Mark's gospel A Drama in Three Acts

MARK’S GOSPEL- A DRAMA in THREE ACTS

After a prologue which sets the scene, Mark’s story unfolds in three main sections, each of which has a distinct geographical setting:

 1:1–13                Prologue (set in ‘the wilderness’)
 1:14—8:21         Act 1: Galilee
 8:22—10:52       Act 2: On the way to Jerusalem
 11:1—16:8         Act 3: Jerusalem

The different geographical locations of the three acts serve to show the movement of the story towards its conclusion in Jerusalem, but there is much more to the three-act division than that. The story moves through three distinct phases, in terms both of the nature of Jesus’ ministry and of the way people react to it, while the geographical movements serve to underline, and in a significant way even to symbolize, this movement of the plot towards its climax…