Word to the Wise
Monday, August 29, 2022 - Aug. 29 - The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
[Jer 1:17-19 and Mark 6:17-29]"I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist!" [Mark]
Not long ago this feast was titled "The Beheading of John the Baptist!" Perhaps the liturgical powers-that-be decided that title was a bit too graphic and changed it to something that sounds a bit more noble. No matter what one calls it, the scene is gruesome. Richard Strauss composed an opera entitled SALOME' (the traditional name of the dancing girl) which features this very scene and elicits a collective "EWWWWW" from the audience when the bloody head is brought in on a platter! And it all happened because John the Baptist criticized Herod publicly for marrying a woman who was both his niece and his sister-in-law!!! She didn't appreciate it and when Herod made his drunken promise to Salome' who was the daughter of Herodias (the lady in question), the mom saw her chance to get revenge!!
It may be that the evangelist Mark meant this scene to be a kind of prefiguring of what would happen to Jesus at the hands of a jealous and resentful Jewish leadership that co-opted the Romans into doing away with Jesus. But John's fate was and is the fate of many prophetic figures. If one challenges abusive powerful figures, one can expect an abusive, and sometimes lethal, response. This happens often in public political life. But there are moments in all organizations or societies when irritating prophetic figures put their finger on neuralgic, dirty and abusive behavior by the "powers-that-be" and pay a severe price for speaking out! Our church is no exception to this phenomenon. For all his status as the "herald of Christ," at least John the Baptist is a "profile in courage" for challenging Herod (and by extension his resentful "wife"). How courageous would we be? AMEN