Sunday, August 29, 2004
Strict Fast (Tone 4) The Beheading of the Forerunner John
3rd of Vespers of Beheading: Wisdom Selections Epistle: Acts 13:25-33
Gospel: St. Mark 6:14-30
Wisdom 4:7, 16-17, 19-20; 5:1-7, especially vss. 5:1, 2: "Then shall
the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made
no account of his labors. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be
amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for." We affirm at
every Liturgy that our Lord Jesus Christ "shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the
dead." These words, like those of the verses from Wisdom quoted above, carry us "far beyond
all" that we look upon on a day to day basis. They remind us that there is another dimension in
which we live eternally, one unbounded by time and space, a dimension that cuts across every
moment, good deed, and sin in this present age. Foolish is the man who thinks only in terms of
what he looks on day to day and does not see eternity enfolding his path through this temporal
life. Such was Herod Antipas whom the Eternal Himself does indeed hold accountable for the
vile murder of the Forerunner. That poor benighted man could not see the eternal realm
surrounding him, for his own lust and pride, the sensuality he indulged and craftiness he pursued,
in the end proved his undoing and to be "deserts, where there lay no way" (vs. 5:7).
The ancients of the first century knew of Herod Antipas' and Herodias' crimes against the laws of
God and their violation of the holy Prophet John. Only a few years later, in the course of
subsequent events, the murderous Tetrarch did overreach himself, first in a disastrous war with
his former father-in-law, King Aretas in which his army was virtually annihilated, and, then, in
asking for the title of King from the Roman Emperor Caligula. However, this request aroused the
suspicion of the Emperor, and, after an Imperial investigation, Herod Antipas was summarily
removed from his court and banished far from familiar Palestine to the interior of Roman Gaul -
150 miles from the Mediterranean up the Rhone river to Lyon, and there he died in exile.
Perhaps in exile, Herod and Herodias came to believe that they had wearied themselves "in the
way of wickedness and destruction" (vs. 5:7), though probably not; yet their pious
contemporaries saw the hand of God behind the bitter reversal that befell them. Whatever the
case, those who confess Christ as Lord and the Baptizer as a Saint, know that in the dimension of
eternity, a far worse exile likely befell Herod and Herodias for their sins. If we try to think of
persons on whose lips the lament of this reading fits, Herod and Herodias surely qualify.
Let Herod's flagrant sins be a call to repentance for all, who, by the grace of God, know that
every man walks through and commits sins not simply in this realm of time and space, but within
the dimension eternity. While St. John's life was "prevented with death" at Herod's hand (vs.
4:7), yet he is and ever shall be alive with the Lord of eternity. In this connection, St. John
Chrysostom notes that "in our own day and through all future time, throughout all the world,
John continues to refute Herod, both through himself and through others."
Yes, sins have consequences that reverberate through the long span of history, but, more
seriously, they open out onto the field of eternity. The reality of the eternal dimension in relation
to sin, as well in relation to righteousness, thrusts urgency into every human life. For God shall
rend the wicked, "and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless, and He shall shake
them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste and be in sorrow, and their
memorial shall perish." Likewise, the righteous man, no matter what happens in this world, is
"numbered among the children of God, and his lot among the Saints." Christ God, save us!
O John, preacher of repentance, thou didst sanctify the earth when thy head was cut off And
since thou has favor with the Lord, beseech Him ceaselessly for the salvation of our souls.
