The Beheading of the Honourable and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy
Read
Acts 13:25-32; Mark 6:14-30
Today’s gospel opens with an implicit question: now that Jesus’ reputation has spread because of the miracles of his disciples, Herod catches wind of Jesus’ ministry and asks whether Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead. Some early Christians may have come across this theory, so Mark lays it to rest: the fact that John is buried at the end of today’s passage, along with things Jesus says elsewhere in the gospel, show that Jesus and John are two different people.
Yet the account of John’s the Baptist’s death does point to Jesus in several ways. Like Jesus, John is a preacher of repentance, calling on people to turn away from sin and selfishness and back toward God. And John and Jesus will both suffer innocently at the hands of someone who finds no fault in them: both Herod and Pilate recognize the holiness of the one whom he will unjustly condemn. This is why the Church recognizes John the Baptist’s death as a martyrdom, even though Christ himself had not yet died and risen: like the martyrs of the Old Testament and the Holy Innocents, John lays down his life for Christ in advance, bearing witness by his death to the life-giving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today we celebrate the last act of the old dispensation, where John the Baptist, as the representative of the Law and Prophets, dies for the sake of righteousness: the next death will lead to the first rising of the new dispensation, as Christ fulfils the Law and Prophets in his resurrection.