Mark 6:14-29 Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ll be honest, when this story comes along once every three years, my first response is to scratch my head in bewilderment. I mean, what is going on? Or, more particularly, what is going on with Mark? Usually the soul of brevity whose favorite word, if not middle name, is “immediately,” Mark luxuriates over this gruesome scene for sixteen whole verses – a veritable novella in relation to the rest of his Gospel! Not only that, but it is the only story Mark tells in which Jesus makes no appearance. And it’s told in flashback, the only time Mark employs this particular literary device. So,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Game of Thrones has nothing on the Bible. I’m in the middle of catching up on season five of Game of Thrones, and it occurred to me that while the political intrigue, devious plotting, and unexpected (and sometimes quite expected) backstabbing and reversal of fortunes are what has made this series such a hit, there is all of that and more in Mark’s rather long (at least for his standards) account of the death of John the Baptist. Close reader’s of Mark’s story have noticed several things about this scene over the years that make it stand out: it’s one of the...