God’s grace, peace and mercy be with
you. My sermon title is The Baptist and
the Birthday Boy. My focus is Mark 6:14-29. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,
the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they
said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
As we age, most birthdays pass with
little notice, save the obligatory greetings we post on Facebook, LinkedIn and
elsewhere. We may receive a card in the mail or a text or voicemail on our
phones, but it’s more likely that people will not remember our birthdays.
You may remember what you did for
your most recent birthday, but probably not what you did in 2016 or 2015. I do
not. There are, however, ways to make those days memorable. Have a theme party.
Whether yours is a poker party or picnic, hippy based or a hula party, Star
Wars or Disco themed, your next birthday party can be memorable. Everything you
need to know can be found on social media and the web.
Of course, nobody threw a party as
memorable as the infamous Herod. The Gospel today describes how John the
Baptist was victim of the corruption and arrogance of the government of Herod.
He died without being judged by a tribunal, but during a banquet given by Herod
with the great men of the kingdom.
The text gives much information
about the time of the life of Jesus and how the powerful exercised power. From
the beginning of the Gospel of Mark we see a situation of suspense. Mark wrote:
“After
John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God!”[1]
In today’s Gospel, almost suddenly, we know that Herod had already killed John
the Baptist. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: What will he do now with Jesus?
Will he suffer the same destiny?
Rather than drawing up a balance of
the opinions of the people and of Herod on Jesus, Mark asks another question:
“Who is Jesus?” This last question grows throughout the Gospel until it
receives a definitive response from the centurion at the foot of the Cross: “Truly,
this man was the Son of God!”[2]
Who is Jesus? Some associated Jesus
to John the Baptist and to Elijah. Others identified him with a Prophet, that
is, with someone who spoke in the name of God, who had the courage to denounce
the injustices of the powerful and who knew how to animate the hope of the
little ones.
People tried to understand Jesus
starting from the things that they themselves knew, believed and hoped. They
tried to make him fit into familiar criteria of the Old Testament with its
prophecies and its hopes, and of the Tradition of the Ancient, with their laws.
But these criteria were not sufficient. Jesus could not fit in those criteria.
He was much greater!
In verses 17-20, we come to the cause
for the killing of John. Galilee, the land of Jesus, was governed by Herod
Antipas, the son of King Herod, the Great, from the year 4 BC up to the year 39
after Christ. In all, 43 years! During the whole life time of Jesus, there had
been no changes in the government of Galilee! Herod Antipas was the absolute
Lord of everything; he listened to no one and did whatever he pleased! But the
one, who really commanded in Palestine, from the year 63 BC, was the Roman
Empire. Herod, in order not to be removed from office, tried to please Rome in
everything. He insisted above all, in an efficient administration which would
provide income for the Roman Empire. The only thing that concerned or worried
him was his security and promotion. This is why he repressed any type of
subversion.
A writer of that time says that the
reason for the imprisonment of John the Baptist was the fear that Herod had of
a popular revolt. Herod liked to be called benefactor of the people, but in reality,
he was a tyrant.[3]
The denouncement of John against him[4]
was the drop which filled up the cup, and John was thrown into prison.
We come to the plot of the
murdering. The birthday feast with dancing and orgies was an environment in
which alliances were plotted. It was attended by great court officials and
important people from Galilee. Here, the murdering of John the Baptist was
plotted. John, the prophet, was a living denouncement in this corrupt system.
This is why he was eliminated under the pretext of a problem of personal
vengeance. All this reveals the moral weakness of Herod. So much power
accumulated in the hands of a man who did not control himself. Under the
enthusiasm of the feast and of the wine, Herod swore lightly to give something
to the young dancer. And superstitious as he was, he thought that he had to
maintain his oath.
For Herod, the life of his subjects
had no value. He used them as he wanted and decided what to do with them just
as he decided where to place the chairs in his house. Mark gives an account of
how things happened and lets the community draw the conclusions.
Tyrants and terrorists can learn
lessons from the life of Herod, but what can we learn from the Baptist? IN the
7th century, Bede the Venerable wrote these words. “As
forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in
his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of
Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of
immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful
celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering
and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We do rightly
revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom
the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.
There
is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to
our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His
persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should
keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not
say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he
surely died for Christ.
Through
his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth,
preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ
also would suffer.
Such
was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present
life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom
of heavenly peace yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away
in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life
and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which
is Christ. John was baptized in his own blood, though he had been privileged to
baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him,
and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure
temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men
as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy
would be his reward.
Since
death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such
men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal
life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You
have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to
suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones
should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.
The
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that is to be revealed in us. My friends, I repeat that line because when
we stand for truth, we stand for Christ. When we set aside personal preferences
and political parties, likes and dislikes, …, and stand simply for truth, for
Christ and what he preached – repentance from sin and the Kingdom of God, we
will suffer in the present, but will experience the glory of martyrdom, whether
we are ostracized or shunned, disowned or unfriended, whether we die naturally
or at the hands of unbelievers, we will experience the incomparable glory of
which St. Paul wrote, and when we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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