The Passion of St. John the Baptist
Reading
Jeremiah 1: 17- 19
1:17Therefore, you should gird your waist, and rise up, and speak to them everything that I instruct you. You should not have dread before their face. For I will cause you to be unafraid of their countenance.
1:18For certainly, this day, I have made you like a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and a brass wall, over all the land, to the kings of Judah, to its leaders, and to the priests, and to the people of the land.
1:19And they will make war against you, but they will not prevail. For I am with you, says the Lord, so that I may free you.”
or,
First Thessalonians 4: 1- 8
| 4:1 | Therefore, concerning other things, brothers, we ask and beg you, in the Lord Jesus, that, just as you have received from us the way in which you ought to walk and to please God, so also may you walk, in order that you may abound all the more. |
| 4:2 | For you know what precepts I have given to you through the Lord Jesus. |
| 4:3 | For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication, |
| 4:4 | that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, |
| 4:5 | not in passions of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God, |
| 4:6 | and that no one should overwhelm or circumvent his brother in business. For the Lord is the vindicator of all these things, just as we have preached and testified to you. |
| 4:7 | For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification. |
| 4:8 | And so, whoever despises these teachings, does not despise man, but God, who has even provided his Holy Spirit within us. |
Gospel
Mark 6: 17- 29
| 6:17 | For Herod himself had sent to capture John, and had chained him in prison, because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; for he had married her. |
| 6:18 | For John was saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” |
| 6:19 | Now Herodias was devising treachery against him; and she wanted to kill him, but she was unable. |
| 6:20 | For Herod was apprehensive of John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and so he guarded him. And he heard that he was accomplishing many things, and so he listened to him willingly. |
| 6:21 | And when an opportune time had arrived, Herod held a feast on his birthday, with the leaders, and the tribunes, and the first rulers of Galilee. |
| 6:22 | And when the daughter of the same Herodias had entered, and danced, and pleased Herod, along with those who were at table with him, the king said to the girl, “Request from me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” |
| 6:23 | And he swore to her, “Anything that you request, I will give to you, even up to half my kingdom.” |
| 6:24 | And when she had gone out, she said to her mother, “What shall I request?” But her mother said, “The head of John the Baptist.” |
| 6:25 | And immediately, when she had entered with haste to the king, she petitioned him, saying: “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” |
| 6:26 | And the king was greatly saddened. But because of his oath, and because of those who were sitting with him at table, he was not willing to disappoint her. |
| 6:27 | So, having sent an executioner, he instructed that his head be brought on a platter. |
| 6:28 | And he beheaded him in prison, and he brought his head on a platter. And he gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it her mother. |
| 6:29 | When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and they placed it in a tomb. |