Death of John the Baptist

 Listening again to the episode of the beheading of John the Baptist, as part of the Gospel reading today, a couple of points that struck me: 

That Herod could find his promise more demanding and compelling than the life of a person is strange.  Is the worth of life lessor than a mere word, that too given to someone for a dance performance?! But it didn't take me long to realise that it was never about honour.  Herod was not honouring his word; he was merely giving in to his fear.  He had already decided to kill John the Baptist; he just didn't have 'sufficient reason' to justify his plan.  The promise was a mere excuse, to actually carry out what he had already made up his mind about! 

On a totally different note, the concluding lines of the Gospel speak about the disciples of John the Baptist, burying him and then informing Jesus about it.  What suddenly hit me was Jesus' response.  Of course, there certainly would have been an emotional response; but the text says nothing. Whereas when Lazarus dies, Jesus weeps.  Here the death was of his own cousin; someone he had known all his life. Surely, this would have been a very sad moment for Jesus. If Lazarus' death could move him to tears, I'm sure John's death would have been no less a tragic moment.  

Or did the Biblical authors perhaps skipped recording that emotional response, lest they show him 'human'.  Or maybe they did not want to show his affinity to family more than his mission?  Too many may be's!! 

Beheading of John the Baptist (by Caravaggio)

Anna, the prophetess?

In the gospel reading of the day, we read of Anna, the prophetess.  She is there in the temple when the child Jesus is brought in for the first time and together with Simeon, she cherishes this rare meeting in the temple. 

She is described as a prophetess.  But there is nothing said of what exactly did she prophesy.  But the passage speaks of her spending years in the temple.  Visiting the temple everyday, and spending time in prayer and fasting.  Am sure her gift of prophecy was actually a well nurtured skill of observation and reflection.  She must have spent years watching people come into the temple, all sorts of them.  And over the years, developed a keen sense of 'seeing through' people as they came in.  You patiently spend time and energy observing people and reflecting on your experience, you naturally gain an insight into humanity.  And I guess, it is this same nurtured skill that helped her perceive the divinity of Jesus when he was brought into the temple, even though he was just an infant!  I guess it would have been the spiritual aura of Mary and Joseph, that first caught the eye of Anna, which subsequently led her to sense the divinity bundled in Mary's arms.  

Intervention vs Presence

Back at home, soon after Papa's funeral, while journeying in the car someone asked me if I believed in Divine intervention.  I promptly replied, "No!" And then continued, "I believe in Divine presence." 

It is not as if God 'peeks in' from time to time into this world and in our lives.  And then returns to 'His' Kingdom.  He is ever present and it is this presence that I firmly believe in - even though, most often I am not aware of it or blissfully ignore it. 

Replaying that conversation, I realize I did not think too deep then.  I was more thinking of Papa rather than God.  And for me, the same presence of Papa applied to my life.  For that matter, everyone in the family.  Having physically lived away from them for more than two decades, I've 'cultivated' a form of them in and around me.  That way, I don't feel absence or rue being separated from them. 

This morning as I sat for meditation, I realized, even though we never really celebrated Christmas or gave it much of a thought this year - I did not even know which day of the week it was! - I was living the spirit of Christmas.  

God as a person

I did an experiment to find out how much of God do we truly seek to grasp and understand.  I did a word cloud search for the term ´God´ and I chose the following at random.  I know this is no scientific or valid research, but still is an indicator.

God is barely seen as a person, a being. He is most always a ´he´; synonymous with a string of his attributes; very theological and conceptual (of course, I understand it is a word cloud!)...

What I wish to basically state is that God is rarely looked up to as a person. And even if the term ´god´ is expressed in personal vocabulary, it is of someone and I am merely appropriating it, sans the initial person´s experience! In that sense, the term looses its meaning and flavour and everything, sooner or later.  It becomes an empty shell - good and great on the outside but very much hollow and agonizingly burdensome within!

God Himself is so desperate to become human - I suppose, that´s what Christmas is all about - but we human beings are more desperate to make him divine!