Introduction

The present study has so far examined two key call/commissioning texts (Mk. 1:16–20 and 3:13–15) and detected within these passages core components of Mark's portrait of discipleship: presence and practice. Both Jesus' initial summons, addressed to the four fishers, to “come after” him (Mk. 1:17) and his appointment of the Twelve to “be with him” (Mk. 3:14) suggest that Mark's Jesus enlists his followers primarily as companions as he proclaims God's impending reign. Only through their presence alongside their leader do the disciples gain the requisite foundation for the second facet of their calling, their practice of proclaiming God's kingdom as “fishers of humans” (Mk. 1:17) endowed with “authority to preach and to cast out the δαιμόνια” (Mk. 3:15). The investigation will proceed by following the narrative contours of Mark's gospel as it depicts Jesus' engagement with his disciples while they are “with him” as the platform for their practice.

In this chapter the probe of discipleship as presence focuses on a pericope that is both indispensable for our understanding of the gospel and a veritable exegetical minefield: Jesus' parabolic teaching found in Mk. 4:1–34. Though the story includes earlier reports of Jesus' teaching and his use of parables, in Mk. 4 the gospel's brisk narrative pace slows to a crawl as Jesus instructs his hearers through a sustained series of parables. To be sure, Mark's Jesus generally lacks the sage-like attributes depicted in Matthew's and Luke's gospels (e.g. in the Sermon on the Mount/Plain) as well as the overt Christological teachings of John's gospel.