One of Mark’s favorite literary recipes is the “Markan sandwich.” It is called the “Markan sandwich” because Mark likes to use the technique of inserting one story into the middle of another in order to demonstrate the connectedness between the two. In this week’s gospel text Mark begins with a narrative about Jesus’ personal family (3:20-21). But suddenly he interrupts it with the story of accusations of the scribes. Hence “Markan sandwich.”

In this story, some scribes insist that Jesus is possessed and that the exorcisms he has performed were enabled by a demonic source (vv.222-28). Only after Jesus has responded to the scribes’ allegations does the narrative return to the drama between Jesus and his family (vv.30-35). This particular “sandwich” demonstrates the connection between the …