29 August. Book of Common Prayer. Beheading of John the Baptist.
We missed 28 Aug, a remembrance of Augustine the Greater (versus Augustine the Lesser, of Canterbury).
The beheading of the Baptist is remembered in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on 29 August.
It remembers the Biblical narrative of his martyrdom by the beheading on the order of Herod Antipas by a vengeful request of his daughter Salome.
John had been calling out the immoralities of the royal court. He was schooled in Norman Vincent Peale's school of "How to Win Influence and Friends."
But to a more odd note. On August 29, 2012, during a televised public audience at the summer palace of Castel Gandolfo, Mr. Joseph Ratzinger, made a claim.
Romanists call him Pope Benedict XVI. We call him Mr. Ratzinger.
Mr. Ratzinger (whose books you should read as we've done) asserted the discovery of John’s fragmented head. Additionally, Mr. Ratzinger stated that the relic was now in the Basilica of San Silvestro in Rome; the relic-story, like other relic-stories, is a story with long legs and a long history. It’s good marketing tool. It's good for business. It works with simpletons. That was the view of Frederick the Wise, Luther’s mentor. A leg here. A head over there. A tooth there. A bone there. And so it goes with relic-mongering even to our times. In days bygone, visiting on pilgrimages and visiting relics could knock off time for purgatory. "Justification by faith alone" cut that nerve. But back to the story.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, Herod, a tetrarch or sub-king of Judea, imprisoned the bold forerunner of Jesus, the son of a loyal priestly line, Zechariah and Elizabeth. From infancy, he was full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1.15).
He baptized Jesus. We know the account.
But, John decided to go modern. He adopted Joel Osteen and Rick Warren’s “seeker sensitive model.” John tries to meet Herod's deepest need: repentance unto life and belief in the "One who will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit."
He openly reproved Herod for divorcing his wife and unlawfully taking Herodias, the wife of his brother, Herod I.
Believers respected him, but he offended some in the court. Jesus said there were none born greater than the Baptist.
At a gala event for Herod, Herodias's daughter danced before the king and his guests. We’ll assume it was not to commemorate the Baptist’s exhortations or to review his historic endorsements of Jesus Christ.
We’ll assume it was akin to some unedifying, dreary thing one might see on “Dancing with the Idols.” Dionysian dancing to alcoholic states in celebration to the sex deities is as old as human kind.
The young maiden’s dancing gratified old Herod. In an assumably drunken condition, he promised her anything up to half of his kingdom. Hmm, she thought. Better ask the Queen Mum. Then, she consulted the offended mother. She'd been openly accused of a capital crime: open adultery. The verdict from the Queen Mum? We want the head of Baptist.
Herod reluctantly agreed.
John achieved his “Purpose Driven Life.” He spoke a creative word and achieved “Your Best Life Now.” He was executed in the prison. The head rolled on the ground.
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, reviewed the event. Herod took the Baptist’s head "lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his [John's] power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise)…so he thought it best to put him to death." There may be some sense to this angle too.
The historian further claims that many Jews thought the military disaster that befell Herod at the hands of Aretas, his father-in-law, was God's punishment for his unrighteous behavior (Cf. Jewish Antiquities, XVIII, v, 2).
This much, John the Baptist had visibility and significance as the Gospel writers so quickly note.
We read these accounts so often; we are refreshed and encouraged by honor, courage, fidelity, and the fear of the LORD in this Elijah and forerunner of the Sovereign Redeemer.
http://www.youtube.com/
We missed 28 Aug, a remembrance of Augustine the Greater (versus Augustine the Lesser, of Canterbury).
The beheading of the Baptist is remembered in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on 29 August.
It remembers the Biblical narrative of his martyrdom by the beheading on the order of Herod Antipas by a vengeful request of his daughter Salome.
John had been calling out the immoralities of the royal court. He was schooled in Norman Vincent Peale's school of "How to Win Influence and Friends."
But to a more odd note. On August 29, 2012, during a televised public audience at the summer palace of Castel Gandolfo, Mr. Joseph Ratzinger, made a claim.
Romanists call him Pope Benedict XVI. We call him Mr. Ratzinger.
Mr. Ratzinger (whose books you should read as we've done) asserted the discovery of John’s fragmented head. Additionally, Mr. Ratzinger stated that the relic was now in the Basilica of San Silvestro in Rome; the relic-story, like other relic-stories, is a story with long legs and a long history. It’s good marketing tool. It's good for business. It works with simpletons. That was the view of Frederick the Wise, Luther’s mentor. A leg here. A head over there. A tooth there. A bone there. And so it goes with relic-mongering even to our times. In days bygone, visiting on pilgrimages and visiting relics could knock off time for purgatory. "Justification by faith alone" cut that nerve. But back to the story.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, Herod, a tetrarch or sub-king of Judea, imprisoned the bold forerunner of Jesus, the son of a loyal priestly line, Zechariah and Elizabeth. From infancy, he was full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1.15).
He baptized Jesus. We know the account.
But, John decided to go modern. He adopted Joel Osteen and Rick Warren’s “seeker sensitive model.” John tries to meet Herod's deepest need: repentance unto life and belief in the "One who will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit."
He openly reproved Herod for divorcing his wife and unlawfully taking Herodias, the wife of his brother, Herod I.
Believers respected him, but he offended some in the court. Jesus said there were none born greater than the Baptist.
At a gala event for Herod, Herodias's daughter danced before the king and his guests. We’ll assume it was not to commemorate the Baptist’s exhortations or to review his historic endorsements of Jesus Christ.
We’ll assume it was akin to some unedifying, dreary thing one might see on “Dancing with the Idols.” Dionysian dancing to alcoholic states in celebration to the sex deities is as old as human kind.
The young maiden’s dancing gratified old Herod. In an assumably drunken condition, he promised her anything up to half of his kingdom. Hmm, she thought. Better ask the Queen Mum. Then, she consulted the offended mother. She'd been openly accused of a capital crime: open adultery. The verdict from the Queen Mum? We want the head of Baptist.
Herod reluctantly agreed.
John achieved his “Purpose Driven Life.” He spoke a creative word and achieved “Your Best Life Now.” He was executed in the prison. The head rolled on the ground.
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, reviewed the event. Herod took the Baptist’s head "lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his [John's] power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise)…so he thought it best to put him to death." There may be some sense to this angle too.
The historian further claims that many Jews thought the military disaster that befell Herod at the hands of Aretas, his father-in-law, was God's punishment for his unrighteous behavior (Cf. Jewish Antiquities, XVIII, v, 2).
This much, John the Baptist had visibility and significance as the Gospel writers so quickly note.
We read these accounts so often; we are refreshed and encouraged by honor, courage, fidelity, and the fear of the LORD in this Elijah and forerunner of the Sovereign Redeemer.
http://www.youtube.com/
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