Monthly Archives: April 2026

The Literary Context of Mark 6:14-29

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(This is an essay from my Master of Divinity program.)

Tucked away in the middle of the sixth chapter of Mark is an out-of-place narrative—a flashback to John the Baptist’s execution. On the surface, this story doesn’t have anything to do with the surrounding texts—the sending of the apostles and their subsequent reporting of their ministry successes. The casual reader is left to wonder, “Why did Mark put this text here?” Exploring the literary context of this passage can shed light on Mark’s motivation for including John’s ending here of all places, and what the reader is meant to derive from this text.

When discussing literary context, deSilva reminds us that “every paragraph in a given book is interconnected with, builds on, clarifies, prepares for, and is further clarified by other paragraphs in that book” (deSilva, 199). Examining the context and progression of Mark’s gospel as a whole, as well as what immediately precedes and follows, will thus enhance our understanding of the seemingly out-of-place John the Baptist text in Mark 6.

In the narrative in question, King Herod hears reports of the ministry of Jesus, and mistakes Him for “John the Baptist… risen from the dead” (Mark 6:14). While Herod’s counselors surmise that Jesus may be Elijah (Malachi 4:5) or the Prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:18), Herod is convinced that this Jesus figure must be a resurrected John. Mark then recounts the death of John: After John had proclaimed that “it is not lawful [ἔξεστίν, exestin]” for a divorced Herod to remarry his brother’s divorced wife (Mark 6:18), he was arrested and put in prison. Despite Herod knowing John “was a just and holy man” and wanting to “protect him” (v. 20), he was ultimately manipulated into executing him at the behest of his wife. After his death, his disciples took his body and “laid it in a tomb” (v. 29).

This text is strategically placed here by Mark to advance the narrative and build upon the evangelist’s theme of a suffering Messiah. Consider how John is first introduced the Mark’s audience: As the prophesied forerunner to the Messiah, we are told that he has come to “prepare the way of the LORD” (Mark 1:3) by “preaching a baptism of repentance” (v. 4), and that the One who comes “after me who is mightier than I” (v. 7).

Thus the reader is primed from the opening of Mark’s Gospel to expect Jesus’ trajectory to follow that of John’s, in larger and mightier ways. Indeed, after Jesus’ baptism (vv. 9-11) and John’s arrest (14), Jesus begins His ministry by immediately following John’s example of preaching repentance (v. 15). Later, despite performing a miraculous exorcism in the country of the Gaderenes (Mark 5:1-20), Jesus is rejected by the Gentiles of the region (v. 17); and shortly thereafter, He is rejected in his own country (Mark 6:1-6). After witnessing Jesus’ rejection by both Jew and Gentile, the reader then witnesses the final rejection of John at the hands of a reluctant Gentile (Idumean) ruling over the Jews. Just as John was rejected and killed, so will Jesus eventually follow this same path.

In Mark 8, Jesus asks His followers “who do men say that I am?” at Caesarea Philippi. Before Peter makes his famous confession, the disciples repeat the answers from the Herod narrative—“John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets” (Mark 8:28). The reader is once again reminded of the connection between the two prophets. A chapter later, Jesus Himself relates John to Elijah, claiming “Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wished” (Mark 9:13). In the following chapter, Jesus is tested by the Pharisees, who ask Him if it is “lawful [ἔξεστιν, exestin] for a man to divorce his wife” (Mark 10:2)—Jesus later teaches that it is adultery for a man to “divorce his wife and marry another” (v. 11), as well as for “a woman [to] divorce her husband and marry another” (v. 12), thus rendering the same judgment that got John arrested. And during the final week before the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, Jesus explicitly ties His ministry to that of John’s (Mark 11:27-33). Over and over again, we are given reasons to “link the fate of these two emissaries of God” (deSilva, 187).

A few days later, Jesus is arrested (just like John); and though the Gentile leader ruling over the Jews is initially reluctant to have Him killed (just like John), he is ultimately manipulated into executing Jesus via crucifixion—a much more painful and humiliating death than decapitation. Jesus’ lifeless body is then “laid in a tomb” (Mark 15:46), just like John’s.

The insertion of John’s Passion is thus used by Mark to remind his audience where this gospel story is headed—John had not only prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry, but for His humiliating but necessary death at the hands of both Jew and Gentile. But we are also reminded of what will come after His crucifixion—“he has been raised from the dead!” (Mark 6:16). Sure enough, in the closing chapter of Mark, an angelic being appears to a handful of Jesus’ female followers to assure them that “He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6). Ironically, Herod’s fear of a resurrected prophet becomes the reader’s hope in the resurrected Prophet.

A final comment must be made about the immediate context surrounding the narrative of John’s death. While much is to be made of John’s foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry throughout Mark’s Gospel, this text is bookended by an interrupted narrative regarding the ministry of the disciples, thus forming an inclusio connecting John’s fate to the fate of the disciples. Right before launching into John’s Passion, Jesus empowers His twelve apostles with wonder-working power, commissioning them to heal the sick (Mark 6:13) and “preach that people should repent” (v. 12). And immediately after the description of John’s execution, “the apostles [are] gathered to Jesus” to tell Him “all things, both what they had done and what they had taught” (v. 30).

In the middle of this empowering and joyous narrative, where the apostles are finding great success preaching the same message that Jesus preached (and the same message that John preached), we are reminded that “Christianity is not about enjoying the power of God except as this power leads us to self-giving service to others” (deSilva, 199), and that “the shape of discipleship must necessarily follow the pattern of the rejected and executed Messiah” (deSilva, 178). And just as Jesus’ passion was preceded by the suffering of the Forerunner who prepared “the way of the Lord,” so we who wish to follow the suffering Messiah “in the way of God” (Mark 12:14) will also be called to deny ourselves, take up His cross (Mark 8:34), and share in His sufferings (Romans 8:17).

Sources

  • deSilva, David A. An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, 2nd Ed.
  • All Scripture citations are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.

Easter Myths Cheat Sheet

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🐣 “Easter comes from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.” There is no etymological connection between these two words. Ishtar comes from the Semitic “attar,” meaning “star,” while Easter comes from the European “eastre,” meaning “dawn/beginning.” The myth of a connection was first popularized in the now discredited 19th century book “The Two Babylons,” by Alexander Hislop.

☀️ “Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre.” It’s true that the Venerable Bede theorized that there was an ancient goddess named Eostre as an explanation for the month of Eosturmonath. Outside of Bede’s one reference, however, there is no evidence that such a goddess existed. In his 725 work “The Reckoning of Time,” Bede offers explanations for the etymological origins of the English months, which he prefaces by saying, “ut suspicamur”—“we suspect.” What’s more, several of his other suspicions have proved wrong: he theorized that “Hrethmonth is named for their goddess Hretha”—another goddess who did not exist; and that Solmonath is so named because “they offered cakes to their gods in that month”—although the prefix “sol-” actually means “mud” and indicates that the February equivalent was a muddy season. Most scholars agree that Bede was mistaken, and that Eosturmonath was named thus because it was the “beginning” of the months.

🐇 “Constantine and the Catholic Church invented Easter.” The early church called this holiday “Pascha,” the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew “Pesach,” meaning “Passover.” What’s more, the overwhelming majority of Christians *to this day* refer to the holiday as some version of “Passover” (Spanish: Pascua, French: Pâques, Dutch: Pasen, Filipino: Pasko, Hawaiian: Pakoa, Turkish: Paskalya, Swahili: Pasaka). Very few languages (like English, German, and Japanese) call it something related to “Easter”—which, again, simply means “Beginning/Dawn month.”

🗓️ “The Catholics changed the calendar.” According to the biblical text, Jesus died during Passover—the first full moon after the spring equinox—and was raised three days later on the day after the Sabbath—Sunday. Leviticus 23 gives a name for the Sunday after Passover—“Firstfruits,” a celebration of resurrection (v. 11). Thus, Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Passover Lamb on the biblical prescribed day—the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

🪺 “Eggs are a part of pagan worship.” Ova Paschalia—Passover eggs—first show up in the 13th century, hundreds of years after Christianity was uniformly adopted across Europe, for a very practical reason. Families were not permitted to eat eggs during Lent, meaning that (by Pascha/Easter) they had a surplus of uneaten eggs. This abundance of hardboiled eggs was subsequently viewed as a fun treat after forty days of fasting. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that traditions like Easter Egg Hunts became popularized to make the Paschal feast more fun for kids.

🐇 “The Easter Bunny is pagan.” Bunnies/hares were not regarded as a pagan symbol in Babylonian/Celtic religions. The hare actually became associated with Christianity in the Middle Ages, because they reproduced so quickly that they were lightheartedly viewed as being able to reproduce without sex—i.e., virgin births. Medieval manuscripts around this time sometimes featured illustrations of hares to represent the Virgin Mary. Around the 1600s, folktales were told to children connecting the abundance of eggs with the abundance of hares—along with a message that if you followed the rules, the hares would leave you extra treats.

What about my family?

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  We typically call the holiday “Passover Sunday” or “Resurrection Sunday,” as these are the words the Bible uses to describe this day. “Easter” isn’t a bad word—there are just better titles for this celebration.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  If time permits and the kids ask, we’ll let them dye a few eggs. Usually friends or family might give our kids chocolate bunnies, and we’re cool with that. These are harmless and silly traditions, and there’s not a great need to deprive our kids of a few fun treats.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  We go to church, just like we do every Sunday morning. We worship corporately with the people of God, receive communion, hear the Word of God preached, and rejoice in His glorious triumph over death. Then we bring that celebration home, where we feast around a table with our family and friends.