Many modern commentators answer that question in the affirmative: only because of some keywords, they claim, is everything joined together under the theme of “congregational questions.”¹ What continues to be disputed is then whether Mark himself made the composition of the fragments or whether he found it already in his sources.² In any case, many exegetes divide this section into a series of smaller and independent parts (33–37, 38–41, 42–48, 49–50³). Some of these parts are in turn treated as a mini-collection of originally smaller statements (33–35 + 36–37⁴; 38–39 + 40 + 41⁵; 49a + 50a + 50b⁶). Even when Schmithals⁷ tries to emphasize the editorial unity of 33–50, he cannot evade treating the pericope as a collection of pottery fragments that are inadequately glued together again.

Against this approach to the passage we point out that Mark presents this section as a unity of instruction by Jesus. There are different reasons to begin this instruction (the conflict between the disciples) and to continue it (John’s question) but Mark indicates that thereby Jesus continued to deal with one theme. He was also the one who had begun the instruction by asking the disciples what they had talked about on the way. He knew that already and his question must be seen as introduction to what he was going to teach. The unity of this instruction appears on at least three points:

1. There is one place of action: the house in Capernaum (9:33), where Jesus had sat down to teach (9:35) and where he remains seated also during the further discussion (cf. 10:1).

2. At the end of his instruction Jesus returns to the reason for it. It began in connection with an argument on the way (9:34) and it ends with the concluding words: “Be at peace with one another” (9:50).

3. There is a thematic unity in this section. Jesus continuously bends the question as to who is the greatest in the direction of the question as to who serves the best. The egocentricity of the disciples is corrected with a Christocentric approach.⁸