5 February 2027 · Latin Rite
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“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Hebrews ends with practical counsel for a community under pressure: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them.” It asks that marriage be honoured, that lives be kept “free from the love of money”, and gives the reason for courage: “he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’” And then one of the great verses of Scripture: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The Lord who strengthened the martyrs is the same Lord who walks with us.
Mark tells the death of John the Baptist with a sharp eye. Herod “feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man… he liked to listen to him.” Yet at a drunken birthday banquet, trapped by a rash oath and by what his guests would think, he orders the prophet's head brought on a platter. Herod is not a monster; he is a weak man who knows the truth and will not obey it. John, in prison, is the free one. Today we honour St Agatha of Catania in Sicily, a young woman martyred about the year 251 because she refused to give herself to a powerful official and would not deny Christ. Like John, she chose truth over survival. Her name is spoken in the First Eucharistic Prayer, and Christians have prayed to her for centuries in sickness and danger.
Theme: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Mutual love, the Lord who never leaves, and the courage of John and St Agatha.
“you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” Leviticus 19:34
“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1–2
Apply: Welcome one stranger or newcomer this week.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Apply: Repeat Hebrews 13:8 whenever you feel afraid.
“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.”” Jeremiah 1:8
“For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.”” Mark 6:18
Apply: Refuse one compromise made only to please others.
Love, hospitality and courage flow from a Lord who never changes.
Like John and St Agatha, let us fear God more than people.
Take-home resolution: Ask St Agatha each day this week for courage and purity of heart.
Dear friends, Hebrews says: let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:1–2). Remember prisoners, honour marriage, keep free from the love of money.
Why can we live like this? Because he has said: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
In the Gospel Herod liked to listen to John, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests he ordered his death (Mark 6:26). He knew the truth but feared people more than God. John, in chains, was the free man.
Today we honour St Agatha, the young martyr of Sicily, who chose Christ over safety and purity over the will of a powerful man. The Christ who strengthened her is the same today. Let us ask for her courage. Amen.
Children, St Agatha was a brave girl who loved Jesus more than anything. Even when she was hurt, she stayed faithful. Jesus helps us to be brave too!
May the Virgin Martyr Saint Agatha implore your compassion for us, O Lord, we pray, for she found favour with you by the courage of her martyrdom and the chastity of her life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews ends with plain advice: love one another, welcome strangers, remember prisoners, honour marriage, do not love money. Its reason is one great sentence: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Mark tells a story that shows what such steadiness costs. A prophet in prison stays true, while a king on a throne, who knows better, gives way before his guests. Psalm 27 is the prayer of those who stand firm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” It suits St Agatha, whom the Church remembers today.
Setting.
After the great vision of Zion, the last chapter of Hebrews turns to daily life. These short commands are what worship looks like outside the church door. The readers have known imprisonment and the loss of property (10:32–34), so the mention of prisoners and of money is not abstract.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (13:2)
The author is thinking of Abraham at Mamre and Lot at Sodom (Genesis 18–19). St Benedict tells his monks to welcome all guests as Christ himself (Rule 53).
“Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them;” (13:3)
Compare Matthew 25:36. In the ancient world prisoners often depended on friends for food, and to visit them could be dangerous.
“Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”” (13:5)
The quotation recalls the words of Moses to Israel and God's words to Joshua (Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5). The next verse answers with Psalm 118:6.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (13:8)
Leaders die (v. 7), and circumstances change, but Christ does not. The first readers needed this as much as we do. “Yesterday” includes the Cross. “Today” is the word Hebrews has repeated from Psalm 95 (3:7–15).
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council quotes this verse: beneath all change there are many things which do not change, and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever (Gaudium et Spes 10). The Roman Rite makes it visible at the Easter Vigil, when the priest marks the Paschal candle with the words “Christ yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End”.
Setting.
While the Twelve are away on mission, Mark tells this story. He sets it between their sending (6:7–13) and their return (6:30), and so the disciples learn what their mission may cost. This Herod is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He ruled Galilee and Perea under Rome from 4 BC to AD 39. Mark calls him “king” in the popular way; Matthew and Luke use the exact title, tetrarch.
The Jewish historian Josephus also tells of John's death (Antiquities 18). He says that John was held in the fortress of Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea, and that Herod feared his influence over the people. The Gospel and Josephus differ in some details, including the name of Herodias' first husband, but both remember John as a good man whom a ruler killed.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”” (6:18)
John does not go looking for a political quarrel. He says what is true about one man's marriage, and that man has power.
“When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.” (6:20)
A sharp portrait. Herod is not a monster. It is possible to enjoy good preaching for years without ever being changed by it.
“When his daughter Herodias came in and danced,” (6:22)
The manuscripts differ. Some read “his daughter Herodias”, as the NRSV does, and others read “the daughter of Herodias”, as the POC does. Mark does not name her otherwise; the name Salome comes from Josephus. The offer of “half of my kingdom” (v. 23) echoes the words of King Ahasuerus to Esther (Esther 5:3; 7:2).
“The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.” (6:26)
He is afraid of losing face, and he gives way though he knows what is right. Pilate will do the same in Mark 15:15, “wishing to satisfy the crowd”.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that John, the precursor of the Messiah, bore witness to him by his preaching, his baptism of repentance and finally his martyrdom (CCC 523). St John Paul II names him among those who would rather die than compromise with evil (Veritatis Splendor 91). St Bede the Venerable observes that John was not asked to deny Christ, but only to keep silent about the truth, and that he died for Christ who is the Truth (in substance). The Church keeps the Passion of St John the Baptist on 29 August.
Should Herod have kept his oath?
No. His oath was rash, and an oath to do evil does not bind. St Thomas Aquinas teaches that to keep such an oath is a further sin (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 89, a. 7). The name of God may not be used to cover a wrong, and the holiness of that Name is what oaths are meant to respect (CCC 2150, 2155). Herod is held by his pride and by the eyes of his guests, not by any duty to God.
St Agatha is one of the women martyrs named in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I), with Felicity, Perpetua, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia. She was a young woman of Sicily, and her cult at Catania is ancient. She probably died in the persecution of the third century. The accounts of her sufferings were written long after and cannot be relied on in their details, but the Church's memory of her witness is firm. Tradition remembers her standing firm before a powerful official, and that places her beside John. Remember her when praying Hebrews 13:3 for those who suffer violence, above all women and girls, in many lands.