THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
By Cardinal Jean Daniélou1
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John’s death appears as the supreme expression of sin. It revealed the sin
of the world. Herodias’ action in obtaining the head of John the Baptist was a
clear manifestation of the human desire to be self-sufficient and to set oneself
up apart from God. It was a victory for the inhabitants of the earth who, as
Revelation says, rejoiced over the death of the prophets, “because they had been
a torment to those who dwell on the earth“. It was an expression of a
triumphant world, a world which had done away with God. No longer could
anything disturb its pretension that it was giving itself its own law. In that
respect John’s death set a pattern: in a decisive moment of history, it summed
up the whole world of sin.
John’s death was also the expression of the supreme condemnation of the
world. His blood “fell upon this generation“, together with all the innocent
blood that has been shed. Thus, did it call for the supreme condemnation. It was
the judgment on the world, bringing down on it the cup of wrath spoken of by
Revelation. It showed forth the mystery of iniquity; it revealed clearly that
mankind is the slave of sin. Just as John the Baptist marked the last stage in the
preparation for the parousia in the long line of the prophets, so his death
marked the last stage in the preparation for the parousia in the order of the
mystery of sin…
But John’s death also marked the end of this history of condemnation for,
after John’s blood, another blood was going to be shed. It would not fall as a
condemnation upon those who shed it, but it would be poured out as
redemption for many. John’s death prefigured the death of Jesus. Jesus wished
to say first of all that his death resembled John’s: ‘”I tell you that Elijah has10
already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they
pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples
understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.’ The rejection and
death of John the Baptist prefigured the rejection and death of Jesus. This latter
death was really the high point of evil. Jesus fulfilled completely the figure of
the servant of Yahweh rejected by the sinful world.
But John only prefigured Jesus, for with Jesus the shedding of blood
takes on a different meaning. Blood was not shed for condemnation but for
redemption. The unresolved conflict between prophets and sinners came to an
end with the prophet who took the sins of the world upon himself. John had
pointed out Jesus as that lamb. He knew that he himself still belonged to the
world of denunciation of sin, not that of liberation from sin. The Spirit had been
given to the prophets; blood had been poured out by sinners. The Spirit had
been poured out as a blessing, but blood had been poured out as a curse. John’s
blood was the last to belong to this order. Henceforth the blood which would
gush forth from the side of Jesus would be spirit and life.