As is always the case in such stories, the price of a human life was appallingly low, just a few thousand dollars. You might say this is the modern day version of sin. The right to do anything I want is idolatry. Through John the Baptist God is trying to cut through the maze of idolatry, to cut through ethical and spiritual confusion, to cut through self-justification that comes from attaching divine right status to destructive behavior. And John who aligns himself with the prophetic tradition is not just looking at individual sin but he is looking at corporate sin as well.
All institutions are accountable, both individual and corporate.
He challenged the people of Israel and held the whole nation accountable. Somehow we get the notion that institutions of finance, higher learning, health, communication, faith are somehow absolved from responsible behavior. In God s eyes this is not true. There were churches, even denominations, in this country who were leaders of segregation, who resisted the civil rights movement. Individuals and corporations as institutions are not just accountable to the law of the land, or the principle of supply and demand, they are accountable to God.