John the Baptist is the only saint, apart from the Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose birth and death are celebrated on the church’s’ calendar.
The accounts of his birth and issues surrounding his naming indicated that he was a special child. Indeed, his name ‘John’ was given by the Angel Gabriel who appeared to his father in the Temple. (Luke 1:4).
He grew into a powerful preacher whom the king loved and hated at the same time. The account of his death is recorded by all the synoptic gospels (Mtt 14:1-12; Mk 6:14-27; Lk 9:9). His martyrdom is celebrated on 29th August.
The gospel for the celebration of the tragic death of John the Baptist is taken from Mark 6:14-27. John began his preaching by calling people to repentance. He challenged those who came to him to a radical conversion of heart. Being the “…the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord” (Jn 1:23), he denounced every act of evil and called his hearers to the obedience of God’s commandments. He was fierce and uncompromising in preaching the truth. He provoked even the Pharisees and Sadducees alike to produce “good fruits as evidence of their repentance” (Mtt 3:8).
The turning point in the life of this great preacher was when he “dared” to call the king to order. According to the synoptic gospels (Mtth, Mk and Lk), Herod had done something very wrong. He had taken his brothers’ wife for himself. John stood up to him telling him, “it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18). Herodias, the woman in this adulterous relationship was not too pleased with John and harboured hatred towards him.
On his birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced and pleased the King to the extend that the king promised to give anything she asked for, even half of his kingdom. The girl consulted the mother and came back to the king asking for the head of John the Baptist. This greatly distressed the King but because he did not wish to break his word on account of all the dignitaries present, he gave the order for John to be murdered.
LESSONS
- Like John we are all called to what I call the martyrdom of truth. We must not compromise on the fight for the truth. Truth does not favour tribe, race or social class. Truth finds it’s home only in the hearts that are honest and sincere. We must all stand up for the truth as against falsehood and evil. We do that by fighting for justice and righteousness in our communities and churches. Jesus is the truth (Jn 14:6). When we fight for the truth we fight for Jesus.
- In the fight for truth and justice, silence is not golden. John was asked to be silent about the truth but he refused. We too must refuse to be silent when truth is being trampled upon and disregarded.
- We must be courageous in the fight for justice and truth. John did not fear to speak the truth even to the king. This kind of courage can only be result of a conviction of truth and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We must be totally committed to the enterprise of truth and pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the courage we need. We need courage to speak truth to those in places of power and authority.
- Never give up until you see change. To bring about a revolution of truth and justice will definitely not be a one-day event. We must speak and work for truth to pervade our communities constantly. We must not give up after a few tries. John spoke when he was free and continued to tell the king the truth even in prison till his death. All of us need to have people in our circles who will speak the truth to us. We all need people who will be sincere with us. This makes us live conscious lives.
- We must respond to the message of John the Baptist: REPENTANCE. We must change and live our lives in accord with the word of God. When we refuse to repent we could easily become like Herod, and rise against those who are for the truth.
By Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
