Mark 6:17-29

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Psalm 97:1 and 2b, 5-6, 10, 11-12

Mark 6:17-29

Herod 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 liked 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 and 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 his disciples heard about it,

they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, why do you permit the innocent to suffer? It is a deep mystery, too great for me to fathom. I do know that suffering and sacrifice can test and purify love. I humbly ask that you do not let me falter as you purify my love for you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Death brings Life: Today, we celebrate the memorial of the passion of John the Baptist. Mark places the story of John’s passion and death as a flashback. This is intentional. Mark wants to stress how the mighty works that the disciples did are the fruit of their fearless faithfulness in proclaiming the Gospel, in suffering for the sake of Jesus’ name, and in being willing to undergo death. All of this is exemplified by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus (see Huizenga, Loosing the Lion, 159). Mark tells the story of John’s suffering and death because he wants to suggest that death brings life. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus’ disciples will work healings, signs, and wonders. This will advance the kingdom of God throughout the world. When Herod wonders if John the Baptist has been raised and is working in Jesus, he is ironically right: “John the Baptist has been raised after a fashion in Jesus, for whom John served as prophetic forerunner. Jesus continues John’s ministry of proclamation even while transcending it with healings and exorcisms and expanding it by doing so through his disciples, his Church” (Huizenga, Loosing the Lion, 160).

2. Parallel Passions: Mark deliberately parallels the passion of John with the passion of Jesus. When Jesus asks at Caesarea Phillipi, “Who do men say that I am?”, the disciples say that some people think he is John the Baptist (Mark 8:27-30). Herod identifies Jesus with John (Mark 6:16). The narrative of John’s death (6:17-29) anticipates Jesus’s first Passion prediction (Mark 8:31). Herod was a weak-willed king who didn’t want to execute John, but did. In like manner, Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but chose to release Barabbas, and have Jesus scourged and crucified (Mark 15:15). John dies alone, just like Jesus will in Mark’s Gospel. There is even a parallel givent the fact that two banquets happen before the executions of John and Jesus. At Herod’s banquet, John’s head was put on a platter almost as if it were one of the meal’s courses. And, at the Last Supper, Jesus gives his own Body and Blood as a sacrificial meal. John’s death, by contrast, only prefigures the life-giving death of Jesus. “Finally, while John and Jesus suffer deaths of extreme indignity, they both enjoy dignified burials. ‘When [John’s] disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb’ (6:29), just as Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’s crucified body in a tomb (15:46)” (Huizenga, Loosing the Lion, 162).

3. Your Holiness is the Will of God: In the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul encourages the people to grow in what they were already doing. They are to hold to what Paul taught them and live in holiness. Part of holy living is self-control and avoiding sexual immorality and covetousness. Paul teaches that God’s wrath, a phrase referring to God’s judgment of sin, is coming and we, like the Thessalonians, need to be prepared for that judgment. Paul also teaches that God’s will for us is that we grow in holiness. “Growth in holiness, or progressive sanctification, is a process that begins with God’s work in Baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11) and continues when believes abound in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13) and exert the moral effort needed to overcome sinful and selfish habits (Romans 6:19). Paul here demands the sanctification of the body through chastity, though the ultimate goal is a complete sanctification of the person (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Holiness is not optional for believers but is a condition for salvation (Hebrews 12:14)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 2116).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am a child of your Father. I am a member of your Mystical Body. I am a temple of your Spirit. You are everything to me. I long to enjoy eternal life with you and be purified of all my imperfections. May I be holy and merciful as your heavenly Father is holy and merciful.

Living the Word of God: How do I truly view my sufferings and trials? Is my first reaction to complain or to look to the Cross? Do I see how my suffering can be united to that of Jesus? Can I think of loved ones who are suffering and persevering through greater trials than I am? When I contemplate the sufferings of John the Baptist and Jesus, do I really have any reason to complain about my suffering?