The chapter
Simply A chapter of people asking to be let in or moved up: Pharisees with a test question, parents with children the disciples turn away, a rich man who wants to know what to do, two disciples who want the best seats, and a blind beggar the crowd tells to be quiet.
Context It is all on one journey. They are going up to Jerusalem, he is walking in front, and they are amazed and afraid; between Jericho and the city he tells them for the third time what is waiting there, in the most detailed version yet, with the mocking and the spitting and the scourging named.
Verses 1-12
Simply Asked whether a man may divorce his wife, he asks back what Moses commanded, and is told about the certificate of divorce. He says that was written for hardness of heart, and goes further back than Moses, to the creation account where God made them male and female and the two become one flesh.
Context The two lines he quotes are from Genesis, one from the first creation account and one from the second, and Mark has him treat them as a single argument. The stricter saying comes afterward and in private, in the house, where the disciples ask again, and it is put both ways round: a man who divorces and remarries, and a woman who does.
Verses 13-16
Simply The disciples turn away the people bringing children, and Mark says he was indignant about it, which he rarely says of him. He takes the children in his arms and blesses them.
Verses 17-31
Simply A man runs up, kneels, and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. He has kept the commandments since he was young, and what he is told he lacks is one thing: sell what you have, give to the poor, come and follow.
Context Mark puts one clause in before the demand: looking at him, Jesus loved him. It is the only place in this gospel where he is said to love the person in front of him, and it is said about the man who then goes away sorrowful. The disciples' shock is not at the man but at the conclusion drawn from him, and their question, then who can be saved, is answered by moving the whole thing out of their hands: with men it is impossible, but not with God.
Verses 32-45
Simply Right after he describes what will be done to him in Jerusalem, James and John ask for the seats at his right and left. The other ten are furious, and he tells all twelve that whoever wants to be great among them must be their servant.
Context He does not refuse them outright. He says they do not know what they are asking, tells them they will drink the cup he drinks, and says the places are not his to hand out. The section ends on the sentence the whole journey has been arguing toward, that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Verses 46-52
Simply At Jericho a blind beggar shouts for him and is told by many people to be quiet, so he shouts louder. Asked what he wants, he says he wants to see, and when he can, he follows Jesus down the road.
Context The question he is asked, what do you want me to do for you, is word for word the one James and John were asked a few paragraphs earlier, and the two answers are set against each other by the repetition. This is also the second blind man in this stretch of the book: one at Bethsaida before the journey to Jerusalem begins, one at Jericho as it ends.