Witnessing beyond your comfort zone (HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II (BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST - AUGUST 29, 2024)

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II (BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST - AUGUST 29, 2024)

Jer.1:17-19; Ps.71; Mark 6:17:29

Witnessing beyond your comfort zone

Today we celebrate the memorial of the passion/beheading of John the Baptist. When we remember that this John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus Christ, we may once again ask that pertinent question: “where is God when bad things happen to good people”. The answer to this question lies in understanding what Divine connection entails. If you are connected to the President, you will most likely never experience poverty. Likewise, if we are connected to Jesus, we will definitely not experience that which Jesus is opposed to: Condemnation.

The beheading of John the Baptist was not a condemnation but a spring board into the glory of heaven. St. Mark puts the story of John’s martyrdom between two important events in the mission of Jesus’ disciples: their departure for mission (6:7-13) and their return from mission (6:30). This means that for us to be successful in the mission of Christ, we must experience martyrdom in one way or the other. When John the Baptist set out to speak against Herod’s incestuous act with Herodias the brother’s wife, he may not have known that the consequence will be his beheading; but he was sure that opposing the king would attract dire consequences. Yet, he courageously preached the truth.

When we preach the gospel with some level of confident, we will not be bargaining with evil but eradicating it. Our beheading will come in various forms such as: assassination of our character, attempt to blackmail us, false allegations, some forms of deprivations and so on. To choose to stand for the truth means to choose to face the same fate as John the Baptist. 

For every good you dare to do there must be a “beheading”. Do not busy yourself declaring yourself innocent while you are being “beheaded”. Do not be shocked at the caliber of persons who supervise your “beheading”. Focus rather on the truth you are defending and the undoubtable salvation of the righteous.

Until we are ready to willingly accept “beheading”, we will never be able to do something about the evil in our world.

Remain blessed