Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
Today’s gospel reading (Mark 6:14-29) is one of those scripture passages that makes a person wonder, “What, exactly, was God trying to inspire here?” The story of the beheading of John the Baptist is one that makes me feel a bit slimy, actually. Interestingly enough, some people have been captivated by this story. There have been many artworks commissioned, and plays and operas written about Salome, the young girl who requests to have John’s head on a platter at the behest of her mother. I still remember listening to Richard Strauss’s “Salome” in a college opera class, and thinking that even the music itself had been written to make me feel touched by something gross.
What is it about this story that people find so captivating? Perhaps it is the horror itself – we humans have often found horror compelling and we talk about it – everything from Beowulf to Edgar Allen Poe to Freddy Krueger in “Friday the Thirteenth.” Some scientists suggest that watching horror films gives a sense of relief at the end, when it is over, and it is that overwhelming sense of relief that they crave. Others say that people feel a sense of euphoria even as they are being frightened. In addition, perhaps thinking directly about frightening things, whether in real life or in fiction, helps people reflect on how to deal with the smaller problems in their own daily life.
The opposite question might be useful too – what is it about this story that jars me so much? I think it is the fact that this passage so clearly displays a king who has a lot of power and he uses it in pretty evil ways. That is in such stark contrast to the kind of kingship that Jesus displays. The raw power present in Herod’s position and actions is frightening and gritty – and it draws attention to just how much Jesus is not a king like that.
What shows this distinction even more is the beginning of the passage, which sets up the story of John’s beheading as a memory of Herod’s, because he is afraid that John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. Herod is afraid that he (Herod) went too far with using his power and that the dead have come back to torment him. We readers know that this is Jesus, not John – but this passage prefigures Jesus’ own resurrection and it emphasizes that death and sheer power and horror do not win the day.
The third king mentioned in today’s readings, David (Sirach 47:2-11) represents a median between Herod (pretty evil) and Jesus (the God-man, made king). Sirach is putting the entire story of David’s life and kingship that we have been reading over the past few weeks in a thumbnail sketch here, recalling that David was a good king but also very sinful. David also happens to be the one God chose: “He conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel.”
The fact that Jesus, Son of David, inherits a sinful man’s throne in order to overthrow the raw power of people like Herod, and overturn death itself, is meant to be a sign of hope. God comes among us to show a different, better way, one that is till possible even for sinners like us.
Today’s memorial of Saint Agatha, a martyr of the early church, reminds us that many people before us have believed in the new vision that God offers in Jesus. Death is not the end, and this is why she could be a martyr for God and die in the service of Christ the King, the real king, the only one worthy of our worship.
- Jana M. Bennett