Markan sandwich
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A Markan sandwich is a style whereby one account is inserted into the middle of another account, similar to food between two slices of bread in a sandwich.
The Gospel of Mark uses this literary structure, which is also called an interpolation or intercalation.
An alternative explanation of this is that Mark provided a chronological daily log, and the interpolations were merely due to intervening events interrupting a narrative just as breaking news can interrupt a live broadcast today. As a daily account akin to a news story, Mark was not using a literary device at all, but was reporting on events as they happened.
Examples
- Mark 5:21-24: Jairus asks Jesus to save his daughter
- Mark 5:25-34: A woman in a crowd touches Jesus to cure her hemorrhage
- Mark 5:35-43: Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead
- The account of a woman anointing Jesus with very expensive ointment is interrupted by an account of the chief priests' plot to murder him, which is similar to how an effective movie might sandwich those two accounts together for contrast purposes.
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