1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Psalm 144(145):2-7; Mark 6:17-29
The beheading of St John the Baptist is hardly a cheerful story, it shows humanity at its degraded worst. Originally told by Mark, who was much less condemnatory of Herod and rather more of the women involved in the story, through abbreviation of the story Matthew clearly puts all the blame onto Herod. In contrast, Mark goes into detail about the courtly drama that led to the murder of John and moves the blame more unto the women involved.
In Mark's Gospel there is no immediate reaction from Jesus about John's death. The next episode sees the apostles reporting to Jesus all that they had been doing, and Jesus is immediately concerned for their welfare, and takes them away to rest - a post ministry retreat we would say nowadays. So Mark treats the beheading of John in an isolated way, just it seems reporting the facts and leaving the response to us.
Perhaps Mark was trying to present to his readers the nature of Jesus' love for us, so strong that his own grief is of no importance to him. For our part we need to remember in our dark hours, when we might feel alone in bereavement or that very real sense of loss when we hear of murder, death and evil in the world today - that our Saviour Jesus also had those feelings. Through his Love, Jesus made healing the path through his bereavement. Through His love, we can make our path through our own loss.