This is John the Baptist

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.’ The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

- Matthew 14:1-12

John the Baptist is known as the Forerunner: he is the herald who proclaimed the One who was to come. John preached a baptism of repentance, Jesus the baptism of salvation. John was the last - and, in Jesus' words, the greatest - of the prophets. Jesus was the beginning of the new vine.

So, in this story of John's death, John once again is the Forerunner. He has come first in this story of death by martyrdom for the kingdom. Herod's fearsome foreboding that John the Baptist has been resurrected in Jesus has as its parallel a great truth: John has come first. We recall Jesus' complaint to those who criticized both he and John: that they criticized John and his disciples for fasting, while the same people criticized Jesus and his followers for eating and drinking.

My study bible once again has a helpful note: "The beheading of John the Baptist is permitted by God. In a world of shameful wickedness, the righteous are afflicted and suffer death, though they are great in the eyes of God. Through John's martyrdom the coming of the Savior is announced to souls in Hades, for John is considered to be a forerunner of Jesus there as well as on earth." While everybody may not be oriented toward some of the things in this note, I find it immensely helpful, and in keeping with an appropriate interpretation of what we read in this scripture as literature. John will go forth before Jesus. He has played his role to the end as forerunner, as an archetypal martyr as herald of this new kingdom. I myself have thought a lot about suffering today, as a family emergency has taken me away for most of the day to the emergency room of my local hospital. One can ask, "Why do we suffer?" "What does it have to do with sin?" Most recently, I heard a theologian lecture on this notion of sin and suffering. He said, "Suffering is caused by sin, but not necessarily our own sin." In John's example, we have an early, prefiguring story of martyrdom by someone who has seemed to take on the sins of others. The callous behavior of Herodias and her daughter, the vain pride of Herod, the cruelty of the court, are the sins for which John suffers, just as Jesus would suffer for the sins of the world.

I tend to think that my study bible is right when it comes to the idea that the righteous suffer in a fallen world. The sins of those who cannot or do not wish to change, who resent the martyr's righteousness in the face of their own choices, are so often visited upon the innocent - just as evil and bad intentions belonging to those who do harm are so often projected upon those who suffer for their values. I think about pain and suffering today, and wonder about its causes. Surely we can see the suffering directly caused by those who do not wish to change and who resent righteousness in others. In the same archetypal way we can link Jesus' eventual crucifixion to this sin that began with rebellion in heaven, so we can link it to those who resent John for his righteousness. Herod's fear that John has returned is linked to Herod's own guilt, and on the cycle of violence goes.