King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
(Mark 6:14-29)
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When we think about John the Baptist, it’s usually in some sort of connection to either the Christmas story or the baptism of Jesus. John’s birth and his early life as a prophet preparing the way for Jesus are regular features of Advent and just after Epiphany. But there’s one other story about John the Baptist - and every three years the lectionary includes this reading in the middle of summer. John the Baptist appears again and we get a depiction of his execution – an act so brutal that if it happened today it couldn’t be shown on television. I’ve often wondered what this graphic and unpleasant story that interrupts our summer doldrums means for us in today’s world, and as I tried to puzzle that out, I found myself drawn to some words of Mark Twain. “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” There’s a lot of truth to that – in part because those who are good examples sometimes serve as a reminder to us that being a good example as one who stands for God often comes with a price. The history of the church is full of examples of people who stood for God who have paid a price – up to their very lives. In fact the ancient church leader Tertullian once wrote that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” For 2000 years many Christians have been inspired by the example of Christian men and women who have sacrificed for the gospel, and although we don’t often think of John the Baptist in those terms, this passage reminds us that John the Baptist was one of them.
The story of John the Baptist challenges us to be among those who will have the courage to speak God’s truth to those with power – and those with power are often the last who want to hear God’s truth, and so there’s always a temptation to play it safe, to stay quiet, to not offend, and to just keep the peace. And there is safety to be found in doing things that way. But are we called to simply stay safe and keep the peace? John the Baptist is a biblical example of someone who says that isn’t our calling – that our calling as the people of God is to stand up and be heard, and to risk the potential consequences. John the Baptist was a martyr in the best sense of the word. His example was his willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of standing for what he knew to be true.
Now today, the word “martyr” gets misunderstood, because usually it gets claimed and applied by fanatics whose goal is often to kill as many people as they can even if it means dying themselves, but that’s a hijacking of an honourable word. The people who use the word “martyr” that way aren’t martyrs – basically they’re murderers. They kill others, but true martyrs (like John the Baptist) simply give themselves for their cause, willing to face whatever consequences might follow. We’re going to end our service today with the hymn “Faith Of Our Fathers” - which is a celebration of Christian martyrs throughout the centuries:
Faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword …
…
Faith of our sisters, brothers too, who still must bear oppression’s might,
Raising on high, in prisons dark, the cross of Christ still burning bright.
John the Baptist died (and people who follow his example today suffer consequences) because he was willing to stand up and be counted. He didn’t kill anyone - because real martyrs don’t - but he spoke out; he spoke truth to power - because real martyrs do. They express themselves. They don’t keep their faith private. They’ll speak up when they see evil or injustice or oppression happening, and because they do that they tend to get into trouble. It’s easy to believe in Christ and never face consequences. Most of us can accomplish that without even having to think about it. If we keep quiet we won’t get hurt and nobody will bother us. But as soon as you open your mouth about Christ and the Christian faith and start to stand for what Christ stood for – that’s when the trouble starts, because power doesn’t like the message of Christ. Power is afraid of it. Maybe public opinion disagrees with it. I know people in the United States who won’t talk about politics because they’re concerned about how their neighbours would respond. But Christians can’t live in fear. We can’t refuse to speak the gospel to power just because many people won’t like us doing it or might be offended by it. Christians sometimes have to be prepared to fly in the face of public opinion and to take unpopular stands simply because we know that what’s popular might be wrong. Most Christians do a pretty good job of talking about Christ and social justice in church because usually nobody in church gets too upset about it. But it takes guts to take the gospel outside the doors of the church and to go against public opinion and to stand against power. That’s tough. That’s risky.
John the Baptist did it. He expressed his beliefs to Herod - and he got killed for it. John could have presumably just spoken to his followers and his friends and nobody would have noticed. But no. John had to go to Herod. And he paid the price with his life. Martin Luther King, Jr. could have just preached about civil rights from his own pulpit in Montgomery, Alabama and laid low and his congregation would have patted him on the back and said “good job, pastor,” and nobody else would have noticed. But no. He spoke at huge rallies in support of civil rights. And he paid the price with his life. Oscar Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador in Guatemala when a brutal dictatorship governed that small Central American country and when many people were either tortured – or just disappeared, never to be heard from again - just because they opposed the government. Romero could have simply served the poor – fed them, clothed them, sheltered them, cleaned them - and no one in power would have noticed. But no. He preached a public sermon on March 23, 1980 in which he called on Guatemalan soldiers to obey God instead of government and refuse to violate people’s basic rights, and the next day after celebrating mass, a gunman fired shots through the door of Romero’s church. Struck in the heart, he paid the price for speaking out with his life.
Disciples of Jesus have to be willing to speak out – openly and boldly and confidently – and to face the consequences of doing so. We have to be willing to speak the truth to power. It isn’t always – or even very often – going to cost Christians their lives, especially in our society. But it could cost us some friends. There might be a price to be paid. But disciples of Jesus have to believe in Jesus and his gospel with passion and we have to be willing to take risks – because the biggest challenge the church faces and the thing that could eventually destroy us isn’t speaking up – it’s not speaking at all; it’s becoming irrelevant to the world around us.
This is what we learn from John the Baptist. This is what we learn from Martin Luther King, Jr. This is what we learn from Oscar Romero. This is what we learn from all of those “who still must bear oppression’s might, raising on high, in prisons dark, the cross of Christ still burning bright.” These are our examples of how to live as disciples of Jesus and of how to live with passion for the gospel. And what Mark Twain wrote is true: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” Indeed, there is a lot of truth to that – because those who are good examples sometimes do remind to us that being a good example comes with a price.
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