Mark's gospel gathers certain literary types of material together with great precision and purity. In 2:1-3:6 we find a series of pronouncement stories; 4:1-34 presents a number of parables, one after the other; while 4:35-5:43 pulls together some of Jesus' most remarkable and impressive miracles.

The possible theological motives behind these groupings has been somewhat less clear than their organizational nature. Some scholarship has suggested, however, that Mark uses these homogeneous units (a parable section, a miracles section) to demonstrate a two-pronged thrust to Jesus' ministry as well as to the ministry he conceives for his disciples.

According to this argument, Mark sees preaching and exorcising as Jesus' two primary activities (see Kathleen M. Fisher and Urban C. Von Wahlde, "Th…