Amos 7.7-15; Ephesians 1.3-14; Mark 6.14-29
"What's it got to do with me?" is a good question to ask of all our scripture reading. At first sight you might think the beheading of John the Baptist has nothing at all to do with you. You might look on it as another sad martyrdom, the consequence of daring to challenge authority and power in the name of God. And we can pass over it quickly and get on with reading about Jesus, because that's who the gospels are really all about. Really? ARE the gospels really about Jesus?
For my money, the gospels are probably more about us, if you see what I mean. Jesus's life and work are directed towards us and so are for us. So the gospels are about us, rather than about Jesus. So even this story about John's demise has something for us. This story's got everything to do with me; and you.
And I'm not sure that John is the central character in this story. For me, it's Herod; and his tortured grappling with the truth. It's there that the story's for me; and for you.
The characters either side of John and Herod today are the prophet Amos and St. Paul. Each came to reveal the truth to the people they felt called to. And what was the peoples' response to them and the truth they brought? Amos was told by the religious authority to go away. And he did, eventually. He simply retired and for the first time left a written record. St. Paul, as we know, eventually ended up a prisoner sending letters here and there from Rome.
So, to be banged up in prison wasn't something out of the ordinary that happened to St. John; because he told the truth to people who had trouble facing it. Oh, and remember Jesus? He was killed because he did the same. So the question for me is, "What's my/our response to the truth?" Herod gives us a good insight and that's why I think he's the central character in the story.
St. Mark says of Herod, "...Herod feared John, knowing he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him." Isn't this such a tortured grappling with the truth? Herod's wife wanted Herod to kill John because he said their marriage was wrong, but Herod was afraid to kill him so he put him in prison instead.
Herod was fascinated and challenged by John at the same time. He knew that there was something very special about him, something he needed to hear, but at the same time something that repelled him. So when his wife told him to get rid of John, Herod instead put him away somewhere; not getting rid of him altogether, but, in a sense, putting him away in a box that he could open from time to time if he felt so inclined.
Unfortunately, that way of dealing with a difficult situation didn't last because eventually, something more important than the truth for Herod showed up; which meant that he had to let go of his even tenuous grasp of the truth. To save face, he had to keep his promise to young Herodias. And that, in the moment, was more important than the truth and the truth was sacrificed; and served up in front of him, dead. And I guess that there was something inside Herod that died at that moment too.
If St. John represents the truth to us, don't we often respond as Herod did to St. John, to the truth that presents itself to us; whatever that truth is about? It could be truth about our relationship with our work, our family, the Church, God, our self. Only you know where in your life, the challenges to us of the truth lie.
The truth fascinates us, that's why we are fascinated by Jesus. We love to listen to him. But he perplexes us as well. He troubles us, mightily. He challenges us like no other. And so, how much of his teaching that we find fascinating but a bit too challenging and perplexing do we separate out and put in a box and leave out of sight because it's too much; and just visit it from time to time when we feel we have to or when we are forced to? You'll know what bits of Jesus's teaching you find too hard. And you'll find them too hard because there's something more important. And the easier option is to serve that instead. And we do. Because the truth hurts. And so we have this tortured grappling with the truth throughout our lives; between the truth and what to us is more important than the truth.
Yes the truth hurts. But it doesn't harm. Because the truth makes us free (John 8.32) What do you do with the truth?
