Yesterday, National Heroes Day, our nation remembered her heroes of long ago — men and women who fought for what they believed was our sovereign right as a people and who braved death against all odds. Today, in our gospel reading (Mark 6:17-29), the evangelist Mark tells the story about the martyrdom of John the Baptist.
This is a familiar story to many of us. John, who was the voice crying in the desert, was sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord. Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps expecting some great Messianic power, but John never allowed himself the false honor of receiving these people for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. And when the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus. And yet even then, he did not hesitate to speak the truth and accused the guilty, even King Herod himself. And this led to his imprisonment and to his most gruesome and untimely execution as described in today’s gospel.
Now, unlike in the movies where the hero is the good guy who wins in the end and is greeted by his countrymen in a victory parade, martyrs are a different kind of hero. Like John the Baptist, all martyrs don’t live long enough to join their victory parade.
We honor martyrs and heroes for what they choose to die for. They remind us that life is not worth living if it is not given up for someone else. And that is why they have a special place in the heart of God whose son Jesus came precisely to give his life for all of us.
HAVE YOU BEEN BLESSED BY A MARTYR IN YOUR LIFE?
Now, what about you? Have you been blessed by a hero or a martyr in your life? Have you benefited from someone’s good graces and generous, sacrificial self-giving? Or maybe that person is your parent, perhaps a close friend or maybe the person who invited you to come and listen to this Pathways of Hope video.
You know, on many occasions, I have honored my wife Daisy as the hero and martyr in my life, because of her sacrificial giving of her attention to my personal needs and wants, and often at the expense of her own comfort and her self worth. And today I honor her again for yielding to my selfish whims, my difficult attitudes, and my gross negligence.
And aside from my own personal life circumstances, I see many heroes and martyrs among the brothers and sisters who serve the poor, who minister to the sick and who go out of their way to disciple earnest believers.
PRAY TO BE A MARTYR AND A HERO FOR SOMEONE ELSE
Thank God for sending us these martyrs and heroes. And as we do that, maybe, maybe we ought to also pray for ourselves to have those providential opportunities to be the hero for someone else and the martyr standing up for God’s word and calling.
You know, Jesus inspires all of us to a life of heroic martyrdom. He says, “unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat”. And he says, “he who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted”. And finally he would say, “Whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life, for my sake, he will find it.” (John 1:24-26)
Today in honor of our heroes and martyrs like John the Baptist, let us pray more intently for opportunities for ourselves to testify to others about God’s will, to boldly proclaim our faith in Jesus, to hold fellow Christians accountable to a life of godliness, and to go out of our comfort zone to serve our neighbors with love, and even, like John, to speak boldly against injustice and falsehood. The tougher the challenge the better.
These are some of the many things that make us saints in the eyes of God, even if we may look foolish or even objectionable in the eyes of the world at the point of persecution or castigation.
But we can be assured that God sees the heroic act behind all our struggles. And then He says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
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