You might wonder why Mark has spent so much time on this chilling episode of John the Baptist’s death as it is the only sustained narrative in his Gospel that is not directly about Jesus. Perhaps it is to highlight the passion of John as a foreshadowing of the passion of Christ. Herod’s actions show the snowball effect of unchecked sin, a common biblical theme. From adultery, Herod progressed to debauchery and, ultimately, via his rash oaths, to murder. Like Pilate later in the Gospel, Herod holds no malice toward his victim, yet cowardice and excessive concern for his reputation lead him to bloodshed. Each player in the drama is complicit in the evil: his scheming wife, her lascivious daughter, the ruthlessly efficient executioner, and even Herod’s dissipated guests, who raise no protest against the death of the innocent. Similarly, all the players in the passion of Jesus, and by extension, all of sinful humanity, are complicit in the death of the Son of God. Jesus, like John, will meet his end because he confronts people with the challenging but salutary truth about God’s claim on our lives and the call to repentance that is the doorway to salvation. The success of the apostles’ first mission, which immediately follows John’s death, is a symbolic anticipation of the countless multitudes who will enter the kingdom as a fruit of Christ’s death and of the witness of Christian martyrs, who testify to the gospel at the cost of their lives.