When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Herod tried to have him killed: the shadow of death fell over the manger. So, the shadow of death lay over Jesus, and even over his precursor, John the Baptist. It is not surprising that Jesus should see John's death at the hands of another Herod as a harbinger of his own death - not just a kind of warning but a step in an evil process which would culminate in Jesus' death on the cross.

In speaking thus about John's death in relation to his own death, Jesus lets us see that he was aware of his fate and death would not take him unawares. Nevertheless he continued with great courage to carry out his life's mission. From his birth onwards, everything that Jesus did and everything that happened to him showed the great antithesis there was, and always is, between the spirit of Jesus and the spirit of the world. He came to give us more abundant life, while the spirit of the world was the spirit of death. Jesus is the light of all humanity, while the world is so often a place of darkness.