August 26, 2009. Homily, August 29, 2009 [The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist]

Mark 6:17-29

Herod was was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he like to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish, and I will grant it to you." He even swore many things to her, "I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She went out ands said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist." The girl hurried back to the king's presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When the disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The Gospel of the Lord.

29 August [Beheading of John the Baptist] Mk 6:17-29

John was a child of the desert and of the wild open spaces. To imprison him in the dark dungeons of Machaerus must have been for him the last refinement of torture. But he was a man who preferred death to falsehood. Jesus, who was his cousin, said of him (equivalently) that he was the greatest man who ever lived. It was a sad irony that such a man should meet his death because of the whim of a drunken tyrant, Herod. “Power gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue,” wrote Edmund Burke. From the mind of the tyrant, yes, but not from the mind of the human race. Here are we today – thousands of years later and thousands of miles away – remembering the greatness of John the Baptist! John the Baptist was Herod’s bad conscience; that’s why he thought John had come back from the dead; bad conscience is always sending us ghosts from the past, incidents that refuse to die. Jesus and John were cousins, and there is a tradition that they looked alike. This would give fodder to Herod’s addled conscience. A bad conscience feeds on everything and grows worse. Herod was a weak man, but all the more cruel for that. Rather than face his own falsity he killed the man who pointed it out to him. Still, inside every bad conscience there is a scrap of good conscience: otherwise we wouldn't suffer from bad conscience. To know a bad conscience as bad is surely good. He died in exile from his kingdom, in the company of Herodias. They had ruined each other’s lives. No one knows if their bad consciences grew still worse, ruining each other to the very end; or if the hidden scraps of good conscience were able to reach the surface. Does anyone care? Yes, we all do, because we know about good and bad conscience ourselves, and their life-long drama. We will all be exiled from our kingdom sooner or later - our power over others, our power to make decisions, even our power over many aspects of our own lives - but the drama of conscience will not end; it will continue to our last breath.

Matthew 14:1-12.

Herod the Tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servant, "This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him."

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to to have her." Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him and went and told Jesus.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Ayn Rand: "The hatred of the good for being the good."

The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Herod's bloody deed has appalled people throughout the ages. It seems that a truly vile deed can turn the world upside down, such is its power of infection. Describing Herod's evening party, Peter Chrysologus (c. 280-450) wrote: "The house changed into an arena, the table changed to a stand at the amphitheatre, the birthday guests turned into spectators, the feast turned into an uproar, the wine into blood, the birthday into a funeral, sunrise into sunset, the banquet became a bloody murder, and the musical instruments began to play the tragedy of the ages."

Herodias was the grand-daughter of Herod the Great; her first husband Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great and the uncle of Herodias. Herodias and Herod Philip had a daughter Salome and then divorced. While Herod Philip was still living, Herodias married his full brother Herod the Tetrarch. That was John the Baptist's complaint; it was not thatHerodias had again married an uncle; it was that Herodias had married the full brother of her ex-husband while her ex-husband was still living (like incest). To compound, the problem, Salome danced for her uncle[by her father]/grand-uncle[by her mother] and "delighted Herod so much". It was a scandalous bacchanal; Salome and Herodias knew it was scandalous and sought to stanch the criticism by cutting off the head of John the Baptist.

It is the hatred of the good for being the good: Herodias/Salome hatred of John the Baptist for John the Baptist being good.