The Dancing Daughter

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”

And he promised with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you,

up to half of my kingdom.”  She went out and said to her mother, 

“What shall I ask for?

Mark 6:22b-24a

 As a child who performed in public regularly, I always hated it when one of my parents volunteered me to sing or dance for guests visiting our home.  Our friends didn’t buy a ticket to listen to a concert – they came over to chat with my parents.  My reluctance never stopped my folks from pushing me forward. 

Herodius had a method to her madness when she pushed her daughter Salome to perform for Herod.  She knew that if the king and his buddies got drunk enough and her daughter’s dancing got suggestive enough, Herod would get all hot and bothered and fall all over himself trying to please her. 

Her plot went according to script, and a lustful king, with a boast and an oath, offered the dancing daughter any gift in the world – anything.  When Salome approached Herodius for an answer, the woman never batted an eye.  “Tell him you want the head of John the Baptist.”  Her daughter did as she was told.

Summer Reading - New Testament

• Sunday, June 13  Mark 7-9
• Monday, June 14  Mark 10-12
• Tuesday, June 15  Mark 13-15
• Wednesday, June 16  Mark 16
• Thursday, June 17  Luke 1-3
• Friday, June 18  Luke 4-6
• Saturday, June 19  Luke 7-9
• Sunday, June 20  Luke 10-12
• Monday, June 21  Luke 13-15