We are reading this passage in a church building dedicated to the ‘Decollation of John the Baptist’ or in plain English, the beheading of John the Baptist. It is a powerful reminder that when true speaks to power it cannot be silenced, even by the powerful. We need this reminder in a world where the powerful flex their muscles at the expense of the innocent because we can give way to the lie that violence pays. We cannot retreat into silence or turn our backs on those who speak truth to power.

History records and remembers the courage of those who speak truth to power and their voice is heard long after they have been killed, as in the case of Alexie Navalny. In the Netflix interview he gave he ends his message with the words ‘When I am dead do not stay silent, do not be inactive’. The 18th-century English philosopher, Edmund Burke, expresses the same message. ‘The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’

The beheading of John the Baptist as recorded by Mark sets up the the contrast between the weakness of Herod who holds all the power of a dictator and the power of John the Baptist’s words, who is imprisoned and finally killed by Herod.

The words of John the Baptist

Let’s look first at the words of John the Baptist. We know he spoke out against the corruption and cruelty of Herod Antipas, the puppet ruler of Galilee, and specifically condemned his adultery with his brother’s wife, Herodias. For this, he was imprisoned and yet kept alive by Herod because he was fascinated and drawn to him by his message of ‘Repentance’, a chance to change direction and embrace a new way of ruling and living.

Herod’s ‘power’

Herod, in his heart, knew that this was what he wanted, but he was in the grip of powerful forces. Herodias holds him in her thrall, and he is under the sway of courtiers and political brokers. He boasts of a ‘Kingdom’, but in reality, he is just a puppet of the Roman Empire.

When, two years after this event, Herod petitions Emperor Augustus for the title of King, he is exiled to Gaul where he dies in disgrace. Despite this show of wealth and the power of life and death, then, he is weak within and without. When the moment comes to decide the fate of John the Baptist, he acts not to save John, but to ‘Save face’.

Pilate and the Condemnation of Jesus

Throughout this passage, Mark is deliberately drawing comparisons with the trial and execution of Jesus. Jesus’s words are a challenge to the religious and military authorities,

and he is arrested and put on trial. Pilate, his judge, knows that he is innocent of any crime against the Roman state, but is swayed by the religious authorities, who threaten to report him to Caesar and by the mob they have roused to fury and who threaten Pilate with rioting in the streets. Against his better judgment, and to ‘Save face’ Pilate condemns Jesus to death.

The New Kingdom

The parallels that Mark draws between these two men point our attention to the hidden message in this account. For all Herod’s boasts about his ‘Kingdom’, it does not exist, and if he has any power it is rapidly fading away. In contrast the ‘New Kingdom’ is growing, as Mark illustrates, by telling of the successful mission to the towns and villages of Galilee.

‘So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them’ Mark 6:14

The Kingdom of God is growing, whilst the Kingdoms of this world are fading away. When Herod hears of the teaching and miracles of Jesus he utters the prophetic words:

‘John whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ Mark 6: 16

He was right in so many ways, for the truth cannot be silenced, it remains the truth even if those who carry the message are killed. I think that Herod secretly wished that John was not dead and that he might have a second chance to repent. However, though John the Baptist was not raised, Jesus was and offers to all the promise of new life, the assurance of forgiveness, and as a witness for all time, to the truth that can bring down and destroy the evil empires of this world.

The gift of grace.

There is a message for us all here, for the witness of John the Baptist is to God’s gift of grace. Why did Herod hold him in captivity, was it not because he longed to be free of the forces that held him in captivity? Did he not long for a second chance, to hear the message of God’s grace, a way to start again? Herod lost that chance when he had John beheaded, but we have that chance because Jesus has been raised and his voice has not been silenced, 'Good News’ of God’s love is held out to all eternally and unconditionally.

A love that is stronger than death

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, put it like this:

‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? …I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 8: 35-39

That love is only made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is a love that gave itself for others and overcame the powers of this world that wished to silence it. We must keep the faith with people like John the Baptist and indeed, Alexie Navalny and many others around the world, saints and martyrs who live by the power of love and not the love of power.