The Beheading of Saint John The Baptist

First Point

Because the purpose of the sojourn of Jesus Christ on earth was for the sanctification of all people, it also seems that the purpose the Savior had in choosing Saint John the Baptist as his prophet and precursor was to bring about the destruction of sin. In this sense the saint came to prepare the way for Jesus Christ.¹ Because we cannot be sanctified except after sin has been destroyed through sorrow for it and through penance, that is what Saint John the Baptist did. To enable him to do this as much for himself as for others and to fulfill in this his ministry more effectively and solidly, Jesus Christ began by visiting him before his birth, while Jesus was still in his holy mother’s womb.² He delivered John from original sin, something which can only be accomplished by the unaided grace of Jesus Christ, without any action by the one afflicted with this sin. Jesus Christ wanted Saint John to come into this world free from sin, so that he might be able all the more easily to destroy it in those for whose conversion he would labor. Although you have not come into this world exempt from sin like Saint John, at least you ought to have made it a point to be free of it since your spiritual birth and your consecration to God. Since then, have you not committed a great number of sins, even some of considerable gravity? Is this how you have been faithful to Jesus Christ, who did you the honor of calling you to his service and withdrawing you from the abyss of the world and of sin?

Second Point

Saint John, strengthened by the grace he had received from Jesus Christ while still in the womb of his holy mother, seems to have lived for no other purpose than to destroy sin. From his childhood he took all possible precaution not to fall into sin. While still very young, as the Church sings in his honor, he withdrew to the desert³ to put himself in a state not to commit the least sin. It was, no doubt, for the same reason that he was clothed, as the Gospel tells us, in a garment made of camel’s skin, wore a leather belt about his waist, and ate only locusts and wild honey.⁴ This is a great way to destroy sin in ourselves, living a poor and penitent life and avoiding all contact with people as this saint did during all the time he lived. What a grace it was and what an advantage for this saint to have always lived in innocence! This is what made Jesus Christ say of him, that among all people there was none greater than John the Baptist.⁵ This saint was not content with destroying sin in himself; he also worked all his life to destroy it in others. They came to him in crowds from all over Judea; he preached to them in the desert and baptized them in the Jordan.⁶ He converted a very great number of them, and everyone had an altogether special veneration for him.⁷ Pay attention to Saint John’s manner of life and to his zeal. Reflect that like him, you are obliged to prepare the way for the Lord in the hearts of your disciples and to destroy the reign of sin in them. To obtain this grace from God, which requires great purity of heart, avoid the least sins, and for this purpose make use of the same means he did: seclusion from the world and a poor and penitent life.

Third Point

The courageous and tireless zeal demonstrated by Saint John to do away with sin was finally the cause of his death. Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, having taken the wife of his brother, Philip, and having committed many other crimes, Saint John reproached him forcefully, which is why Herod had him arrested and put in prison. Yet he did not dare put him to death, because the people regarded this saint as a Prophet,⁸ and Herod considered him to be a saint and had much respect for him. However, having given a banquet for the leading men of his court and the daughter of the adulterous woman having danced before him, Herod was so pleased, as were those who were with him at table, that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask. Her mother at once advised her to ask the king for the head of John the Baptist, which he agreed to do on the spot, although regretfully, only because of the oath he had taken and out of consideration for those whom he had invited. When the order for the execution was given, one of the guards went to cut off Saint John’s head in prison and brought it to the king on a platter.⁹ Such was the consequence of this great saint’s zeal and of his preaching. Is this the reward you hope for in your work? Do you desire to suffer much in it, to be greatly persecuted for it, and in the end to die in it after having worked with all the energies of your soul for the destruction of sin?

Historical Context

This feast has been celebrated since the fifth century. De La Salle focuses on Saint John’s death in the third point of his meditation. The first two points resemble the reflections he makes in the meditation he wrote for the feast of the Nativity of Saint John (June 24).

Scripture Citation

1. Lk 1:76
2. Lk 1:41–44
3. Lk 1:80
4. Mt 3:4
5. Mt 11:11
6. Mt 3:1, 5–6
7. Mt 14:5
8. Mt 14:3–5
9. Mt 14:6–11