The gospel writers seem to use a literary technique sometimes called an "inclusio" or a "sandwich". This is a device where you have 2 sections of text with common elements and themes that 'bracket off' and mutually interpret another section of text. Or it may be that there is a story that is split into two with another story sandwiched in between it. The story in the middle mutually interprets the surrounding story.
This techinque is often overlooked by most people. I think this is due to our (Protestants in general) tendency to read the New Testament either as a sort of textbook that follows a linear historical sequence of events or our tendency to read the text in a piecemeal fashion where we read a couple of verses at a time and don't consider Mark as a whole. I think it's important to realize that the gospel writers aren't trying to write a textbook or a dissertation for a PhD in history. It shouldn't surprise us if they write a little creatively so they don't bore their readers to tears, not to mention that trying to make the gospel writers write as we assume they should might just be anachronistic on our part.
I was trying to think of a modern day example of this literary technique. Perhaps a good example would be a "flashback" moment in a movie. A character in the movie is faced with some situation, and in the middle of the narrative the character has a flashback to some previous experience that relates to his present situation. After this flashback, the movie viewer is rushed foward in time and the narrative resumes where it left off. This is a simple "inclusio" where the story that has been split in half by the flashback is used to mutually interpret the flashback itself.
The gospel writers use similiar techniques, and Mark seems to use it heavily.
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