When I was in seminary, one of my professors said that if a story seemed odd or unusual it was because either there was some deep symbolism involved or it just plain happened that way. Mark may have told this story, simply because that’s what happened.  From the perspective of the storyteller, it provides an interlude in the narrative.  If you remember from last week, Jesus had sent out his twelve disciples to preach and minister around the countryside and so while he’s waiting for them to come back at the end of chapter 6, Mark says, this is what was happening at the King’s Palace.

The story also answers the question of “Whatever happened to John?”  In the first chapter of Mark, he tells about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and then he says “Now after John was arrested…he went to Galilee,” but he never says what happened to John.  We’re left hanging until Chapter 6 when we find out the rest of John’s story.