By DEB PIROCH
When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, the latter was further along in her pregnancy than Mary was. The women met, and we know from the Gospel that her baby, the future St. John the Baptist, leapt in her womb with joy, recognizing Christ, in cousin Mary’s womb. This required the power of the Holy Ghost.
John’s father, Zachary, had been visited by an angel, as Mary was, to acquaint him with the supernatural events to come. But he doubted because his faith was lacking, knowing his wife, Elizabeth, was far too old to bear a child. In consequence, he was struck dumb until the child was named. When John was born, and to be circumcised, as they had no Baptism yet, the parents were asked what his name should be.
When Zachary wrote down “John,” he could suddenly speak once again. The couple had longed for a child and we might imagine this must have been a moment of tremendous joy.
Some theologians speculate John was only a few months older than Christ and, like his cousin, did not begin a public ministry until the age of thirty. Until then he lived a hermetic existence as far as we know, wearing rough camel hair, subsisting on locusts and honey, and praying in the desert.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give testimony to the light (John 1:6-8).
John made clear many times that he was not the chosen one. “There is one coming after me mightier than I — one whose sandal strap I am unworthy to stoop down and unfasten” (Mark 1:7). He appears in all four Gospels, using water to wash away the sins of man and urging them to repent as the Kingdom of God was at hand. And just as he witnessed to God, Christ witnessed to him:
“But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee. For I say to you: Amongst those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:26-28).
When St. John baptized, these baptisms cleansed persons from sin only insofar as the subjects were penitent. Baptism only became a sacrament once instituted by Christ Himself, with the involvement of the Holy Ghost. And yet, John was vital, for it was he who as a prophet recognized Christ, and was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” heralding His coming (John 1:23).
Christ did not need to be cleansed, but He submitted Himself to John be baptized in the Jordan, as an example for us, and as a confirmation: “And lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matt. 3:16-17).
Andrew was among disciples already following John the Baptist. Saying, “Behold the Lamb of God!,” he pointed out Christ, making Andrew aware of him and Andrew, in turn told Simon Peter; both would leave all to follow Him. As time progressed John, who preached to King Herod, alienated his wife by stating their marriage was unlawful. Herod had left his wife and married Herodias, his brother’s wife. Herodias never forgot this and burned with anger, even long after John the Baptist was thrown into prison.
And there he lingered, asking himself why he was still there, and meanwhile he still had disciples lingering about him. He had said before his imprisonment if worried about Christ somehow infringing on his mission work, “I am sent before him. He that had the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (emphasis mine, John 3:28-10). So he sent his disciples with a question for our Lord, not out of ignorance, perhaps for reassurance, but mainly so they might learn to follow Him and become His disciples.
“Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again” (Matt. 11:2-5). And after they leave, Christ takes the moment to praise John for his greatness, although He no more relieves him from his suffering than He will dispense with His own.
We know that Salome, daughter of Herodias, stepdaughter of Herod, did a salacious dance that pleased the drunken ruler so much he promised her anything. Her mother told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Weak man that he was, Herodias gave in to the horrific request rather than go back on his promise.
On that dark night, at the bidding of the child of an adulteress, Herod had murdered the forerunner of Christ.
After that, Herod was haunted by fears, as Nero was haunted by the ghost of his mother whom he had murdered. The Emperor Caligula could not sleep because he too was haunted by the faces of his victims. . . . Herod, hearing of Our Divine Lord some time later, thought that He was John the Baptist, risen from the dead. Herod did not believe in a future life; no sensual man does. Belief in immortality dies easily in those who live in such a way that they cannot face the prospect of a judgment.
Less than two years later, Pilate would send our Lord to him: “To have a sight of Him…And now he hoped to witness some miracle of His.” Herod had never seen the face of Jesus until that last hour; he had never before heard His voice. When the moment came, Our Lord refused to speak to him (Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton Sheen).
Today the Church marks two feasts for St. John the Baptist. One marks his Nativity rather than his death, which is unusual, June 24. We can understand why. The other marks the feast of his martyrdom, August 29.
Herod died an ignominious death, involving various signs and symptoms, and experts speculate it was likely gangrene of the genitalia, caused by a bacterial infection. He would have had severe pain, itching, with the organs turning entirely black. Before antibiotics, this was always fatal. But the death of St. John the Baptist transcended this world.
The herald had suffered the lot of the One whom he had heralded; the messenger received violence because he had announced the Message. And once again, the Mount of Calvary looked down, this time across the valleys to the foot of the Mount of the Transfiguration. (Many had mistaken John for Elijah.) Everything in His lie told of His Cross, including the violent death of John (The Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton Sheen).
For he shall rise again, “for there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” Deo gratias.
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