Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist
It’s interesting how the far the account of John the Baptist’s death in today’s gospel reading parallels the Jesus’ passion narrative. Both Herod, in this passage, and Pilate in the passion narrative hold the power of life or death over persons they acknowledge to be holy and both operate out of fear. Herodias and the crowds stand in the place of the accusers: they hold such hatred for these men because of John’s and Jesus’ teaching, which challenged the way that they lived their lives. Both John and Jesus were given a proper burial by respected people who requested their bodies from the authorities. This similarity is notable because today we celebrate the memorial of the “martyrdom” of St. John the Baptist. “Martyr” in an interesting word. In Greek it means “witness” and in the early Church it came to mean those who died for the sake of Christ. Often their deaths had, or were narrated as having, parallels to Jesus death. This is especially clear in the account of St. Stephen, often called the first martyr, in the Acts of the Apostles (See Acts 7).
You may now be thinking: “Why is Stephen called the first martyr if John the Baptist came before him?” Well, it wasn’t possible to call John a martyr until after Jesus had died, so therefore John was retrospectively called a martyr, one who witnesses to Christ by paying the price of his/her life. Martyrs were revered as having a particular power for precisely that reason; they had so closely identified themselves with Christ.
Besides the similarities in their death sequences, John and Jesus are similar in important other ways: they both challenge their contemporaries to live lives that are more worthy of God and they are both displayed immense courage, telling the truth even to those in powerful positions. Let us be both challenged and inspired by the witness of St. John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist, pray for us that your challenge to live a more Christ-like life might land in our hearts and that your courage may inspire us too to be courageous Christians.
—Tim Gabrielli