In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the foul-tempered Queen of Hearts character regularly shouts ‘Off with his (or her) head!’ whenever anyone upsets her.
In Carroll’s bonkers world, where the Queen plays croquet using live hedgehogs as balls and flamingos as mallets, we’re told: ‘The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. ‘Off with his head!’ she said, without even looking around.’
Carroll wrote in 1865. ‘Off with his head’ still creates a fine line between absurd humour and the violence and death caused by those with power…
Yesterday in church Lou talked about David and Goliath. It’s a great story. Good conquers evil, the small guy beats the big guy… with great personal applications… facing up to your giants… not underestimating yourself… using your gifts and talents… trusting God in tough times…
The narrative includes: ‘David ran and stood over him (Goliath). He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.’
‘Off with his head!’ isn’t always included when we’re telling the story to small children.
This morning, reading Matthew… Herod has imprisoned Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. It’s Herod’s birthday. Salome dances for him. He’s so delighted with her dance that he offers her whatever she wants.
After consulting with her mother, Salome asks: ‘Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’ Herod obliges. It’s ‘off with his head!’
Jesus hears the news and needs time out to grieve…’He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.’ It’s a normal, understandable human reaction.
Jesus time for prayer and quiet reflection doesn’t happen. Faced with a large crowd ‘he had compassion on them and healed their sick.’
Musing… In my worst ‘off with his head’ times, when all I want is a bit of ‘me-time’… If I’m a Jesus follower, perhaps I should be looking with compassion and supporting the needy folk around me…
malcolmsmusings.org 