2 August 2025 -- Saturday of the 17th week
Jer 26:11-16, 24; Matt 14:1-12
Homily
This Gospel presents us with two men who are very different from each other. The first, John the Baptist, is a free man, without power or ambition, and therefore without fear. The other is a man with great power in his hands, a slave to his calculations and ambitions, and because of this, constantly torn by fear.
John is a free man. His mission is to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He exists only for this purpose and has no other ambition. When he recognises the Messiah, he sends his own disciples to him, saying, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ He peacefully acknowledges that the time has come for him to disappear. Having no ambition, nothing to lose and nothing to gain, he is supremely free. He can speak firmly to both the great and the small. He calls the Pharisees and Sadducees ‘brood of vipers’ and reminds King Herod that he is not allowed to live with his brother's wife. This will cost him his life, but as a free man, he is not afraid of death.
Herod is the quintessential example of a man who is constantly tormented because he is not free, because he is torn between his desires and his ambitions. He is therefore constantly anxious. The Evangelist Mark (6:20) tells us that Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and that he protected him; and that when he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and it was with pleasure that he listened to him.
But he had him put in prison anyway because he reproached him for his conduct. On his birthday, when he made a foolish promise to Herodias' daughter and she asked him for John's head, he was torn between several fears. He was afraid to put John to death, but he was also afraid of losing face in front of his guests. So he had John beheaded. Then, when he heard about the miracles performed by Jesus, he was afraid and thought that John had come back from the dead. During Jesus' trial, he was afraid to put him to death, but he handed him over to the Jews anyway, for fear of being considered an enemy of Caesar.
A recommendation that Jesus repeats over and over again, especially in the scenes of his appearances after the Resurrection, is: ‘Do not be afraid.’ Peter, who had begun to walk on the water, begins to sink when he becomes afraid.
Where does fear come from? It is generated by the prospect of losing something that is very important to us. Those who possess great wealth are easily afraid of losing it. Those who are attached to their name or reputation are afraid of losing it. Those who have great ambitions are afraid of anything that might be an obstacle to their fulfilment. On the other hand, the poor, who have no property or power and nothing to lose, are much more likely to be fearless. They are much more likely to be free people.
Blessed are the poor. Yes, blessed are the poor in spirit who, like John the Baptist in the first generation of Christians, were not afraid to give their lives out of fidelity to the Gospel.