Contemplating the Gospel: The Beheading of John

The Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist - August 29 

At that time King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came.

On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. (Luke. 6, 14-30)

This took place about a year before the Resurrection of Christ. King Herod had married Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. This was against the Law of God, and John rebuked Herod for it. Herodias was furious with John and wanted revenge, so she forced Herod to imprison John and also wanted him to be killed. But Herod was afraid of the people, who revered John, and refused this request of hers. While John was in prison, his disciples were perplexed that God had allowed His great herald John to be put in prison.

They could not understand the ways of God, which seemed unjust to them. So they started to doubt whether Jesus was truly the Messiah, as John had told them. In order to resolve
their doubts, John sent two of his disciples to Christ to ask: “Are you the One Who is to come, or do we look for another?” At that moment Christ was working many miracles of healing, and He replied: “Go and tell John that which you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the
Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, who is not offended because of Me.”

According to the Church Fathers, John put this question in order to guide his own disciples. He himself did not doubt that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, because God Himself had granted him to see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him, and to hear the Voice of the Father calling Christ His beloved Son. John’s disciples were sorrowful about the plight of their master John, and in doubt about the Divinity off Christ. So Christ’s answer was a quotation from the Prophet Isaiah (29.18; 35.4-6), in which the prophet describes the
works that the Messiah will do.

Christ’s parting words to them: “and blessed is he, who is not offended because of Me”, mean that we should not in God when we do not understand His ways at times. How often do people say: “How could God allow this to happen?” when they don’t understand why some evil is taking place. Then the Lord continued to speak about the greatness of John the Baptist. He said that he was the prophet of whom God spoke in the Scriptures, saying: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You” (Isaiah 40.3-5; Malachi 4.5). Then the Lord said that John was the greatest born of women - “but he who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” What did the Lord mean? He meant that as long as John was outside the Kingdom of heaven, which is the New Testament Church, he would be less than even the least inside the Church. Of course, when Christ crushed the
gates of hell, He took with Him to Paradise all the righteous who had died before the Coming of Christ, including the greatest of them, John the Baptist.

Now Herodias was plotting to have John killed. So she hit on a clever scheme. When Herod’s birthday was being celebrated, the daughter of Herodias, who was called Salome, danced before the guests and pleased Herod. So he promised her on oath to give her anything she asked. Salome, prompted by her mother, said: “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” Herod was upset and frightened, because he knew that John was a prophet. But he did not want to lose face with his guests, because he had made an oath of Salome.

So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to Salome, and she brought it to her mother. The Church teaches us that when we have
to choose between two loyalties, or between a bad oath and following God’s will, it is better to break our oath to men than to anger God. As we hear in the hymns of the feast: “O Herod, it would have been better for you to have broken your oath to man than to have killed a prophet of God.”

The Church also teaches that after his beheading John descended into hell and preached to the souls imprisoned there that the Savior was on His way. He taught them to repent so as to receive the forgiveness which Christ offered.

Source:The Way