The martyr

The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist C-2 (August 29)

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 119 (118):46-47 I spoke, O Lord, of your decrees before kings, and was not confounded; I pondered your commands and loved them greatly.

Collect O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death, grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(August 29) The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honour, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth. But why? What possesses a man that he would give up his very life? This great religious reformer was sent by God to prepare the people for the Messiah. His vocation was one of selfless giving. The only power that he claimed was the Spirit of Yahweh. “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps in anticipation of some great messianic power. John never allowed himself the false honour of receiving these people for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. When the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus” (John 1:35-37). It is John the Baptist who has pointed the way to Christ. John’s life and death were a giving over of self for God and other people. His simple style of life was one of complete detachment from earthly possessions. His heart was centred on God and the call that he heard from the Spirit of God speaking to his heart. Confident of God’s grace, he had the courage to speak words of condemnation or repentance, of salvation.

Scripture today: Jeremiah 1:17-19; Psalm 70; Mark 6:17-29

Herod gave 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. (Mark 6:17-29)

The martyr If the daughter of Herodias had not danced, John the Baptist may not have been martyred. Again, if Herod had not the sight of his birthday guests before him, he may not have given the order for John’s execution. This is because the dancing empty-headed girl pleased Herod and his dinner guests – and obviously Herod thought his macho image would suffer if he demurred in acceding to the girl’s nefarious request. Because of these rapid and ephemeral factors, no time was given for the voice of conscience, for we read that “he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head”. The point being made here is that a variety of factors were at work in the martyrdom of John the Baptist. It does not appear to have been a matter of out-and-out hatred of revealed teaching which led Herod to his action. John did indeed die as a result of Herodias’s hatred of John and his witness to the illegality and immorality of Herod’s marriage to her. For this reason he was a martyr, dying because of hatred of the faith. But the point here is that many indirect factors and circumstances suddenly arose and fused to bring about the martyrdom of St John the Baptist. I venture to say that this is the case with very many martyrdoms. The “hatred of the faith” which is a feature of the circumstances of the death of those the Church recognizes as “martyrs” may be operative in very indirect ways. Indeed, it is possible for the martyr to be unaware of the motive driving those who effect this deed. St Thomas More knew exactly what he was dying for and he went ahead and gave his life for doctrines of the faith which were hated by the English king. But consider the Holy Innocents whose martyrdom the Church celebrates during the Octave of Christmas. The infants in Bethlehem knew nothing of Jesus Christ and did not choose to lay down their lives for him nor for elements of his divine teaching. They had no choice in the matter, but died because of Herod’s “hatred of the faith” – meaning his hatred of the infant Messiah announced to him by the visiting Magi from the East. They were unaware of Herod, unaware of his motives and unaware of Jesus Christ. Yet the Church celebrates them as martyrs of Jesus Christ, having died because of hatred of the faith, and doubtless having received the grace given in baptism – theirs a baptism of blood.

Those who give their lives for Christ in the ultimate sacrifice of “martyrdom” may do so in a variety of circumstances, direct and indirect. For this reason we may say in all truth that the life and death of a particular Christian may be a virtual martyrdom, or may approach what martyrdom involves. It may not be apparent to others that a martyrdom is involved in his or her case. Nor may the Church at large know – only God may know. All of this brings us to what John the Baptist’s martyrdom really involved and which should be imitated by every adherent of revealed religion. He heard God’s word, assented to it totally, lived according to it, bore witness to it, and underwent the cost whatever that happened to be. The nature of his death was but the manifestation of the nature of his life of faith and obedience. When in the concentration camp the father of a family was selected among others to be executed in reprisal for an escape, Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward to take his place. He bore witness to the love of Jesus Christ and died a martyr, but this was the manifestation of his life of faith and witness lived for years prior to this moment. He had lived a life of virtual martyrdom – it approached a martyrdom in its spirit. If he had not lived thus, he may never have risen suddenly to this heroic level when the moment presented itself. John the Baptist’s life was a life of heroic adherence to the word of God – in this sense it constantly approached a martyrdom in its spirit. He stepped forward to bear witness before Herod to the law of God and accepted the consequences. But the truly important thing was the way he had lived prior to this critical moment which befell him amid a particular set of circumstances. Let us take this point from our celebration of the martyrdom of John the Baptist. It applies to all. After all, consider the very “Mother of Sorrows” – the one whom Simeon told a sword would pierce her very soul. He was telling her that she would be a martyr in her spirit precisely because of her union with her Son and the hatred of people for him. No human person suffered because of hatred of the faith to the degree that Mary the mother of Christ did. Yet few would have known this, and she did not die the death of a “martyr” – nor did, for that matter, the disciple whom our Lord loved and into whose hands he placed the care of his beloved mother.

During the second half of the third decade of the twentieth century Spain was wracked by its Civil War. A great number of Catholics were murdered and executed for hatred of the faith. Communists went after priests in particular and a great number died as a result. Many have been formally canonized by the Church. Saint Jose Maria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, made his way resolutely out of their reach and fled the country for he had a work of God to do and this would be at an end were he to be “martyred”. We do not have to aspire to die the death of a martyr – this is not the message of our celebration today, even though some saints had this aspiration. What we must aspire to is what the martyr aspires to, namely living a life day by day of hearing the word of God as it comes to us in the Scriptures and the Church’s Tradition, assenting to it totally, living it faithfully, and bearing witness to it before others.

(E. J. Tyler)

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