{"id":18460,"date":"2022-08-29T15:23:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T20:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=18460"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:31:51","slug":"john-the-baptist-patron-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2022\/08\/29\/john-the-baptist-patron-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"John the Baptist, Patron of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a teenager, I discovered Oscar Wilde\u2019s \u201cone-act play, Salome<\/a>\u201d, a retelling of the story of John the Baptist\u2019s beheading by Herod Antipas. I was intrigued to discover that Wilde\u2019s play is a Gospel story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gospel account, Herod\u2019s wife, Herodias, is angry at the prophet because he has preached against her marriage to the king. The union violated Jewish law since both parties were divorced and because Herodias\u2019 prior husband was Herod\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, the historian Josephus records that, for worry that his foe was becoming too popular and might lead to a rebellion against him, Herod Antipas killed John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gospel story, the scene is a banquet. Herod and his officers lounge about, feasting and drinking wine. The queen\u2019s daughter dances for them. Delighted by her performance, Herod tells Salome she can ask for whatever she wants, and it will be hers. At her mother\u2019s instigation, the princess asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. According to the Gospel, Herod is distressed at this request, believing John to be a holy man. Nevertheless he must fulfill his promise. So the prophet is murdered and his head brought to Salome, who in turn gives it to her mother.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Salome
In this etching by Quirin Mark, Salome and Herodias receive the head of John the Baptist from the executioner. source: lookandlearn.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As the forerunner of Jesus, John represents a world opposite to that of Herod\u2019s court; a world in which no one, not even the wealthy, not even the king himself, is above the law of God.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has cast down the mighty from their thrones,\u201d sang Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, during her visit to John\u2019s mother, Elizabeth. \u201cHe has filled the hungry with good things and the rich sent empty away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty years later, in Herod\u2019s court, the mighty have clearly not yet been cast down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this comes through in Wilde\u2019s disturbing and brilliant play. In his version, the story is all about illicit desire, the conflict between the decadent and the ascetic. Salome, encountering Jokannan (John) as he disrupts the banquet with his harsh denunciations from his prison cell, immediately becomes obsessed with him. His emaciated beauty, even his ascetic scorn of her, enthralls her. And the more vehement his railings, the more obsessed Salome becomes. She desires to kiss his mouth; the same mouth that calls her a whore, an abomination, a daughter of Sodom and Babylon; that calls on the people to stone her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will kiss your mouth,\u201d she repeats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baptist, as Wilde depicts him, seems angry; not at injustice but at the body itself, especially the bodies of women. He and Salome are opposites on a dualistic binary \u2014 voluptuousness on one hand and asceticism on the other. Each is doomed in their own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… because his story shows the perils that may await if we decide to follow Jesus instead of bowing to the powers of the world, it is a sobering one.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Herod convinces the princess to dance for him, Salome, not her mother, demands the head of the prophet. As in the Gospel, Herod is appalled but keeps his promise. When John\u2019s head is brought to Salome, she passionately kisses his dead lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herod is horrified. \u201cKill that woman!\u201d he commands, and his guards turn on Salome, crushing her beneath their shields. The end.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The liberties Wilde takes with the Gospel story indicate interest in the theme of forbidden or illicit love and the contrast between the sensuous and the ascetic. In his version, Salome is also a victim; not only of her own desires but of those who punish her for her \u201cmonstrousness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers might guess that Oscar Wilde turned the story of the beheading of John the Baptist into a story about forbidden passion, because he too was regarded as \u201cmonstrous\u201d by the society in which he lived. Only four years after he wrote this play, Wilde was jailed for \u201cgross indecency with men.\u201d His only crime was that he was a gay man in a society where LGBTQ persons were harassed and persecuted. Under the same laws, Alan Turing, the father of computer science, would also be prosecuted and subjected to chemical castration. These cruel laws were created and enforced in a civilization that called itself Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Wilde turned the story of John the Baptist into a story about illicit desire, perhaps this was because generations had already twisted the message of the Gospel \u2014 the good news that John heralded \u2014 into something cruel and repressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John\u2019s denunciation of Herod and Herodias was ultimately directed at their arrogance in placing themselves above God\u2019s law. Herod had a habit of ignoring Jewish tradition, offending devout Jews by doing such things as building his capital atop a graveyard. He was also a \u201cclient king,\u201d meaning he wielded power on behalf of Rome. To pious Jews, Herod was an outsider, a minion of the oppressive imperial authority. It is likely that many feared to stand up to him, but John did not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of John the Baptist in the Gospel is not about asceticism versus sensuousness. It is about justice, about a man who gave his life speaking truth to power. Today, when many who claim to be followers of Jesus simultaneously promote injustice, bigotry and hatred, John the Baptist is an inspiring patron. And because his story shows the perils that may await if we decide to follow Jesus instead of bowing to the powers of the world, it is a sobering one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Rebecca<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Rebecca Bratten Weiss is a writer and academic residing in rural Ohio. She is the digital editor for U.S. Catholic magazine, and can be found at rebeccabrattenweiss.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a teenager, I discovered Oscar Wilde\u2019s \u201cone-act play, Salome\u201d, a retelling of the story of John the Baptist\u2019s beheading by Herod Antipas. I was intrigued to discover that Wilde\u2019s play is a Gospel story. In the Gospel account, Herod\u2019s wife, Herodias, is angry at the prophet because he has preached against her marriage to...","protected":false},"author":149585916,"featured_media":18464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[698755601],"tags":[698756071,20300,6406728,698756069,134196,2606,698756068,698755384,557,698756067,698756072,24170,66409,4908,377081,698756070,361672,538],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-18460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-bible-story","tag-desire","tag-gospel-living","tag-herodias","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-justice","tag-king-herod","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-literature","tag-martyrdom","tag-oscar-wilde","tag-passion","tag-peace-and-justice","tag-power","tag-prophet","tag-prophetic-voice","tag-salome","tag-violence","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/20220829-rebecca-bratten-lookandlearn.com-YR0149036.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"

John the Baptist, Patron of Justice<\/a><\/blockquote>