Courage Unto the End

Courage Unto the End

John the Baptist ended his life in prison, beheaded for the faithfulness of one inconvenient word: it is not lawful for you to have her. He had told a king the truth. The king imprisoned him. A political dance at a birthday party produced his execution. His disciples came and buried his body. From prison he had sent messengers to ask Jesus: 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?' — a question that shows even the greatest prophets face doubt in prison. Jesus commended him: 'Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.' Greatness in the kingdom often looks like faithfulness unto death.

John the Baptist's death is one of the most sober passages in the Gospels — the death of a good man at the hands of a weak man's vanity. No miraculous rescue came. No angel intervened. The kingdom did not arrive in a display of power to vindicate him. His end appears from a human perspective like a waste. But Jesus' commendation stands: none greater among those born of women. Faithfulness unto death is the highest grade of faithfulness. John's question from prison ('Are you the one?') is the question of every believer in a dark place: Is this worth it? Is He really who He said He is? Jesus' answer remains the same: look at what I'm doing, and be encouraged. Don't fall away.