The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

Mark 6:14-29

***Please note that the image I am referring to at the beginning of the sermon is the one serving as the cover image for this blog post, depicting St. John the Baptist’s head on a platter***

I already know you may not appreciate the cover on today’s bulletin. It appears graphic: a head on a platter; it’s just sitting there, staring back at you. You heard the story in the Gospel with your ears, but seeing it, seeing the head of John the Baptist before you, that’s another story. Why would we use such an image on the bulletin cover?

Children will see it!

However, is this image as striking as you first believed? Is it as graphic as you think?

Ponder this for a moment… I’ll give you time.

Now, I asked these questions because I would argue that an even more graphic image is before you each and every day; in fact, every time you imagine this image in your mind, this figure appears, and the brutality is inescapable.

How could you carry such a graphic image with you each day? How could you be so dark and troubled?

Of course, you’re sitting here and saying, “Pastor, I have no idea what you are talking about, I would never carry such a horrid image of death with me each and every day.”

Oh yeah, then what’s wrong with you? Why wouldn’t you?

What’s wrong with me, what’s wrong with you?

Nothing…well, that’s not completely true. I am a sinner, just like you.

So why wouldn’t this disturbing image appear in your mind as it does in mine? I mean, you were brought into it just as I was; it was placed on both your forehead and your heart as a child, as an infant, like a tattoo so you’d never forget who you are.

Well, that’s morbid; you’ve been walking around all these years with an image of violence in your heart and mind, but you haven’t noticed?

Reflect on what I’m telling you now. I’m saying that since the time of your birth, you’ve been carrying an image within you that is worse than the cover of today’s bulletin. But why haven’t you noticed this? 

That’s a good question: why haven’t you noticed this?

Probably because you’ve become complacent; maybe all the violent and horrendous imagery of the news on the television you watch or in the video games you play has made you numb, or maybe you’ve decided to bury those images in the depths of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the part of the brain that suppresses unwanted thoughts and visuals you’d prefer not to have. 

Maybe that’s it; maybe that’s why you can’t ponder or visualize the image that’s honestly worse than the cover of today’s bulletin.

You’ve become complacent, numb, and buried the image of proof.

However, the image, the cross, and Jesus’ mangled body still remain before you; you can’t escape it; it’s right here to my left.

That vivid, horrible image of violence, the most horrendous violence known to mankind: crucifixion.

Whips, lashes, and nails. A crown of thorns for the King and Kings, rough wood that digs deep into the open wounds of His back for a throne. Yes, Jesus cleans up real nice for our purposes today, for public display, but make no mistake, the day He died for sinners like you and me, it’s not an image we would have looked on with glee, joy, or celebration. No, His cross would have brought us shame. It would have been seared into our memories, the kind of image you can’t outrun or ever forget, the image of tragedy.

Being there that first Good Friday would have stayed with you until the day you died.

But that’s one of the reasons you might not want to think about it, to ponder it, or wrestle with it – it is graphic, vicious, and horrendous.  

But you are also the reason Jesus went to this cross.

Your sin, the ways you have not lived rightly, according to your Father’s will, as we learn from the Ten Commandments and Holy Scripture. How you have not loved God with all your heart or your neighbor as yourself, the way you have not been faithful in confessing your faith in your Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you.

And here is the difference between you and John the Baptist, the one whose head ended on a platter; he was faithful, even to the end.

He confessed Jesus until his dying breath.

He refused to compromise God’s law, even at the risk of his life. He would not dilute God’s commands regarding the adulterers in King Herod’s court, which ultimately led to his death, just as he wouldn’t soften his message for his apostles. Despite the potential for mental or physical harm, John the Baptist consistently proclaimed God’s Word in full.

In this way, the rejection of the word John preached foretold the rejection of Jesus’ words. John’s violent death foreshadowed Jesus’ death.

And you, the baptized, have been brought into this death, too. Hear those familiar words of the epistle again:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

The newness of life you have received is the life of forgiveness; it’s how you are set on a new path that departs the old life of sin and death behind and leads to eternal life.

However, this new path of life is not as many want it to be; it’s not free from danger, threat of violence, or tribulation; in fact, it’s full of it, and it follows in the footsteps of John the Baptist, the martyr.

A martyr.

Someone whose life, witness, and confession of faith point to Jesus Christ and His cross, even if it would cost them their life.

Tertullian, a theologian of the second century, made this interesting point when he wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

The fascinating thing about martyrdom is that while the blood of God’s children has been spilled, it hasn’t been silenced.

Ponder that… while the blood of God’s children has been spilled, it hasn’t been silenced.

The house of Herod believed that by killing John the Baptist, they would kill the message he proclaimed, but instead, it only inspired the Gospel to spread even further, strengthening and growing the Church.

But an important point to make here is this: martyrdom is never sought; it is the reluctant acceptance of death for the sake of the Gospel.

John the Baptist didn’t seek death; he accepted it, never forgetting his Savior.

And all of you have made this confession at your Confirmation, that you would be willing to die, rather than deny and betray your faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified.

This is your cross, and if it should be required of you, as it most certainly is, you will suffer for your faith at your jobs, as you might be shamed for being a Christian, or you may be mocked by peers at school for not cheering on the bullies or for refusing to join those who wish to hurt, harm, and slay their classmates, or even in your homes you’d find it easier to silence your heavenly faith for the illusion of earthly tranquility. 

These are your crosses to bear, the ordinary days and instances that require you to confess your faith boldly. But do you, and will you?

Will you confess the cross of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin, even when it’s difficult?

Or would you prefer not to think about Him or His cross? Is it too difficult or violent an image for you to bear in your heart?

You know, Martin Luther gives us this thought regarding the cross,

For whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ, an image of a man hanging on a cross takes form in my heart, just as the reflection of my face naturally appears in the water when I look into it. If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?

(Against the Heavenly Prophets, 1525; LW, Vol. 40, 99-100)

The most horrendous image of death is never far from the Christian, for you have been baptized and united to this death at the waters of Holy Baptism. However, the image of the cross also brings great comfort; it is the sign of triumph, the symbol of the world’s redemption for the body which hung upon thee.

And this is what changes one’s perception of an image: its meaning.

John the Baptist did not seek death, but accepted it, pointing all men to Jesus and thus taught us how to do as he did, even if it would require our lives. The cross, on which hung the salvation of the world, joins each and every Christian into the one mystical body of Jesus Christ, a reminder that no threat or evil death will harm God’s child, but rather be the blood that nourishes the soil of the Church of Christ and become a portal unto eternal life.

My friends, if seeing John the Baptist’s head on today’s bulletin makes you pause, praise God; it should. This image is a reminder of the confession you made on the day of Confirmation, the confession of faith for every Christian. Yet remember that you also carry within you a more powerful, beautiful, and disturbing image: the death of Jesus, the payment for your sin. On the cross, He secured salvation and eternal life for you. Look to the cross daily; let it shape your thoughts and heart, even if it’s hard to grasp. Keep it ever before you, for in its suffering lies profound beauty—a testament to what God has accomplished for you and to His love for you. +INJ+ 

Rev. Noah J. Rogness

Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Tomah, WI

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org

The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/