If you compare Mark to Matthew and Luke, his view of the disciples doesn’t come off as good. They are a slow, even buffoonish bunch who doesn’t really comprehend what Jesus says and does, even given their privileged positions. However, unlike the blind man of Bethsaida, even by the end of the Gospel - remember that the main text as we have it actually ends in a cliffhanger, with 16:8; verses 9-20
Mark starts off his portrayal of them pretty well: for instance, when Jesus calls His disciples, they obediently follow, leaving behind everything to follow Him (1:16-20; 2:13-17; 3:13-18). But aside from a handful of places where the disciples shine, everything goes downhill from there.
And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “
Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “
You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
This is absent in the Matthean parallel (9:18-26), while Luke (8:42b-48) has a slightly different version (v. 45-46):
And Jesus said, “
Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “
Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “
Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”
- Just after Jesus feeds five thousand men and walks on water (6:30-51), Mark has this ominous note: “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” The Matthean parallel (14:22-33; Luke does not include the event) does not have this; instead Matthew has a more positive ending: “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.””
- Leaving Dalmanutha (cf. 8:10-13), the disciples forgot to bring bread with them on the boat, and Jesus starts warning them of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod (v. 14-21).
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “
Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “
Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “
Twelve.” “
And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “
Seven.” And he said to them, “
Do you not yet understand?”
Jesus’ rebuke to the disciples is interesting: “
Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” This hearkens back to chapter 4, where Jesus says that for outsiders “
everything is in parables, so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, / and may indeed hear but not understand, / lest they should turn and be forgiven.” (v. 11b-12) In effect, the disciples, to whom “
the mystery of the Kingdom of God” is revealed, are apparently no better than those outside because of their slow comprehension. No rebuke is present in the Lukan parallel (12:1), while Matthew’s version is in many ways softer than Mark’s (16:5-12):
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “
Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “
We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “
O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
- Immediately after Peter’s confession of Jesus (8:27-30) - to which “he strictly charged them to tell no one about him”, Jesus starts to speak of His own Passion (v. 31-33):
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “
Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Notably, the absence of any mention of Jesus’ acceptance of Peter’s confession here, as in Matthew (16:17-19) kind of makes the rebuke stronger. Also note the mention of Jesus “
turning and seeing his disciples.” Again, Luke does not include any rebuke of Peter in his version (9:18-22).
- After the Transfiguration, Jesus warns Peter, James and John “to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” Mark goes on: “So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.” (9:9-10; cf. Matthew 17:9-10; Luke 9:36)
- Immediately afterwards, we come to a whole pericope about Jesus healing a possessed boy which the other disciples had failed to heal (9:14-29). We’ll only going to note the conclusion (v. 28-29):
And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “
Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
In true Matthean fashion (17:14-21), Matthew’s Jesus uses the disciples’ question as a vehicle to point out their being “
of little faith” (there it is again!), and goes on about the saying about even how faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. Luke simply ends his version (9:37-43) with: “
And all were astonished at the majesty of God.” (v. 43)
