The story of John the Baptist is introduced as Herod voices concerns about a young upstart named Jesus who is out in the countryside with his disciples "casting out demons" and "curing the sick". Herod worries that this new prophet may, in fact, be "Elijah" or "John" come back to life, or resurrected. Mark's saga of John the Baptist then unfolds, stylistically as a flash-back, to the time when Herod made the fateful decision to order John's execution by decapitation.
Many Passion themes are pre-figured in this flash-back. There is the resurrection theme just mentioned; but there also is the reluctance and denials shown by Peter at a later date famously in the Garden of Gethsemane; there is also the cowardice and venality shown by Judas at a later date, and of course there is the grisly cruelty of the Cross and execution of Christ which was sure to come as well. I suggest that all this was foreshadowed in the lurid account of the beheading of John the Baptist.
Peter's infamous cock-crow- denials are mirrored in Herod's reluctance to grant Salome's wish to have John's head served back to her on a platter. Mark is clear that Herod "liked to listen" to John and it was not in Herod's plans to execute John. Only after Herod was seduced by Salome's dance and was forced to comply with her wish for John's head did he reluctantly accede to her wish. Herod's action which reeks of cowardice is not unlike what was to come with Pontius Pilot "washing his hands" of sentencing Jesus to crucifixion. Neither willfully accepted responsibility.
Judas was also foreshadowed in Mark's account of John's death. Judas sold-out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Herod sold out John for a venal, salacious dance. It is likely that neither Herod nor Judas fully understood his actions, which ultimately lead to bodies being "laid in a tomb". (Mark may well be implying that John was resurrected after all!).
The fore-shadowing of the Passion is told in harsh, brutal detail. The image of the beheaded John the Baptist has haunted Christianity through the ages and has inspired works of art and drama (Caravaggio, Godspell). Salome also has become an icon for deceit, cunning and seduction by ancient anti-Semitic texts as well as operas (Strauss) and plays (Wilde).
The dark side of human nature has not been ignored by Christianity. In fact, maybe the central point of Jesus is his overcoming the evil in this world by the most simple of formulations: "love one another". The dark side is only dispelled by the light of Christ.
I think John Updike, my favorite author, puts it best in the context of the fateful outcome of John the Baptist when he wrote the poem "Seven Stanzas at Easter". This was written as a young man for a Lutheran church competition. (Parentheses mine for stanza #7).
Let us not seek to make it (crucifixion and resurrection) less monstrous, for
Our own convenience, our own sense of
Beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable
Hour, we are embarrassed by the miracle,
And crushed by the remonstrance
The empty tomb of Jesus (and John?) confidently overcomes evil in this world.
