Mark 6:26-29 (NIV)
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. [27] So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, [28] and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. [29] On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Brutal.

The terrible excess, the exploitive relations, the complete moral collapse in this story is so hard to face.

An innocent man is butchered like a pig.

And then the quiet grief–his followers come and retrieve his body.

Make no mistake beheading someone is a political act of tremendous violence. And the grief that follows is heart wrenching.

John’s disciples. Where did they go? To Jesus. Another man on his own path towards a brutal death.

Surely, these guys were losers?!

Not in the end,
In the end…
they were right.