The Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist, Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Mark 6, 17-29

Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

“Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.”  The Herod who killed John was not the same Herod who tried to kill the Infant Jesus.  That was the one who has gone down in history as Herod the Great for his immense building projects.  He died of an excruciating disease in Jericho not long after the Birth of Christ.  The Herod who killed John was one of his sons, and he ruled Galilee and Perea.  He is called a “king” in the New Testament but the title was never his.  He lived from about 20 B.C. until 39 A.D.  The Roman Emperor Caligula deposed him due to reports of his part in a conspiracy, and he was exiled to the province of Gaul.  Herod’s divorce of his first wife and marriage to Herodias led to nothing but trouble.  Besides further alienating his subjects, his first wife was the daughter of an Arab king, and the divorce led to a catastrophic war with that king a few years after the Lord’s Ascension into heaven.

The divorce itself did not cause John the Baptist to cry out against Herod, for divorce was granted by the Law.  But Herod then married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip (also known as Herod II), who had divorced him, and this was forbidden by the Law.  This marriage was criticized not only by John but even from within Herod’s family and proved very unpopular with the Jewish people.  Herod sought to quell the outrage by arresting and killing his critics, and thus John the Baptist was arrested.

“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”  John need not have said this to Herod face to face but only to have condemned the marriage publicly.  Since John did not preach in Galilee, he must have been arrested in the territory of Perea, on the eastern bank of the Jordan, a territory Herod also ruled.  As a public figure preaching repentance, John had a responsibility to condemn it, much as bishops today should rebuke politicians claiming to be Catholic when actively opposing or undermining Church teaching, because of the scandal involved.  Otherwise, as private individuals, we ought to exercise prudence in speaking to family members and friends about some egregious act against the Faith, such as marrying outside of the Church, lest we chase these folks away from repentance.  “Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.”  It was not enough for her that John was silenced through his imprisonment.  She nourished a personal hatred for John despite knowing that she had married in contradiction to the Law, though ostensibly Jewish.  “When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.”  Herod was rendered perplexed by John because he could not reconcile his secular outlook with John’s preaching on the Kingdom and the coming of the Messiah.  Herod may have thought of himself as the Messiah, encouraged by the flattery of his courtiers and those supporters known to Scripture as “the Herodians”.  

“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”  We should say this to God and only to God.  This is what the saints and those wishing to become saints do.  Herod sets his sensual appetites before him as his god and winds up in a terrible situation.  “The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her.”  Those who put great stock in appearances and in the opinion of others become their slaves.  Herod had probably already lost the respect of his guests by making such an oath to a dancing girl, and he would lose more by carrying out her request despite its immorality and its likelihood to further inflame the citizens of his realm against him.

“So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison.”  It is not known how long John was kept in the prison, though a period of months seems not extreme.  The prison itself would have been of small size, unlighted, and unsanitary.  It was made as a holding place for those to be executed shortly after arrest, not for a long term.  “He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother.”  One wonders what the mother did with it, apart from serving as a trophy to her skill at manipulation and as a testament to her hatred.  In fact, though, it serves us as a trophy of steadfastness to God’s will in the face of persecution.  It is supposed to be kept at the Cathedral at Amiens, France, brought from Constantinople during the Crusades.

“When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.”  John’s soul in heaven basks in the glory of the One whom he announced while his body awaits its rising on the Last Day.  Let us ask St. John the Baptist to pray for us on earth that we might persevere as he did, looking forward to the coming of the Lord.