Today’s Gospel finally answers a question that has been holding the reader in suspense since Mark 1:14. Mark who had hinted at the political arrest of St John the Baptist earlier saved the full report until chapter 6. In Mark chapter 1 he had reported, “now after John was arrested…” after that we do not hear of John the Baptist till this moment. Now having heard of him and his gruesome death we are bound to ask the question; where is the good news in Mark 6:14-29? The passage is sickening even when told as a flashback. This was certainly a b-day; not birth day but beheading day.