Lent Meditation Day 6
John the Baptist faced the ultimate decrease, his death, at the hand of Herod.
A Note from Ruth
These meditations are a reflection of my personal journey through Lent at a time when I was experiencing deep spiritual growth and learning what it means to grow in community as a student at the Academy for Formation and Mission. In part, I wrote them to process my own thoughts, but mainly to share those contemplations, because I felt they were meant to be experienced by others. My hope was to encourage others to go deep, to see God and Lent with a new perspective, and to self-reflect in a way that brings hope.
John gave everything for the kingdom of God, and this did not go unnoticed by Jesus. Jesus grieved at the news of John’s beheading.
I can picture Jesus going about his ministry of teaching and miracles when John’s disciples pushed through the crowd. Did Jesus know that something was wrong when he saw them? Did he have that moment of panic that we get when we are about to receive bad news? I’m sure they came up close to Jesus, and maybe even whispered in his ear.
At the news, Jesus withdrew from the crowd by boat to a deserted place, but the crowds followed. Despite his own pain at the loss of his cousin, the one who leaped in his mother’s womb at the news of Jesus, the one who baptized him and moved aside when Jesus arrived on the scene, Jesus had compassion on the crowds and ministered to them. After all, John, even in his death, paved the way for the Son of God.
What does this mean for you and me today? Perhaps it is this, that Life is born out of death. That giving and faith and being a disciple of Christ make a lasting impact on the world and on others who follow Christ with us.