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| Source: ancientfaith.com |
In anticipation of Saturday's Liturgy in commemoration of the Beheading of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, I am sharing a fine paragraph from the biblical scholar, Brendan Byrne. This is from is larger commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark:
"The account of John's death (Mk. 6:17-29) is unique in that it is the only sustained episode in the gospel from which Jesus himself is absent. It is also distinctive in the sense that none of the players in it - save John himself, the totally passive victim - emerges with any credit. On the contrary, we have a superbly told story about a banquet of sensual voyeurism that comes to a horrific climax with the "serving up" of a severed human head presented by a young woman to her mother (Herodias) "on a dish" (v. 28). Through a combination of vengeful cruelty(Herodias) and rash folly (Herod) a righteous prophet (John) suffers a violent death when a weak ruler is compelled by circumstances he himself has created to act against his own better judgment and inclination."
From A Costly Freedom by Brendan Byrne, p. 113