Mark 6:14–29 (NKJV)

Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”

Others said, “It is Elijah.”

And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.”

But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?”

And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!”

Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

Poetry

“Even Such is Time"
By Sir Walter Raleigh

EVEN such is Time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wander’d all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.

John the Baptist Beheaded

Betrayal is among the most painful of human trials. All who have experienced its peculiar trauma—the abandoned spouse, the unjustly dismissed employee, the victim of false accusation—share with Jesus the discovery of an enemy within one’s own circle of trust. Sharing this experience with many biblical figures—Joseph and his brothers, Paul in Caesarea, Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel, and David with his son Absalom—does not lessen the brokenness of heart that John the Baptist may have felt in Matthew 11. As it dawns on him that having prepared the way—”making straight the path” for the Messiah—does not necessarily guarantee his own safety, he languishes in Herod’s prison. He wonders perhaps if he had it all wrong. Why would he message the disciples of Jesus with his question if he had not expected more, more protection, more of everything. Prison was a horrible, disconnected place in the dark, separated from the reassuring evidence of expected abundance. And then, at the whim of a capricious and inebriated ruler, his executioner arrives without warning.

Auguste Rodin, himself no stranger to the envious rejection of his peers because of his innovative anti-classicism and avoidance of religious imagery, gives us John’s head on a platter—a bowl evocative of baptism, no less. It is a poignant follow-through to his Walking Man, with its severed-head interpretation of John the Baptist, breaking neoclassical rules of posture and refined modeling.

Ironically, even the explorer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh—who experienced the shifting fortunes of power, imprisonment, and eventual execution—still finds the temerity, and perhaps the desperation, to hope that death will not have the final word: “My God shall raise me up, I trust.”

The frenzied lament of Wójcik-Zawierucha’s Polish choral piece The Beheading of John the Baptist suggests more impassioned haste and even frantic wailing than Caravaggio’s Death of a Virgin, where mourners lean quietly into the gloom of Mary’s passing.

When it comes down to it, perhaps some of us might, like Peter, claim we would remain full of faith in such a moment. Perhaps we imagine we can summon the bravado of Tom Petty, who “won’t back down,” even “against the gates of hell.” I for one feel more in common (and experience) with David, abandoned by his own men after the abduction of their families at Ziklag (1 Sam. 30:6). In such intensely pressured moments, I pray that, like David and John, I will turn to the Lord for comfort and counsel, and act accordingly.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, In whatever dark night of the soul awaits us, grant us the courage and serenity to turn to you, trusting your wisdom, your example, and your sustaining strength.

James Tughan (B.Th., Hon. BA, MTS/DPT cand.)
Artist, Educator, and Writer

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab near the top of the page.