The death of John the Baptist is not really a story that feels like Good News, and not one we would naturally choose for a Sunday morning.
It tells us of the violent and pointless death of John the Baptist.
Now John was the one who went before Jesus, preparing his way and making the paths straight. John baptised Jesus in the river Jordan, he was there when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and he heard the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus as the beloved Son of the Father. It was John who prophetically recognised Jesus as, ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’.
Jesus and John have much in common and their lives appear to run in parallel.They are cousins of a similar age. Their lifestyle and preaching irritate the authorities. Both paid the ultimate price with a violent death. In the Gospel according to Luke they are bound together by their conception, birth, and naming. In Mark’s Gospel account, their lives are entwined together by their deaths.
They both suffer at the hands of political figures attempting to keep everyone on side. Any possible friendship or personal respect is ignored as just too risky. Herod and Pilate appeared to enjoy their company and teaching, they knew they were decent men and probably wanted to grant them their freedom, rather than resorting to capital punishment.
…for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
But to please those around him, he ordered John’s death. Pilot had similar thoughts about Jesus. When all around pointed accusing fingers at Jesus and called for his death, it was Pilate who said, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death’.
But the falsehood of human power essentially corrupts.
And when faced with a truth that threatens to diminish those who hold on to power, then people can get hurt. These things happened 2000 years ago to John and Jesus, and around the world they are still happening today. Holding on to the truth can be a dangerous vocation.
Although this story of John’s death is brutal, it contains echoes of the passion of Jesus.
When Herod first heard about the ministry of Jesus, he thought that he was John the Baptist raised from the dead. When John’s disciples heard about his death, they came and took his body, and laid him in a tomb. By using these familiar phrases in recording the death of John, St Mark is reminding those who hear his Gospel that this is what will happen to Jesus.
He too will be captured, violently killed, and his body collected by friends and disciples and laid in a tomb. But thankfully the story doesn’t end there. With Jesus, earthly power did not have the last word.
Early in the morning on the third day, the eternal truth of the Risen Christ broke forth in the Good News of the Resurrection.
Amen.
Fr.Gareth Ingram
Phriest in Charge – The Benefice of CRIFTINS with DUDLESTON and WELSH FRANKTON
and The Benefice of PETTON with COCKSHUTT, WELSHAMPTON, and LYNEAL with COLEMERE
Feature Image: John the Baptist in the wilderness – Hieronymus_Bosch_090, c.1489, Wikicommons, PD.