Tuesday, August 29, 2023

It is the 29th of August, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Happy Decollation Day!

And you respond, “And also to you, and also, what is that?”. It comes from the Latin “de” (away with, removal) and “collum” from whence we get “collar”- it is the neck. And so it is “de-necking” day- or the feast of a beheading! In the history of decollations, there is one that stands above the rest such that this “decollation day” is one of the oldest feasts in the Christian church- it is the beheading of John the Baptist, and the feast is today, the 29th of August.  

Let’s hit this from a number of different historical perspectives. It is a feast day or festival day, but for many ancient Christians, it is also a “fast day.” There is an old tradition of a complete fast in honor of his martyrdom. There are some traditions where the fast is only applicable to food served on a platter, cut with a knife or round. And if you know the story of John the Baptist, you get it.

The story of John the Baptist is in all four gospels, with the authors using his story as the forerunner of Christ. He also appears in the history written by Josephus- let’s take a look at each story.

In the Gospel of Matthew, John is preaching to the people, baptizing them in the Jordan, and then baptizing Jesus. We then get the story of John’s arrest for criticizing Herod Antipas- the Tetrarch ruler over Galilee. Antipas had married Herodias, who was married to his brother. But, afraid of his popularity, he wouldn’t have John killed. Until Herodius’ daughter dances for a drunken group of men that includes Herod- they are so pleased with it Herod promises the girl whatever she would like, and she asks for the head of John the Baptist.

The disciples of John collect his body and bury it. Herod then believes that Jesus is a resurrected John. Others believe him to be the “Elijah” to come before the Messiah.

Mark’s telling is very similar, except Mark makes a point of writing that Herod really liked John and knew he was a holy man. The rest of the story follows Matthew.

Luke gives us the nativity of John and the rest of the story, except for the dancing and drinking bit. In Luke’s telling, Herod isn’t sure that Jesus is a resurrected John the Baptist.

And then, in the Gospel of John, we get in the prologue the story of a man sent from God who would bear witness to the light but was not himself the light. We read of John proclaiming that he is not the messiah and the superiority of Jesus to himself. His disciples follow Jesus, and he is arrested. That’s all we get. Some suggest that the author was concerned about a group that had continued to follow John the Baptist and wanted to downplay his story and play up his proclaimed subservience.

And then there is Josephus. I don’t think we’ve done a show on him- but we should. He was a Jewish priest who was born just a few years after the death of Jesus. He was a pharisee who despised the anti-Roman zealots. In fact, after the Jewish-Roman wars, he defected to the Romans and took the name “Flavius.” He wrote on the history of the Jews for a Roman and Greek audience. He tells us that John preached and baptized and was arrested and put to death because his popularity worried Herod. Herod’s defeat by the Romans is seen by the Jews as a just punishment for his treatment of John.

Much of the story of John the Baptist in the early and medieval church is that of the scramble for his relics. His prominent role in salvation history, as well as the story of his disciples collecting his body, has led to centuries of stories about the whereabouts of his body and, more importantly, his head and his right arm (the arm presumably used to baptize Jesus).

The dramatic story has also been depicted throughout the centuries in art. Many of the Renaissance masters produced depictions of the fateful dance and beheading.

The New Testament doesn’t give the daughter of Herodias a name, but Josephus did: Salome. Salome became well known after Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play that would be turned into an opera and movies from 1920 to 2013 (with Al Pacino playing Herod).

A veritable treasure trove of stories, relics, and art, the church has long taken this, the 29th of August, to remember the decollation- or beheading of John the Baptist.

 

The last word for today is a poem from Philip Kolin- John the Baptist, published in 2021 in the Christian Century.

Out of the wilderness came this prophet of fire
and repentance, his voice a flame igniting

souls out of darkness to witness the Messiah.

Wherever he went bonfires reddened the night air.

He wore a tunic of camel hair, and a rope

cincture binding unruly flesh from

appetite; he lived on locusts and burr-
nested cones.

When he entered the Jordan
it flowed east, away from the sin-crusted west.

Each wave was engraved with grace as he plunged

sinners heavy with the world’s woes under

only to lift them up toward the light.

But not the Pharisees. Stones would rise sooner.

When he announced Christ passing by,

the birds of the air carried each honeyed syllable

to every open heart and sin-ridden soul. 

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 29th of August 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who enjoys chicken collums- rich in calcium and phosphorus- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose dog Pedro enjoys the bone from the chicken collum- that little guy destroys those things- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be OK.