While the crucifixion of Christ is overwhelmingly unbearable, the deaths of ordinary humans are awful enough.

We are all certain things when we die.

The cessation of breath is a terrifying thing.  Add to that helplessness and pain–most of us avoid death the way you would avoid the edge of an unforgiving precipice or an unguarded incinerator.

John the Baptist’s death is no exception.  He died as a direct result of powerful people’s sin.  He died in chronological and geographical proximity to Jesus.

The howl of the unfairness of it all is unmistakable.

Which is why I stick close to men like him.  What if John had not questioned Jesus?  What if his grief and doubt had not been recorded in the Gospel?

…I would have fewer answers for my lesser questions…and one fewer member of my support group.

And a narrower understanding of Jesus–no Santa Claus god.  Jesus commands us to focus on both who He is and what He does for us on the most primal level.

He gives us back the one thing we can never get back ourselves–eternal life.

The death of every human may seem inevitable, but who we trust with the forever after makes all the difference.

To John the Baptist and every ordinary me.