byLisa Sharon Harper

Feb 7, 2023 | baptistnews.com | Lisa Harper |David P. Gushee |byLisa Sharon Harper

Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison. — Mark 6:27On the day we write this post, during the week Tyre Nichols was buried after being murdered by Memphis police officers, the Gospel reading is Mark 6:14-29. It is acutely appropriate. Mark is the most concise Gospel account, and the author rarely tells long stories. But he does so here. We get the entire story and backstory to the murder of the prophet John the Baptist.