August 29 2024 - Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist
1 Cor 1:1-9; Mk 6:17...29
Homily
The liturgical calendar offers us two feasts of Saint John the Baptist. On 24 June we celebrate his birth, and today we celebrate his martyrdom.
John the Baptist stands at the junction of two traditions, two lines of prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, God chose people to fulfil certain roles within the People. First, after Moses, he gave them Judges to guide them, as well as priests. Then, at the request of the people, he gave them kings and finally sent them prophets, like Isaiah, whom he chose even before they were born, when they were still in the womb. In the same way, John was chosen to be the forerunner of the Messiah.
When Jesus appeared among the people of Israel, he did not belong to the line of kings or priests, but to that of the prophets. From that moment on, he was the one and only prophet. By virtue of their baptism, all the baptised share in this prophetic mission of Jesus, and must therefore be ready to give their lives, if necessary, as John did.
Sometimes we are invited to recognise the ‘prophets’ of our time. There is, I believe, a great ambiguity here. It's as if we're being invited to return to the economy of the Old Testament. There is now only one Prophet, Christ; and, in general, people who claim to have a prophetic mission are dangerous people. There is only one Prophet, Christ, and we all share in his prophetic mission. In reality, it is the Church as a whole that continues the prophetic mission of Jesus.
On the other hand, within the Church, the new People of God, there are various ministries, various services, various functions to be fulfilled. This is a different matter.
In the Old Testament, the great prophets appeared when the life of the People no longer corresponded to the divine will. Through their lives, even more than through their words, they established themselves by challenging the established order (or disorder). Their lives served as a guide for all the people.
The life of Jesus was a continual challenge to the corrupt religious and political order established in Israel by the tradition of the High Priests, Scribes and Pharisees.
In our day, when the ideal of communion and universal brotherhood proclaimed by Jesus is increasingly being undermined by a world order that creates ever more injustice and disenfranchisement, trying to identify ‘prophets’ in our world or our Church to admire... without, moreover, allowing ourselves to be challenged too much by them, could well be an easy way out and a resignation in the face of our obligations. When certain people embody the message of Christ in a particularly visible way, let us allow ourselves to be challenged by them, but let us not forget that we all, without exception, have an obligation to fulfil the same prophetic mission of Christ in our lives. And if need be, to pay the price, as John the Baptist did.
Armand Veilleux