Homily — Beheading of the Holy Forerunner, Prophet and Baptist John

​In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is in our midst! Today, we celebrate the martyrdom and repose of the Holy Forerunner, Prophet and Baptist John. It is sobering to consider how such a mighty prophet of God was slain in such undignified circumstances. While the deaths of other martyrs were bloody and violent, in some ways they were able to see and embrace the meaning of their sacrifice more easily. They were directly persecuted for their confession of faith. This is what the Roman Empire imposed upon them, they lived and witnessed for as long as they could, and when their witness led them to the ultimate sacrifice they went with dignity.


Yet far more often in our own times, those who are killed by the powers of empire for their subversive lives of faith and righteousness are killed in the shadows. By secret arms of the state, or by the violence of the mob. In this case, John’s death was a state execution motivated by a combination of political expediency, immoral oaths and the lust of the powerful to take what they please. In order to know what spiritual hope and wisdom we might glean from this gospel, we must first understand these cruel motives.


First, let us consider the most obvious motive, lust and the lust for power. We see the dance of Herodias’ daughter, the daughter of Herod’s sister-in-law who was also now his wife. Herod is moved by this dance to give Herodias and her daughter whatever they want. The Church Fathers and mothers suggest that Herod was motivated by lust. In order to understand this however, we must clear some of the debris around the concept of lust that has been laid by reactionary religious people. Lust is more than simply strong sexual desire. It is true that being strongly attracted to someone can lead us to make unwise decisions, but even these do not necessarily qualify as lustful, only foolish. Lust enters the picture when we act as if our desire is more important than the autonomy of others, when we harm others or violate their freedom and rights in pursuit of what we want. It is worth noting that privilege (be it racial, gender-based, economic or social) often magnifies the impact of lust, and social power (like that of kings, wealthy businessmen and state agents) puts people in a position to do much more damage as a result. In this case, we see a king who, despite his own misgivings, ultimately sees the holy prophet as no more than an expendable pawn in the flirtatious interplay between himself, his illicit wife and his wife’s beautiful daughter. Indeed, Herodias commits a similar sin by using her daughter as an agent of her own will to see John the Baptist dead. Pride and the misuse of power can be temptations to anyone, and can enter through a variety of situations. We must be careful that in all we do, we honor each person as an icon of God and do not seek to use them as means to our own ends, whether those ends be sexual, social, financial, or otherwise.


Second, hastily sworn oaths. Herod promises anything up to half his kingdom. We see again how money and power can multiply the effects of bad oaths. Christ warns his followers to “let your yes be yes and your no be no”. We are to speak with emotional honesty and openness about what we want, what we will do for someone, and what we promise. We protect one another when we do so. If we are caught in keeping a bad promise, this too can liberate us. Oaths are not to be held above righteousness, and faithfulness to God and neighbor sometimes means breaking a promise to the state, our superiors or our equals, fellow children of God who have asked for the unreasonable or the unethical. It is not the oath itself that is righteous, but the fidelity to acts of mercy and justice we make an intention to do for one another. We must say we will do good and then follow through, and we must neither say we will do evil nor follow through with evil acts, inasmuch as we are able. Herod cared more about his reputation and the maintaining of decorum and political power than with justice. To keep an unjust oath is unjust, to break an unjust oath is justice. Even better still, we ought to simply be people who both say and do good, without threats of oath to hold us to it.


Finally, political expediency. In this, the evangelist shows us to be wary of those who claim to be friends of God and humankind but harm God’s children outside of the public eye. It is said that Herod feared and respected John as a righteous man. Clearly, his public behavior amongst his court showed that he was interested in looking like he was doing the right thing. Maybe on some level, he even truly wanted to do the right thing. Until the moment it cost him something. The moment he was threatened with a loss of power and prestige, he caved and condemned an innocent man to death. The moment Herod’s cronies needed him to bend his morals to play the game of power, he bent. We should be wary of those in power who do this. We should also be wary of those in our communities who may do this, and in our own hearts when we are tempted to sacrifice the right thing for the easy thing. We may not all have the power to sentence someone to death, but all of us may be in a situation where doing the right thing may cost us friends, influence, comfort or power. We must be willing to accept the loss, and be friends of God first and foremost.


These would be sufficient lessons to apply to our lives. Yet it would do a disservice to the gospel to speak of its warning without also speaking of its promise. And even in the midst of such a senseless death, God works wonders through his forerunner which can encourage us to this day.


When righteous people are killed by the powers that be, it is often done in the shadows. The systems of sin and oppression in our human society seek to perpetuate loneliness and fragmentation. If they can bury the memory of beloved workers for justice and mercy, if they can instill fear to scatter communities, they will. They seek to make each person seeking wholeness feel as if they are alone. Yet the witness of the apostles in the wake of John’s death can remind us that we are not alone. They came, they bore his body away, and lovingly buried it. In so doing, they remembered who he was and is. Just as importantly, they came together as a community. They reminded each other of their shared love for John, and that they would continue to be there for one another to carry on his mission with Christ. Indeed, perhaps this was a small rehearsal for the Lord’s Passion. In the midst of that even greater loss, of course the apostles scattered. But maybe some small memory of their convocation, their sacred gathering around John’s body, helped remind them that God would bring them back together again even in the bewilderment of Christ’s death. We do well, beloved, when we speak memory, love and truth about our departed loved ones and heroes, against the forces that might seek to scatter us from them. 


The saints also bear insight into John’s death. It is said by holy tradition that John preached to the dead in Hades, preparing the way for Christ’s own descent into Hell as he prepared for Christ’s incarnation. Across the cosmos, in life and in death, a voice cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” From this we can take a deep comfort and hope. Not only does Christ open up a path from death to life for all beings, but the wisdom of God’s prophets follows us even past the threshold of this earthly life. Wherever we are on the journey between the present moment and the Kingdom of God, God has sent the divine Word, preached and incarnate, to go before us and to lead the way. May we make no compromise with exploitation and injustice, may we prepare God’s way of love before us in our communities and in our lives, and may we walk that road together into the eternal life God has prepared for us in Christ. Amen.