The First and Second Finding of the Precious Head of the Holy, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Bpatizer John.
Day 9 of the Great Fast. Polyeleos Feast.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 5:7-16; Vespers-Liturgy – Genesis 4:8-15; Proverbs 5:1-15; 2 Corinthians 4:6-15; Matthew 11:2-15.
Read Genesis 4:8-15
Today while we celebrate the two times the precious head of St. John the Baptist was found, we also reflect on the story of Cain and Abel. We know from the gospels that John the Baptist was beheaded by King Herod at the request of Herod’s daughter after she was coaxed by her mother. Cain killed his brother Abel because Abel’s sacrifice to God was accepted but his was not.
John the Baptist was killed as a fruit of the lustful desires between Herod and his brother’s wife; Abel was killed as a fruit of his brother Cain’s anger. Jesus taught us: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:27-28). Lust and anger are both listed among the “eight evil thoughts” that the monk Evagrius Pontus had written about, and in the case of John the Baptist and Abel, those evil thoughts led to their murders.
St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Sin leads to death, but Jesus Christ is our salvation from sin and death! As we journey through the Great Fast, let us consider ways that lust, anger, and all other evil thoughts may have infested our hearts and minds so that we may repent of them and turn back to Christ in the Mystery of Reconciliation. Jesus taught us that “no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:43-45). May we nurture good thoughts and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that good fruits may flow forth from us.