Tasty Markan Sandwiches
The Gospel of Mark has always been a bit of a mystery. Maybe it is the fact that Mark doesn’t contain some of our most beloved stories. Perhaps it’s the breakneck pace — the word we translate as “immediately” is used 87 times in the New Testament with nearly half of them found in Mark’s concise 16 chapters alone! If you like poetry, Mark probably “ain’t your cup of tea.”
Nevertheless, what Mark offers is the subtle art of storytelling. One way Mark does this is through “interpolation.” A useful metaphor to understand “interpolation” is a sandwich. Here is how it works. Mark will begin with one story (Story A), abruptly shift to another story (Story B) and then return to conclude the original story (Story A). One of my favorite “Markan sandwiches” is the “family sandwich” found in Mark 3:19b-35.
Immediately after appointing His disciples, Jesus returns home and is met by crowds so large that His own family tries to restrain Him (Story A). The narrative abruptly shifts to an exchange with the scribes who posit that Jesus has been possessed by demonic forces. It’s in this Story B that Jesus gives His famous “house divided” line and demonstrates how preposterous the scribes’ claim is — Jesus Christ was here not as an emissary of Satan, but as the Son of God who would bind Satan and claim victory through His own sacrificial death and resurrection. We are then catapulted back into Story A with Jesus calling the crowd His mother and siblings since they were doing the will of God (not His blood relatives calling to Him outside!).
So, why the sandwich? Scholars debate the minutiae, but I think it is enough to say that this level of intentionality in storytelling amplifies the core messages. In this “sandwich,” Mark is driving home a revolutionary truth — the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ, His Son, has ushered in is not defined by the relationships of this present age. Further, those who are traditionally considered insiders — establishment figures like the scribes (read: learned, scholarly types), even our family members — who use their position to “other” and exclude, are outsiders in God’s Kingdom. What a useful check on our own tendencies to feel high and mighty and worthy to draw the lines of demarcation of God’s grace and will around ourselves and not “others”!
A Prayer
Thank you, God, for the richness of the Gospel of Mark. Give us keen eyes and open hearts to receive it and your creative Spirit to explore the boundless promises of your Kingdom. Amen.
