New Testament— Mark

• John Burnett, Outline of the Structure of Mark's Gospel. This is the set of charts that I use in my course on Mark, showing the structure of the six sections plus introduction and appendix of Mark's gospel.
• Mark's Plot. [Sorry, currently unavailable.]
• James R. Edwards, "Markan Sandwiches: The Significance of Interpolations in Markan Narratives". Novum Testamentum XXXI, 3 (1989) 193-216: "Readers of the Gospel of Mark are familiar with the Second Evangelist’s convention of breaking up a story or pericope by inserting a second, seemingly unrelated, story into the middle of it. A good example occurs in chapter 5 where Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, importunes Jesus to heal his daughter (vv 21-24). A woman with a hemorrhage interrupts Jesus en route to Jairus’ house (vv 25-34), and only after recording the woman’s healing does Mark resume with the raising of Jairus’ daughter, who had died in the meantime (vv 35-43)." The literary technique has a theological purpose: the sandwiches emphasize the major motifs of the Gospel, especially the meaning of faith, discipleship, bearing witness, and the dangers of apostasy. Moreover, the middle story nearly always provides the key to the theological purpose of the sandwich.
• AB Caneday, "Mark’s Provocative Use of Scripture in Narration: 'He Was with the Wild Animals and Angels Ministered to Him'" (Bulletin for Biblical Research 9 (1999) 19-36). Not the clearest article I've ever read, but worth the trouble to learn how Mark uses Scripture to show who Jesus is. One of the ways Mark draws the reader in to his story is by subtly linking Jesus with the Coming One of the OT. In particular, his description of Jesus in the wilderness ("he was with the wild animals and angels ministered to him," 1.13) provokes us to discover a strong connection between "the way," "the desert," and "the wild beasts" which is centered on Isa 35.8-10. At the same time, this text from Isaiah also refracts Ps 91.9-13, which seems to be the main text behind his mention of Jesus with the wild animals while angels tended to him. Significantly, both of the other Synoptic Gospels bring Ps 91 to the foreground in their own temptation narratives (Mt 4.6ff; Lk 4.9ff). Mark presents Jesus as the embodiment of a faithful Israel.
• JP Heil, "Jesus with the Wild Animals in Mark 1.13", Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68 (2006) 63-78. Although God’s Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and although Jesus was being tested by Satan, and part of that testing was being with the wild animals, nevertheless, God’s angels were ministering to him as God's true Israel, recapitulating Israel's trial in the desert. Mark's Jesus is the antitype of Israel as God's son and servant, empowered with God’s Spirit (1.10-11) to “baptize” with the Holy Spirit (1.8) the sinful and repentant Son of God, Israel (1.4-5).
• John Burnett, "Mark 6.14-29: The Beheading of John the Baptist: A Historical Parable". It’s not a total surprise to learn that very little of Mark's story of John’s death stands up to historical scrutiny.
• Weston W. Fields, "'Everyone Will Be Salted with Fire' (Mark 9.49)", Grace Theological Joumal 6.2 (1985) 299-304. The meaning of Mark 9.49 (“everyone will be salted with fire”) has long perplexed interpreters. Although this saying is in a literary context speaking of judgment, many have seen in it a reference to purification. However, since Hebrew was probably the lingual background to the Gospel of Mark, the saying may be easily understood as “everyone (who is sent to Gehenna) will be completely destroyed by fire”.
• Thomas R. Hatina, "The Focus of Mark 13.24-27: The Parousia, or the Destruction of the Temple?" (Bulletin for Biblical Research 6 (1996) 43-66). Mark 13.24-27 is incorrectly interpreted as a prediction of Jesus' second coming. However, these verses, derived entirely from OT texts, refer to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
• Gustavo Martin-Asensio, "Procedural Register in the Olivet Discourse: A Functional Linguistic Approach to Mark 13" (Biblica 90 (2009) 457-483). This is an outstandingly important article which makes perfect sense of every aspect of Mark 13, Jesus so-called 'apocalyptic discourse'.
• JP Heil, "Mark 14.1-52: Narrative Structure and Reader-Response": Biblica 71 (3, 1990), 305-332. The nine scenes of Mk 14.1-52 are laid out in an alternate progression of seven interlocking segments. The intimate union of the disciples with Jesus who goes towards his suffering and death compensates for and even dominates their opposition and separation. This narrative sequence gives the reader strength and courage to closely remain with Jesus and, by his prayer of submission to the divine will, to take part in Jesus' final triumph over suffering and death.
• JP Heil, "The Progressive Narrative Pattern of Mark 14.53–16.8": Biblica 73 (3, 1992) 331-358. Mark's passion-resurrection narrative (Mk 14.53-16.8) is laid out in an alternating order of nine scenes, each contrasting with those that precede and follow. Seven groups of three scenes thus occur 'in sandwich'. Faith in Jesus, despite the failures of those who follow it, overrides the rejection of his true identity by the Jewish and Gentile authorities. The narrative sequence challenges the reader to remain faithful to the 'way' of Jesus and, at the same time, makes one able to do so by revealing the depth of the mystery of the Messiah through his very rejection by the authorities.
• SE Dowd, "Reading Mark Reading Isaiah", Lexington Theological Quarterly 30/3 (1995) 133-143. A stunning article— "But the promised rehabilitation of the disciples is certainly a bold stroke on the part of the evangelist. In order to maintain the credibility of Jesus’ predictions of future faithfulness, the Gospel writer has to undermine the credibility of Jesus’ solemn warnings about the consequences of self-preservation and of being ashamed of him and his words. What about all those unquenchable fires and voracious worms that are to be avoided even at the cost of self-mutilation (9.43-48)? The debate over the fate of the disciples arises out of a genuine contradiction in the text: the Markan Jesus, a reliable speaker, specifies norms of behavior and consequences for violating the norms, the disciples violate all the norms, and at the end of the story they are called to resume following Jesus without suffering any of the consequences and without any reported evidence of their repentance or of their having reformed and demonstrated their faithfulness. What kind of a story is this? I propose that this is an Isaian story, or so the author of Mark thought."
• Michael Bird, "The crucifixion of Jesus as the fullfillment of Mark 9.1" (Trinity Journal 24 NS, Spring 2003). Incredible as it may seem, ‘the kingdom of God’ actually begins with the crucifixion not just of ‘the king of the Jews’ (15.2, 9, 12, 18, 26), but of ‘the Messiah, the King of Israel’ (15.32). This is the best article I've seen on Mark's punchline.