3b Narrative Technique

Narrative Technique

Mark’s most characteristic literary device is “intercalation,” his “sandwiching” technique. The story of the raising of Jairus’s daughter, for example, is inserted within the story of the healing of the woman who suffered from haemorrhage (5:21–43). Jesus’ cleansing of the temple is sandwiched between the cursing of the fig tree and its withering (11:12–25). By linking two stories by means of intercalation, Mark intends that one should illuminate the other…

Taken from Parallel Lives of Jesus by Edward Adams