Saint John the Baptist
Prophet and Martyr · -5–30
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:30
John the Baptist is one of those figures who feels almost too big for history. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first herald of the New Covenant, the guy who looked at Jesus and said, essentially, 'That's the one. Not me. Him.'
His whole life was a preparation for someone else's arrival. He grew up in the desert, wore rough camel-hair clothing, ate locusts and wild honey, and drew enormous crowds anyway. People walked out into the wilderness to hear him preach repentance, and he baptized them in the Jordan River. He didn't soften his message for anyone.
That last part is what got him killed. When King Herod Antipas took his brother's wife, Herodias, as his own, John called it out publicly. Herod had him arrested. Then, at a birthday banquet, Herodias's daughter Salome danced for the king and pleased him so much that he promised her anything she wanted. Coached by her mother, she asked for John's head on a platter. Herod, not wanting to lose face in front of his guests, gave the order.
Today's feast, the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, marks that death. It's a somber one. The Church remembers not just his martyrdom but what it cost him: he told the truth, and it was fatal. He never flinched. He pointed to Christ until the very end, and that's the whole ballgame, really.