Burying Heads

King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah”; still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.” But when Herod learned of it, he said, “It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.”

Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. 

Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. His own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” Her mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6:14-29)

A head on a platter belongs to John the Baptist according to Mark.  He confronted the power of his time, Herod, and we all know what the powerful are capable of doing – stifling opposition.  Beheading was one such consequence of protests.  In this Markan tale, however, it was the wife that wanted John’s head – or so goes that story that led to many divergent trails in pursuit of that historical head.

According to www.history.com, (begin) Josephus didn’t mention where John the Baptist was buried, nor did the Bible, though the Gospel of Matthew stated that his disciples “came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:12). From the fourth century (three centuries after these events took place), John’s burial place was traditionally believed to be at Sebastia (originally Samaria), now in Palestine.

What became of John the Baptist’s head, on the other hand, is a question that has tantalized relic seekers for centuries. “You get a thousand different traditions about where he was buried, where his head was buried, and stuff like that,” Cargill says.

According to different traditions, no fewer than four locations lay claim to the murdered saint’s head. In Damascus, Syria, the Umayyad Mosque was built in the eighth century A.D. on the site of a Christian church named for John the Baptist; his head is said to be buried in a shrine there. A skull identified as the head of John the Baptist is on display at the Church of San Silvestro in Capite in Rome, built to house artifacts from the Roman catacombs. The 13th-century cathedral in Amiens, France was built specifically to house the head of John the Baptist, which a Crusader supposedly brought back from Constantinople in 1206. And in Munich, Germany, the Residenz Museum includes John’s skull among a number of relics collected by Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria with the Pope’s permission in the mid-16th century.

In addition, museums and monasteries in Istanbul, Egypt and Montenegro, among other locations, claim to have other body parts belonging to John the Baptist, including his right arm and right hand (with which he baptized Jesus). (end)

Where are our heads buried? In the sand?  Elsewhere?  It is time to unbury and do what is right and just on Jesus’ terms, not ours.

Many of us have lost our heads over politics and religious issues.  Some of our “neighbors” are looking for platters.  Like Herodias, some harbor a grudge against us and want to kill us (figuratively).  Our body parts, including our arms, hands, and especially our mouths, must be used in empathetic, compassionate and loving ways.  Otherwise, all those platters will be overflowing.

Deacon David Pierce