The Gospel of Mark Literary Structure Essay

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Edwards: Markan Sandwiches

The concept of Markan Sandwiches refers to the literary device featured prominently in the Gospel of Mark in which the author interpolates an anecdote within another anecdote. According to Edwards (1989), while a number of literary scholars have remarked upon this curious structure, few have agreed as to why Mark chooses to rely upon this technique. Edwards advances the thesis that the sandwiching technique is intentional and is used to reinforce the theological purpose of the author of the Gospel. Mark’s favoring of the sandwich technique far exceeds that of those of the authors of the other synoptic gospels Luke and Matthew.

One sandwich involves that of a woman with a hemorrhage who approaches Jesus mid-narrative in the story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter. If an interpolation can be described as having an A-B-A structure, the “A” narrative details a resurrection narrative which is less famous than that of the raising of Lazarus. In Mark’s narrative, Jesus is asked to come to the house of Jairus, the patron or head of the synagogue, because his daughter is sick. Once Jesus arrives, he is told that the girl is dead but Jesus responds that she is only sleeping and she rises when he tells her to wake. The story is more explicitly a resurrection narrative in Matthew and Luke. On the way to Jairus’ house, however, a bleeding woman approaches Jesus.

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She touches his cloak, secure in her belief that she will be healed. Jesus says to her that she is healed because of her faith but her healing precedes his words. The woman’s strength of faith is a contrast to the doubt expressed that Jesus can help Jairus’ daughter and highlights the larger point of the narrative of the need to surrender to faith before verbal reassurance.

Another sandwich is that of the mission of the Twelve Apostles and the Return of the Twelve Apostles, into which is interspersed the martyrdom of John the Baptist. John’s martyrdom prefigures Jesus’. By locating it within the coming together and the return of the Apostles, Mark affirms the complex nature of the relationship of Jesus to his Apostles and their attitude towards his crucifixion. Although the Apostles follow Jesus, there is much they do not understand about his mission and teaching. John understands the true nature of Jesus far better than the Apostles (particularly in Mark’s version)….....

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