Reading
Mark 6:17-29
17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.
25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Comment
Herod's sin against the Law is twofold: he not only committed adultery but also incest by marrying his stepbrother's wife. John is a model of preaching devoid of hypocrisy, pusillanimity, and prudence dictated by opportunistic reasons. As he had not feared to reprove the people, nor the doctors of the law when they came to be baptized in the Jordan, so he was not afraid to reprove the Tetrarch Herod for his conduct.
In the same way, the apostle Paul will exhort Timothy: "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Tim 4:1-2).
Do our churches and individual Christians keep this model in mind in evangelization? We cannot reduce preaching to a reed swayed by the wind (Mt 11:7) nor can we always clothe it with sweetness and indulgence. John was the "voice of one calling in the wilderness" (Mk 1:3); our churches and we as Christians have the right as well as the duty to speak and act according to justice, rather than bowing to the spirit of the world, to the wind of the moment.
The cry of John the Baptist in the desert is contrasted, almost like a pictorial diptych, by his silence during his imprisonment and at the moment of his death. He is aware that martyrdom will place the definitive seal on his preaching, expressing that radicalism that does not stop even at the risk of losing one's life.
Forerunner of Christ in preparing the way for the preaching of the Gospel; he also anticipates in himself the spirit of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me" (Mt 5:11).
Herod's attitude toward John is a heavy warning towards us. He respected him and "like to listen to him" (Mk 6:20), but he had more scruple about his guests and the desire for Herodias was greater than that for justice towards God.
May our hearts guard the words of Jesus: "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels" (Mk 8:38).
Prayer
May disorderly passions not prevail over us, o Lord, but let the power of your Spirit guide us; so that animated by the detachment from earthly things we can seek heavenly ones. To the praise of your glory. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
