Deepertruth: Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist

Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist 8/29/2023

St. John the Baptist was an ascetic Jewish prophet known in Christianity as the forerunner of Jesus. John preached about God's Final Judgment and baptized repentant followers in preparation for it. Jesus was among the recipients of his rite of baptism.

John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas sometime between 28 and 36 AD, after he rebuked him for divorcing his wife, Phasaelis, and unlawfully taking Herodias, the wife of his brother, Herod Philip I

In fact, they were cousins. But they were so much more than just cousins. According to the New Testament, John the Baptist, who was born before Jesus, also had a miracle birth.

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth. But why? What possesses a man that he would give up his very life?