Herod Antipas, or Herod the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, heard about Jesus and all the speculation around exactly who He was (perhaps John the Baptist risen from the dead,or Elijah, or one of the other prophets) and "kept trying to see him," Luke tells us in today's gospel (Lk 9: 7-9). In the abstract, of course, that's not a bad thing. Plenty of people wanted to see Jesus, and people still comb through the scriptures today trying to "see" Jesus, if you will, in the sense of trying to get a better picture of who He was and is. The issue is why are people doing that, or, more precisely, why was Herod wanting to see Jesus. That matters because the reason for the inquiry can color the outcome. If you want to see Jesus so that you can understand Him and connect with Him, and perhaps become His follower, as was the case with Nathanael, to whom Philip says "come and see" when Nathanael expresses skepticism that Jesus could be the Messiah (Jn 1: 44-46), you have the chance at a truly life-changing outcome. Jesus' disciples experienced that. But if you want to see Jesus so that you can be amused, or mock, or generate ammunition to use to attack Him, you are likely to fail to see what is really there. That is the experience that Herod actually has. We see that later in Luke's Gospel, when Jesus is sent to Herod by Pilate when Pilate is looking for a way out of his dilemma-- he doesn't want to order Jesus' execution but the crowd seems to be forcing that decision on him. Herod, Luke tells us, is pleased to see Jesus, whom he had been wanting to see for a long time (Lk 23: 8). So what does Herod do with this opportunity? Does he seek to connect with Jesus, to learn who He really is, perhaps to be converted? Nope, he peppers Him with questions and, when Jesus doesn't answer, he turns to mocking Him (Lk 23:10-11). It seems that Herod wanted to meet Jesus only for Herod's amusement, perhaps so that Herod could see a miracle actually worked in his presence, giving him a witty antecdote to recount at his next cocktail party. Herod wanted to see Jesus on Herod's terms and for Herod's benefit, not so that he might truly know and love Jesus. We want to see Jesus as well, so we might ask ourselves about the state of our minds and hearts as we do so. Are we like Nathanael, open to seeing the mystery that may unfold? Or are we like Herod, only hoping for something out of the ordinary to amuse us? Or perhaps we have some other agenda. Maybe we want to see Jesus so that we can try to make Him what we want Him to be, more in our image, easier to deal with, not as demanding. As is so often the case, the attitude with which we approach the experience has a profound impact on the experience itself. What is our attitude as we seek to experience Jesus?