Amos and John the Baptist: two prophets who criticise their king and have to pay the consequences. Amos is sent into exile and John the Baptist, in a more involved plot, is beheaded.
The beheading of John the Baptist occurs immediately after Jesus has sent out his apostles on a mission warning them that they can expect a hostile reaction. It is as if Mark has inserted the story of John the Baptist’s death as if to say there- this is what discipleship might cost you.’ An extract that we might prefer to leave out.
Herod’s hostility towards John the Baptist however is not as straightforward as Jeroboam’s reaction to Amos in the OT reading. Jeroboam hears of the prophecies of Amos and simply commands him to leave. But Herod is fascinated by what John the Baptist says he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him’. [v.20] Whilst he has John imprisoned he also seeks to protect him knowing that John is righteous and holy.
Herod here is in a difficult position: he is unpopular with the Jewish the people for marrying Herodias, the wife of his brother as this breaks Jewish law. John the Baptist is openly critical of Herod for this marriage. Herodias herself is angry with Herod for not silencing John once and for all. So Herod is facing it from all angles- both from his wife and from this strange and fascinating prophet. What we know as being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
At this point we might be led to sympathise with Herod. After all, he is not blind to the truth of John the Baptist’s message; he recognises that John is a man worth listening to and he protects John from his own wife. But of course this isn’t enough; there is a big difference between being an admirer of John and being his disciple- admiring someone or some way of life doesn’t require any commitment, it is something we can do from a distance without involving ourselves. It is an entirely risk-free position to hold. I was reminded of this sort of approach to faith when I read in one of the Saturday papers a column entitled my perfect weekend’ by a novelist who writes:
“On Sunday mornings, Rupert and I sometimes attend an early church service. For me churches are like spiritual banks where I can stoke up my coffers.” (Telegraph, Saturday July 8)
Regarding church as an activity which recharges your spiritual batteries is not so different from the way Herod perceives John the Baptist; interesting, indeed communicating an important truth perhaps, but nothing which requires me to make a commitment, to give of myself, or to take a risk and allow for the possibility of being transformed.
Our sympathy for Herod might quickly vanish as we see him at his birthday party; in this context he appears as a foolish figure not prepared to lose face by denying his step-daughter her wish.
Mark calls Herod king’ but in fact he never was; he had pretensions to be a king but in reality he was only ever tetrarch of Galilee. His desire to be called king’ ultimately meant he was sent into exile by the emperor Caligula. Readers at the time would have been aware of this irony; that the man, who liked to believe he was king, and who offered half his kingdom to a young girl, in fact never was a king at all.
But we are invited to compare this pretender to the throne with Jesus the king; both Herod and Jesus send people out; Jesus sends out the apostles on a mission to bring healing and repentance to the world, and Herod sends out men to arrest John. Immediately following today’s passage is the feeding of the 5,000. This is a sort of feast which stands in direct contrast to the feasting of Herod’s birthday. Jesus is moved with compassion to feed the crowds who have come to hear him whereas Herod is motivated by his own self-importance. In both there are allusions to the Eucharistic feast although in the case of Herod it is a black Eucharist.
But if we are being invited to compare the kingships of Herod and Jesus might this not make for depressing reading?
Herod is able to use his political power to bring about the death of John the Baptist so he won. Doesn’t this story represent the victory of the system versus the Kingdom of God? Hasn’t this been happening throughout history? Where the innocent have been sacrificed for political purposes and where the perpetrator of the crime seems to suffer no ill.
If we see in this account of John’s death a contrast between the Kingdom of God and the evil forces of the world we need first to recognise the ambivalence of those worldly forces. Herod’s intentions are far from straight forward. It’s perhaps more accurate to see here a contrast between brute force and meaning, or between success and significance. John the Baptist’s death had a meaning and significance which is conveyed to you and I now when we read the gospel 2,000 years later. It has a meaning that cannot be undone by brute force. Or by the success of Herod’s banquet.
Jesus’ ministry was one of making meaning, creating signs which pointed towards the Kingdom of God and it is this ministry in which we share today. Jesus did not heal everyone, he only healed some people. He did this to bring relief to those who suffered but each healing miracle was also a sign of the God who creates and recreates.
Timothy Radcliff in his book the point of being a Christian’ points to the Eucharist as a sacrament of hope; at the last supper when Jesus and the disciples were about to be overwhelmed by brute force they were able to celebrate and give thanks.
In our Eucharist today we both celebrate and give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice made on the cross and we look forward in hope to the time when God’s Kingdom comes and we might participate in the heavenly banquet. This is a fundamentally hopeful sign of what is to come. But more than that it marks a breaking in of the kingdom of God now.
The killing of John the Baptist, if it can be described as a sacrament, that is a sign pointing towards something invisible, is a sign of the fear felt by Herod. He is frightened of failing to appear as less than the role of all-powerful king in which he has cast himself. So he feels compelled to abide by his drunken oath. He is unable to act on his inner knowledge that John the Baptist is a holy and righteous man who should not be killed and so he is deeply grieved’ [v.26]. In this way he is vulnerable to the machination of others- in this case his wife Herodias. Peace of mind alludes him. This passage begins with his fear that Jesus Christ is none other than John the Baptist risen from the dead.
The meaning of John the Baptist’s death is one which lives on because the community of faith lives on. The Community of faith, the church, requires all its participants to take risks, to resist compromise, to listen and act on the inner knowledge which Herod had but ignored, and which is given to us by God. We are called to celebrate and participate in the sacrament of hope- the Eucharist and to move from being an admirer to being a disciple. To give of ourselves and to become for others a sacrament of hope and meaning in a world which risks being torn apart by brute force. Amen