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Letter of Peter draws the lesson that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial” (2 Peter 2:9). The Church sees here what the Catechism says of grace: the very preparation for receiving grace is already a work of grace (CCC 2001). Paul's words today say the same in another way: no human being is justified by deeds prescribed by the law, and all alike need to be taken by the hand.
Setting.
Herod in this passage is Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, who ruled Galilee and Perea under Rome from 4 BC to AD 39. Matthew calls him “the ruler” (tetrarch), and in verse 9 “the king”, as people commonly did.
The Jewish historian Josephus also writes of John's imprisonment and death (Antiquities 18). He says that John was held at the fortress of Machaerus and that Antipas feared his influence over the people. The Gospels stress his moral rebuke. The two accounts need not exclude each other. Josephus and the Gospels differ on the name of Herodias's earlier husband, a detail historians still discuss.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”” (14:4)
The verb suggests that he said it more than once. John did not stop at safe sins.
“The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given;” (14:9)
A person may feel sorrow and still do the wrong thing, because of what others would say.
“His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.” (14:12)
A quiet ending. They carry their grief to the right person. The next verse says that Jesus withdrew to a deserted place, and it is the prelude to the feeding of the five thousand.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls John the Lord's immediate forerunner (CCC 523) and teaches that martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith (CCC 2473). St Bede, in a homily still read by the Church, says that John was not asked to deny Christ, only to keep silent about the truth, and yet he died for Christ, who is the truth (in substance). St John Chrysostom contrasts John in chains with Herod on his throne, and shows which of them was truly bound (in substance).
What is the “finding of the head”? Do we know that the relic is genuine?
Matthew says only that the head was given to Herodias's daughter and that the disciples buried the body. Ancient Christian accounts, which differ in their details, tell of the head being found and honoured, and more than one city later claimed to have the relic. We cannot settle the history, and the Church does not ask us to. The commemoration honours the prophet who lost his head rather than his witness, and it reminds us that the Church treasures even the bodily remains of those who died for the truth.
Our Antiochene tradition holds St John the Baptist in great honour, and in the Great Fast he is a fitting companion: he preached repentance, lived in the desert, and did not change his message to suit the powerful.