John the Baptist and radical hope

A Reflection for the Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist

Find today’s readings here.

One summer in college, I spent some time as a camp counselor at a Catholic summer camp for middle schoolers. Kids from parishes from all over the nation would come to this camp to learn more about Jesus and deepen their relationship with him. Sometimes, priests, religious sisters or brothers would tag along with a parish and serve as chaplains, helping us in our mission to serve the middle schoolers.

During my time there, I befriended one of the sisters that joined us at camp one week. As we dove deeper into conversation, she told me one morning that this passage, the beheading of John the Baptist, is the Gospel story she chose for her funeral Mass. Now, I found this strange for two reasons.

First, she’s in her early thirties and already planning her funeral Mass, while I’m thinking about how to secure a third burger at dinner that night.

Second, this reading has no explicit connection to the resurrection. Jesus doesn’t mourn or raise his cousin, John, from the dead like he does with Lazarus. Instead, Mark’s Gospel tells us that John is simply laid in a tomb by his friends, his disciples, and that’s it.

Underlying this passage is a call to hope. In our first reading, Paul tells the Thessalonians that God does not call them to “immorality” or “impurity” but to “holiness.” In other words, God calls us, as the children of God, not to impurity, or those things that separate us from God, but to holiness, those things that draw us closer to God in a covenant of love.

Though I’m still not entirely sure why my friend chose this passage (we are clearly due for a phone call), I like to think its power comes from the hope its abrupt ending suggests. Jesus knows that John the Baptist, his friend and cousin, died in the faith of a God who is Love, the God whose path he dedicated his life to announce to the people of Israel. Maybe we shouldn’t need a clear and dramatic account of John’s death (though it would be nice), because as Christians, we already know God’s triumph over sin and death—including John’s death—through Christ’s victory on the cross.

I am certain most of us are not called to be a martyr like John the Baptist, but we are most certainly called to a holiness like his, to answer God’s daily invitation to draw nearer to God and allow God to come near to us. This call is contagious too! Even when Herod, as our Gospel says, “heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.” A witness to holiness and radical love draws others into this way of love too.

And, though it would be awesome, maybe we don’t feel compelled to make this the Gospel reading at our funeral Mass. Nevertheless, let it serve as a reminder for us to live in the radical hope of the resurrection by the grace and power of our God who is Love and “prepare the way of the Lord” every day of our lives until we see God (and John the Baptist!) face to face.

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