Mark 6:27-29 (ESV) — And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Death is terrible. Anyone that seeks to normalize death by saying “this is just what happens in this life” is conceding ground that should never be given away. Here’s what I mean. While death is certainly a guarantee in this life, it is never natural. Every time someone dies a very tragic thing has occurred. It is a reminder of what we forfeited in the Garden of Eden. We were made to live, not die. Death was a punishment, not a design of the creation. God created us to live, yet we die because we rebelled against our Maker. Death may be normal, but it is unnatural. 

Even believers die. Faithful Christians die from all sorts of tragic things. We would like to think every faithful Christian lives to old age and dies in their sleep. But that’s not the case. We all die in some form or fashion. Some are young, others are old. Some are peaceful, others are painful. We see this in our passage today in the death of John the Baptist. We read in Mark 6:27-29, “And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.”

John the Baptist was a faithful man of God. He had a very unique role in God’s plan of redemption. John led the preparation for Jesus’ entry onto the world stage. Yet John died a brutal death. He was beheaded because a young girl requested it from her powerful father. How could a young girl, influenced by her angry mother, bring about the death of John the Baptist? Because death comes to us all in some form or another. There are no promises of ease or comfort in death. 

But we do have a promise worth clinging to: Christ gives His sheep eternal life. We may die from an accident, cancer, or beheading in this life. But death is over in an instant, and after is eternal life forever.

We should be less concerned with how Christians die or when they die, and focus more on the miracle that death is not the end for us. This is only possible because
of Jesus’ finished work on our behalf. 

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Reflection & Journal:
- Why are most people so terrified of death?
- What does the story of John the Baptist tell us about death, even for believers?
- How can we find comfort in this life in the face of pending death?

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