A:The most important organising principle in Mark's Gospel is the framework structure around which it is composed. This is known as a parallel structure, which is a sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first. Mark's Gospel as a whole consists of a parallel structure and then contains a smaller chiastic structure around the last day and the crucifixion. The major structure of Mark:
- The opening set begins with John explaining the coming of Jesus, followed by the baptism and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with Jesus predicting his death.
- The contrasting structure begins with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with the crucifixion, followed by the young man explaining the departure of Jesus.
Within these major milestones we find other pairs such as 9:1 and chapter 13:
- 9:1: Jesus told the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.
- chapter 13: Jesus described the end of the world and his second coming, on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking.
Note that Mark originally ended at 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled, telling no one, with no resurrection appearance of Jesus. Verses 16:9-25 form what is now known as the "Long Ending" (there was also, at one stage, a "Short Ending") and were added to the Gospel at a later stage, to provide resurrection appearances and to more or less harmonise it with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Therefore, verses 16:9-25 do not form part of the chiastic structure of Mark's Gospel.
There is another chiastic structure for the last 24 hours of the life of Jesus, which is broken up into eight segments, each of exactly three hours, with the opening set beginning on the evening of the Last Supper and ending with the trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. The second set begins with the trial before Pontius Pilate and ends on the evening of the crucifixion.
- Mark begins the story "when it was evening" (14:17). In this ancient world without electricity, that would mean when the sun went down, or approximately 6 pm.
- Mark knew that the duration of the Passover meal was three hours and that it concluded with the singing of a hymn. So at the end of his segment he noted, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was obviously about 9 p.m.
- Mark then has Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
- The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
- Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death. It was 3:00 a.m.
- The watch of the night between 3 am and 6 am was called cockcrow. Mark now inserted his account of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marking the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 am.
- "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 am, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
- Mark told his readers once again that this drama has been shaped liturgically, saying, " It was the third hour," or 9 am "when they crucified him".
- When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), darkness covered the whole earth, reflecting the betrayal at 12 midnight.
- After three hours of darkness, Jesus said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" At 3 pm, Jesus gave up the ghost. Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 pm, before the sun went down. That brings us to 6 pm on Friday evening, reflecting the beginning of the passion on 6 pm on Thursday evening.
Mark's Gospel also uses a literary technique now known as Markan intercalation, which the author uses as a very subtle form of emphasis with two contrasting stories. He opens with a passage about one event (a1), then inserts the contrasting event (B), and completes the first event (A2) so as to show a moral or theological contrast in the two passages. An example in 14:53-72 provides a supremely ironic contrast: Jesus gives a faithful confession of his Messiahship and receives the sentence of death [A1 and A2]; Peter denies his Lord three times and saves himself from suffering [B].
