Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

This well-known story of the death of John the Baptist is strategically sandwiched between Mark’s account of Jesus sending the apostles out on their first missionary activity and the feeding of the five thousand.

And why does Mark do this? It is precisely to teach that the cost of true discipleship is sacrifice. This is witnessed to by John and also Jesus himself. The people’s exclamation in relation to John – he is “a prophet like one of the prophets of old” – reinforces the identity of the person who “prepares the way of the Lord.” Not only, as disciples, are you and I vested with this same mission to call all to repentance and to feed those who hunger for God, but we are also reminded that committed discipleship comes at a cost.

The message of today’s Gospel and the memorial we celebrate – the martyrdom of St Paul Miki and his Companions – are intrinsically linked. The Gospel first preached in Japan by St Francis Xavier and others in the 1540s inspired Jesuit Paul Miki and his young friends who later lived and died as faithful disciples to a fledgling Church community, their legacy inspirational for generations to come.

Today in our troubled world, being a disciple for Christ is not easy, nor was it ever meant to be; the choice we make to follow the Gospel must be non-negotiable. Let us therefore make that choice to be prophets for our time like John the Baptist and the martyrs we remember today.

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