The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist 2021

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

Psalm 34:19; St. Mark 6:14-29

The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

August 29/September 2, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Gradual appointed for this day, from Psalm 34, goes like this, “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing! Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”

Many are the afflictions of the righteous. The Psalmist is explicit, “If you are righteous,” he says, that is, if you are a Christian, you will have many afflictions in this life. This is completely and utterly opposite of what typical American Evangelical Christians and televangelists preach. The Psalmist never says or encourages you to “live your best life now,” like Joel Osteen. The Psalmist is quite blunt: if you are a Christian, you will be afflicted in this life.

First of all, you will be afflicted by what others do to you. Those who are opposed to the Gospel of Christ and to Christians are filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. You must suffer their gossip, slander, the hate they have toward God, their insolence, haughtiness, and their boastfulness. Whether it be friends, family, or enemies, in this life, you will be afflicted by their evil ways, their foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness and you must suffer it all.

Then, in this life, you must suffer the afflictions of the devil who prowls around like a lion seeking to devour you as prey. Because you live in this world, you must also suffer the afflictions of fallen humanity. Since we now live in the last days, you will suffer the afflictions of false teachers who come in the name of Christ saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will lead many astray. Not only all that, but you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes, hurricanes, and here in Iowa, tornados.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Many will fall away. The righteous ones will suffer betrayal and will suffer the hate and scorn of others. Lawlessness will increase and the love of many will grow cold. 

The wounds caused by afflictions and pain are not mended or healed from anything we can do. In the end, we cannot become truly happy or deliver ourselves out from our many afflictions by means of “positive thinking,” reading self-help books, listening to motivational speeches or singing music solely for the purpose of exciting our emotions. Nothing mortal men can do can ease the long-lasting pain that is caused by many afflictions that all Christians will bear. And if God has protected you from the many afflictions that are common to man up to this point in your life, God be praised. But unfortunately, this will not always be the case. For the Psalmist sings, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. You will be afflicted, even if you haven’t been already and nothing mortal men can do can ease the long-lasting pain all Christians will bear. But Jesus can and He does.

Within this phrase, many are the afflictions of the righteous, we can find comforting realities. First of all, God has promised that if you are righteous, if you are a Christian and loved by Him, if you have faith, you will be afflicted. Now this may not seem comforting, but it is. Just as children learn and develop through discipline, so it is with Christians who are children of our heavenly Father. The reason why God allows Christians to be afflicted, the reason why God takes our families, our parents, our spouses, and our children from us, the reason why He allows the cancer to spread across your body, the reason why He allows terrorists to kill Christians, and hurricanes and tornados to ravage the land, is so that we might learn to rely solely on Him. So if you find yourself enduring affliction, trial, and tribulation, rejoice! It means that you are loved by God and He allows these afflictions to come upon you because He loves you and His desire is that you turn to Him and learn to lean on Him and trust in Him. Because God never abandons the children whom He loves. He will never leave you or forsake you. He is walking with you through this vale of tears, and He is often carrying you.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous. John the Baptist probably knew this better than any one of us can know. For speaking the truth, for telling Herod that it was not lawful that he take his brother’s wife and live together as though she were his wife, for warning Herod that “playing house” and living together unlawfully is sin, Herod threw John in prison. There John wasted away and was executed in prison, without due process, without a writ of Habeas Corpus, without a trail. Such are the afflictions of the righteous at the hands of the unrighteous.

But the Psalmist continues to sing, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” The Lord of Hosts is our mighty deliverer. He commands legions and hosts of angels. He is our Redeemer. He buys us back and delivers us not by exciting our emotions or as a reward for praising Him with loud music. He buys us back by His blood and delivers us to safety. He did this by becoming a man and enduring all the sorrows and afflictions that each and every one of us experience daily. Whatever plagues you, however you’ve been afflicted, whatever it may be, your dear Savior knows about it even better than you do. For we do not have a High Priest, a Redeemer, a dear Savior who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses or afflictions, but was in all points, tempted and afflicted as we are, yet He is without sin. He knows what you’re going through. He knows, He understands. He understands better than you do.

Jesus knew affliction, He knew heartbreak, He knew sorrow. Today we remember the Martyrdom of John the Baptist and that he suffered at the hand of the coward Herod Antipas. John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. His own family, a member of our Lord’s own household was martyred in a show of earthly power. But Jesus did not try to avenge this death. He didn’t use His Divine Authority to exact revenge on Herod. Jesus knew that through this shameful beheading of the last great prophet—he who must decrease so that Jesus must increase—God called John the Baptist to his eternal resting place to be delivered from all the pharisees, the scribes, Herod, and the executioner’s sword.  

John needed to decrease so that Jesus would increase. John needed to die so that Jesus would raise him on the Last Day. John confessed Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus takes away John’s sin, He takes away Herod’s sin, He takes away the sin of everyone who ever lived. No matter how bad you may have been, no matter how terrible the sin, it can be forgiven, it already has been forgiven. He takes away sin and death by submitting to death. But He must increase, so that He might even take your sin, thousands of years before you were born, to the cross. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but in this way, the LORD, who is the righteous one, delivers you from out of them all.

Though Jesus ascended into heaven, He is not far off. Now, in the Divine Service, you enjoy His greater presence through what you experience in church—not music designed to rile up and excite emotions, but holy, ancient, and Biblical hymns of praise, drawn from Holy Scripture, which the angels and the whole company of heaven are singing with you. For those who fear the Lord lack nothing. And though many are the afflictions of the righteous, the Lord delivers you out of them all.

In +Jesus’ name.