Mark 6:17-29
John the Baptist is the only saint in the calendar (apart from St Joseph) who has two feasts to himself. One, in August, celebrates his death, and one, in June, celebrates his birth.
A prophet from before his birth, leaping in the womb to announce the human coming of the incarnate God, his task was to proclaim the fulfilment of all prophecies. And he did it: with unequalled courage he spread the news that he, the greatest of all, was the least in the kingdom of heaven. John was a teacher of the covenant law given to Moses, and he was relentless in its application. He stood before the most powerful man in Israel, declared he was living in a way that was not right, and it cost him his freedom and his life.
John died for truth, for standing for principles. He was precursor to Jesus, not just in his birth, but also in his martyr's death. As today's gospel would point out that John became a victim to the whims and fancies of a foolish king and a cruel and evil woman. On one side the vanities of the mob, the guests accompanying this act of foolishness and on the other the helplessness of a truthful soul. This scene, as in Hollywood or Bollywood, is being replayed time and again with victories for truth only in the reel life. But in the real life, the voiceless ones keep losing. We too find ourselves on the losing side day after day. That is why, many of us compromise our positions to various degrees: from a simple lie to a life betrayal. We find truth not just impalpable, but impractical and non-practical. But those who still love truth, honesty and sincerity, get used to suffering and defeats, but also to see God's hand. Not everything is lost. God is there. God is here in our fight for justice and truth and authenticity, especially within ourselves.
Many a time living for Jesus can be more difficult than dying for him. You will agree, all of us are called to live as martyrs (perhaps none to die as martyrs). To be witnesses in living for Jesus, in living for truth and principles. It means we are called to die many times before we finally, physically die. God will even use these deaths in our favour, if we will allow it. To love is to die. Every time you choose to love, you have also just chosen to die. Some kind of suffering is always the price and proof of love. To stand for truth is to die. You need to suffer if you stand for truth and principles. But above all, the failures, emptiness, negativity, acts of resistance, sinfulness, weaknesses and fragility that we experience in our daily lives are also a way to experience death in our lives.
What is this death? Death is going to full depth, hitting the bottom, going the distance, beyond where we are in control. It is a "descent into hell" or into the pit, the dark night, Sheol or Hades. We all die eventually; we have no choice in the matter. But there are degrees of death before the final physical one. In this way, we are dying throughout our life. Only after many of these deaths we discover that grace accompanies each and every death of ours, and grace is that which is found at the depths and in the depth of everything. Therefore, we must not be afraid of going down. In a way, we should not even be afraid of losing (again and again), falling, and failing. All these are experiences will give us grace; all these are also grace-filled events. Are we ready to believe the impossible?
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