August 29 is the memorial feast of the passion of John the
Baptist. John (not to be confused with John, one of the Apostles and the
evangelist who wrote the Gospel of John and his epistles, also penned down the
Book of Revelation) was a social reformer and prophet, just before Jesus began
his public ministry in Galilee. Because
he is the son of Elizabeth, an elder cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus, John
is considered as Jesus’ cousin. While he
was still in Elizabeth’s womb, John leaped for joy, as Mary with Jesus in her
womb, visited his mother (Luke 1:44).
Both John’s birth and Jesus’ birth resulted from rather
highly unusual circumstances, as Elizabeth’s pregnancy was rather a miracle for
her post-menopause age after years of infertility, while Mary’s virgin
pregnancy was a great mystery of the power of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, there
is a similarity between the way John the Baptist died and the way Jesus died,
to some extent, as well as a certain parallel aspect between the life of John
the Baptist and the life of Jesus. In remembering how John the Baptist died on
his memorial feast, let us take a quick look at John’s life in comparison to
Jesus’.
Luke 1 tells (especially v.26), John was 6 months ahead of
Jesus in conception. As to prepare for
Jesus’ public ministry, John was preaching for penance, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”(Matthew 3:2), also
citing Isaiah 40:3, “A voice of one
calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths
for him’ ”(Matthew 3:3), while baptizing people in the Jordan River. As Jesus also taught penance (i.e. Luke 15:7)
and the imminence of the Kingdom (i.e. Matthew 4:17), John the Baptist was a
harbinger of Jesus, and Jesus’ teaching for salvation was built upon the
teaching of John.
John’s function as a forerunner of Jesus is not only in
regard to his teaching but also his death, given what amounted to John’s
execution. In fact, the tetrarch Herod Antipas
found John to be a “problem” because of
his teaching. Thus, Herod arrested and imprisoned John.
So, why did Herod found John’s teaching to be a “problem” ?
It has a lot do with Herod’s “marriage” to Herodias.
In order to understand the connection between Herod’s
“marriage” and the beheading of John the Baptist, we must go beyond what is
written in the scripture in regard to Herod’s relation to Herodias. Consulting Flavius Josephus’ “Antiquities of
the Jews” is helpful in this regard.
Herod Antipas was first married to Phasaelis, daughter of
Nabateans king, Aretas IV Philopatris. However, when he visited Rome, he
developed a crush on the beautiful wife of his half-brother, Herod II (a.k.a.
Herod Philip I). He seduced Herodias to
be his wife and divorced his original wife, Phasaelis. Herodias moved where Herod was the tetrarch with her
daughter with Philip, Salome. Thus,
Herod became a step-father to Salome by his adulterous “marriage” to her
mother, Herodias.
To understand Herod’s motive to arrest John, we must
understand his adulterous “marriage” to Herodias, who was his brother’s wife
(Mark 6:17). Because John had told Herod of his “marriage”’s illegality, not
only Herod but also Herodias found John quite disturbing, as Mark 6:18-19 suggest.
The scripture verses make it clear that Herodias harbored grudge (ἐνέχω/enecho) against John for criticizing her adulterous
“marriage” to Herod, prompting Herod to imprison him. Herod personally wanted
to kill John (Matthew 14:5), as Herodias did (Mark 6:19). While Herodias did
not have the power to kill John, Herod hesitated of killing him because of his
fear of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man (Mark 6:19-20).
Thus, John remained in Herod’s “protective” confinement, despite the fact that
both Herod and Herodias wanted him to be killed.
The sin that Herod and Herodias committed, adultery, is grave and punishable by death, according to the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 20:10), and this is what John the Baptist pointed out. No wonder both Herod and Herodias wanted to “get rid of” John.
Then, it was on the occasion of Herod’s birthday banquet to
prompt John’s execution.
During the banquet, Salome, the daughter of Herodias from
her previous marriage, pleased Herod for her dance performance for his
birthday. To reward this girl for her
wonderful performance, Herod told Salome, with his oath, that he would grant whatever she wanted him to
give her (Mark 6:22-23). Then, Salome asked Herod to give her the head of John
the Baptist on a platter immediately (Mark 6:25). To this request from Salome,
Herod was not only surprised but rather distressed (Mark 6:26), because of his
fear of John. However, at the same time,
Herod did not want to refuse Salome’s request for he was bound by his own oath
and did not want to lose his face in front of the banquet guest (Mark 6:26).
Herod had a choice – an option to refuse Salome’s request
out of his fear of John, his some respect for John as a holy righteous man, and
an option to accept her request out of his pride. He chose to follow his pride rather
than his remaining conscience, which made him afraid of John for his
righteousness, as he ordered the beheading of John the Baptist on the spot
(Mark 6:27). Following the execution, the head of John the Baptist on a dinner
plate was delivered to Salome, and she gave it to her mother, Herodias (Mark
6:27-28). This is how John the Baptist was disposed.
John was captured, imprisoned, and beheaded, for his
preaching for repentance, virtuousness, and the coming of the Kingdom. Later,
his cousin, was captured, tortured, and crucified to death, for his teaching of
repentance, virtuousness, and the Kingdom.
Psychologically, what led to the execution of John the
Baptist was Herodias’ grudge and Herod’s pride to save his face to Salome and
his birthday banquet guests. However, underneath the grudge and pride, there
was deep-seated fear of John’s confrontation of their own grave sin of
adultery. Salome’s request served as a convenient excuse to get rid of Herod’s
fear of John’s criticism of his sin by having him killed, overcoming his fear
of him for his righteousness and holiness. This psychological aspect behind
John’s execution has some similarity to Jesus’ execution.
What mounted to the execution of Jesus was Jesus’ persistent
confrontation and challenge to the hypocrisy and sins of the religious leaders.
Because of this, Jesus became a threat to their position. For this reason, high
priest Caiaphas said, “It is better for you that one man die for the people than
that the whole nation perish”(John 11:50), conspire the Roman authority to see
Jesus as a security threat to the Roman Empire. Then, they tried to make
the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, believe that Jesus claim himself as
the King of the Jews, to let Jesus be executed by the Roman authority. In
addition to fear of Jesus, Matthew 27:18 indicates that the religious authority
led Jesus to execution out of their envy (φθόνος/phthonos). The Greek word (noun), “phthonos” also
means “grudge” . Thus, there is a similarity to Herodias’ desire to have John
the Baptist be killed. Mark 6:19 describes Herodias’ action of “ἐνέχω/enecho”
(verb – to hold grudge against) against John.
Both John the
Baptist and Jesus were killed as a result of wicked persons’ holding of grudges
(ἐνέχω/enecho; φθόνος/phthonos). The
wicked, who killed these righteous and holy men, John the Baptist and Jesus,
because of their intra-psychic insecurity, resulting in fear, feeling
threatened by John and Jesus, then further progressing into grudges.
The intra-psychic
insecurity that the wicked, who tend to hold grudges, against those who make
them feel threatened, have a very unstable sense of self. It is a symptom of no
faith or a lack of faith. On the other hand, those who have developed secure
attachment with God in their faith are not likely to feel threatened and,
therefore, do not hold grudges against those who challenge them. A good example
of this is King David. Though David also seduced the wife of Uriah and even
plotted to have Uriah killed to steal her from him (2 Samuel 11). To this grave
sins of David, Nathan confronted. David could have killed Nathan for pointing
out his sins, had he been like Herod and Herodias. However, David was able to
repent with Nathan’s tactful confrontation of his sin (2 Samuel 12). Given his
secure attachment with God, as reflected in his Psalms, David did not hold
grudge against Nathan. Rather, David corrected himself by seeking mercy from
God, whom he always trusted.
Those who are
in the religious authority, who plotted to have Jesus killed, made themselves
extremely pious and law-abiding. However, as Jesus pointed, their piety is
hypocritical as their primary motive was self-glorification. It was more like
that they rather worshipped the law than God, in ways to practice
self-justification in the name of God. As their hearts were not really turned
to God, they did not develop secure attachment with God. Therefore, they were
not able to repent and turned their hearts to God, upon Jesus’ confrontation.
Rather, they became angry at him and harbored grudges, as Herodias did against
John the Baptist. However, as Herodias herself did not have the authority to
kill John, the religious leaders did not have the power to kill Jesus. For this
reason, they conspired the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to order the
execution of Jesus.
Considering
how John the Baptist and Jesus were killed by the grudges of the wicked but why
David did not hold grudge against Nathan, there is a psychological lesson,
based on the finding of a research study by Burnette et al. (2007)* that secure
attachment with God minimizes the risk of acting with grudges, like Herod Antipas, Herodias, and the religious
leaders of the time of Jesus. Secure attachment with God enables us to let go
of grudges, even such emotions can be formed in us. This is truly a saving
power of forgiveness, rooted in the secure attachment.
After all, God has said, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord”(Leviticus 19:18).
After all, God has said, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord”(Leviticus 19:18).
Furthermore, Jesus has taught, "I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth
shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have
been loosed in heaven”(Matthew 16:19).
