Sometimes it is hard to keep the people, places and events in the Scriptures straight. Was it the prophet Elijah that did such-and-such or was it his student, the prophet Elisha? Was it Elijah that raised from the dead the son of Zarephath’s widow? Was it Elisha who raised from the dead the Shunammite Woman’s son? Where was Jesus the first time that he raised someone from the dead? Was it in the village of Nain? Was it in Capernaum? Was it in Bethany where Lazarus was raised? Or was it Jerusalem? OK, that last one was a trick question—the person Jesus raised from the dead in Jerusalem was none other than himself.
Today’s Gospel (Mark 6:17-29) features one of the Herod’s, the one who ordered the beheading of John the Baptist, Herod Antipas. This Herod was one of the sons of “the other” Herod, Herod the Great who worried over the birth of Jesus. The first wife of Herod Antipas was the daughter of King Aretas from the neighboring Arabian kingdom of the Nabateans. I am sure you can visualize their capital city, Petra, cut into the cliff face in modern day Jordan. You know the place because that is where Indiana Jones went to rescue the Holy Grail. While married to his first wife, Herod Antipas met Herodias, the wife of his Brother Philip, and they lived together adulterously at first, and then they both divorced their respective spouses so they could marry each other. Sin often brings its own punishment, and it certainly did in this case. But that is later in this story.
On his birthday, Herod had a feast for dignitaries, the elders and a thousand chief citizens. The daughter of Herodias, not named in anywhere in the Bible, but identified as Salome by the historian Josephus, danced lasciviously before the guests and “charmed” Herod. (Yuck—she was both his young daughter-in-law and his niece!) In gratitude to the girl, he swore to give her whatever she would ask, up to half his kingdom. The vile girl, on the advice of her wicked mother Herodias, asked that she be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod became apprehensive, for he feared the wrath of God for the murdering of a prophet, especially one whom earlier he had heeded. He also feared the people, who loved the holy Forerunner of Christ. But because of the importance of his guests and his careless oath, he gave orders to cut off the head of Saint John the Baptist and to give it to the daughter of Herodias.
According to tradition, even in death the mouth of the dead preacher of repentance once more opened and proclaimed: “Herod, you should not have the wife of your brother Philip.” The frenzied Herodias repeatedly stabbed the tongue of the prophet with a needle and buried his holy head in an unclean place. But the pious Joanna, wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza, recovered the buried head and reburied it in an earthen vessel on the Mount of Olives, where Herod had a parcel of land. The holy body of John the Baptist was taken that night by his disciples and buried at Sebastia.
John the Baptist, following in the footsteps of the prophets of old, who confronted the kings over immorality, confronted Herod Antipas (also called the tetrarch). John the Baptist preached the truth about fidelity in marriage. John’s preaching to Herod, however, was not successful; Herod and Herodias remained together.
John the Baptist was like most of the prophets of old who enjoyed little success. Jeremiah, the prophet of the first reading today (Jeremiah 1:17-19), despite all his pleadings, would eventually see Jerusalem in the hands of the Babylonians because the people would not listen to his pleas to repent and return to covenant living. The prophets were not called to be successful; rather they were called to preach the word of God, whether welcome or unwelcome. John the Baptist preached to Herod without success, yet John fulfilled his calling; he preached the word of God, welcome or unwelcome. The hostility to his preaching on marriage means that, just as he preceded Christ in his birth, he would also precede Christ in his passion and death.
OK! OK! I hear your pleading! Here is the rest of Herod’s story.
After the murder of St. John the Baptist, Herod continued to govern for a certain time. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, later sent Jesus Christ to him, and Herod mocked Him, too. (Luke 23:7-12).
The judgment of God did eventually come upon Herod, Herodias, and the daughter of Herodias, even during their earthly lives. The Arab King Aretas, in revenge for the disrespect shown his daughter, Herod’s first wife, made war against Herod. As a result, the defeated Herod suffered the wrath of the Roman emperor Caius Caligula (Yes, THAT Caligula) and was exiled with Herodias first to Gaul, and then to Spain. Salome followed them into exile.
According to Josephus, Salome, while crossing the River Sikora (in Gaul) in winter, fell through the ice. The ice gave way in such a way that her body was in the water, but her head was trapped above the ice. Imagine the scene of her feet flailing helplessly in the icy water, just as her feet had deftly enthralled her father-in-law, her uncle, during that long-ago birthday party. She remained trapped until such time when the sharp ice finally cut through her neck. Her corpse was never found, but her head was brought to Herod and Herodias, as they once had brought the head of Saint John the Baptist to her.
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, is celebrated as a Feast day established by the Church (August 29th); it is also a strict fast day because of the grief of Christians at the violent death of the saint. In some Orthodox cultures, pious people will not eat food from a flat plate, use a knife, or eat food that is round in shape on this day.
St. Augustine, in one of his sermons, sees John the Baptist prefiguring the role of a priest. Augustine reflects on John the Evangelist describing Jesus as the Word in his gospel. John the Baptist can be seen as the voice preceding the Word, the vox before the verbum. The role of the priest is to be like John, a voice for the Word. Through the voice, the Word enters the heart of the listener, with the priest having lost nothing of the Word himself. The voice is a mediator, helping the Word to enter the hearts of others.
Commenting on St. Augustine’s sermon, Cardinal Ratzinger (soon to be Pope and Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI) in his Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith: The Church as Communion wrote,
Ultimately, the task of the priest is quite simply to be a voice for the Word: “He must increase, but I must decrease”—the voice has no other purpose than to pass on the Word…On this basis the stature and the humbleness of priestly service are both equally clear: the priest is, like John the Baptist, purely a forerunner, a servant of the Word. It is not he who matters, but the other.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!