So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison. (Luke 3:18-20)

What is the purpose of faith? The psalm assigned for today suggests one answer: "The Lord answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion... May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans." (Psalm 21)

In one way or another this is often my prayer. God is instrumental. God is protector and patron.

Freud argued, "When the growing individual finds that he is destined to remain a child for ever, that he can never do without protection against strange powers, he lends those powers the features belonging to the figure of his father; he creates for himself the gods whom he dreads, whom he seeks to propitiate, and whom he nevertheless entrusts with his own protection. Thus his longing for a father is a motive identical with his need for protection against the consequences of his human weakness."

But the great stories of individual faith are seldom (ever?) narratives of success, or even protection. John joins a great company of prophets and, eventually, martyrs who are, if anything, led to give away their heart's desires and forsake their plans.

Note: That Luke, the most historically-oriented of the gospels, writes here of John's imprisonment by Herod suggests that John was imprisoned at least once before he baptized Jesus.