erfect simplicity of structure
of John's narrative. The transitions from incident to incident in this
gospel are those of simple succession, and indicate, on the writer's part,
no suspicion that he was contradicting notions concerning the ministry of
Jesus familiar to his contemporaries. Whatever the conclusion reached
concerning the authorship of the gospel, the fact that it gained currency
very early as apostolic would seem to prove that its conception of the
length of Jesus' ministry was not opposed to the recognized apostolic
testimony. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that time must be allowed in
Jesus' ministry for at least three Passover seasons.

47. With this conclusion most modern discussions of the question rest, and
it is possible that it may finally win common consent. The order of
Mark's narrative, however, challenges it. This gospel records near the
beginning (ii. 23) a controversy with the Pharisees occasioned by the fact
that Jesus' disciples plucked and ate the ripening grain as they passed on
a Sabbath day through the fields. As Mark places much later (vi. 30-34)
the feeding of the five thousand, which occurred at a Passover, that is
the beginning of the harvest (Lev. xxiii. 5-11), his order suggests the
necessity of including two harvest seasons in the ministry in Galilee, and
consequently four Passovers in the public life of Jesus. Two
considerations are urged against this conclusion. (1) Papias in his
reference to the Gospel of Mark criticises the order of the gospel; (2)
Mark ii. 1 to iii. 6 contains a group of five conflicts with the critics
of Jesus, which represents a massing of opposition that seems unlikely at
the outset of his Galilean work. The remark of Papias must remain obscure
until his standard of comparison is known. Some suggest that he knew
John's order and preferred it, others that he agreed with that adopted by
Tatian in his Diatessaron. Mark is in accord with neither of these. No
one, however, knows what order Papias preferred. The early conflict group
does appear like a collection drawn from different parts of the ministry.
Yet the nucleus of the group--the cure of the paralytic (ii. 1-12) and the
call of Levi (ii. 13-17)--is clearly in its right place in Mark (see
Holtzmann, Hand-commentar, I. 10). The question about fasting (ii. 18-22)
may have been asked much later, and its present place may be due to
association in tradition with the criticism of Jesus' fellowship with
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