From Anointing to Arrest. Some Observations on the Composition of Mark... 19 supposed to refer to Christ.35 Whether this was in the mind of John and/ or Mark we could neither deny nor affirm. Clearly, however, analysis of both Mark 14:1-11 and John 2:1-12, 13-21 brings this number to our attention: it was - in addition to the explicit but puzzling mention in John 2:20 - applied as one of the means of structuring part of the gospel text in a logical and transparent way. Mark 14:1-11, The Anointing at Bethany, again 11. We return for a moment to Mark 14:1-11, the story of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, as we find it framed in two notices concerning, amongst other things, Judas and his contacts with the religious authorities in Jerusalem.36 Surely, we do not at this point find the story of the anointing in Luke, see Luke 22:1-6. If, however, it is proposed (a) to isolate and detach Mark 14:3-9 from its context and (b) to postulate and reconstruct (a section of) an earlier document, consisting of v. 1-2 and v. 10-11, and (c) make Mark insert the story - which (d) he or someone else before him expanded in v. 8-9 - at the place where we (‘now’) read it, there are several reasons for doubt. Mark 14:1-11 is, it appears from our analysis, a tightly woven texture, a coherent and unified little composition.37 The frame, v. 1-2 and v. 10-11, and Jesus’ speech in v. 6b-9 are identical in size. The incident with the perfume (v. 3-5) uses one third of the sum-total of 414 syllables. The opening statement (v. 1) is one ninth of this sum-total and presents the key number: 46 syllables. Going on from v. 1, one reads, in v. 2 and v. 3-9, 21 + 279 = 300 s., before finishing, in v. 10-11, with 68 s. Once this is noticed, one cannot help observing a striking coincidence with the phrase ‘more than 300 denarii’ (v. 5). Indeed, it is a textual fact that in v. 2-9 there are 300 syllables, and at that point there is more to come. Does v. 5 shed some light on the way the text is organized, or does it only help us to remember one particular detail of its design? The central position of the moment of Jesus’ entry in the story (v. 6a - see § 9.4) does show the skill and competence of the author as a man of letters. 35 See, e.g., Erasmus and E.C. Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel, London: Faber and Faber, ²1947, p. 195-196. 36 The Greek New Testament (1956, ⁴1993) and N-A26 (1979), as well as N-A27 (1993) present Mark 14:1-11 in three paragraphs: v. 1-2, v. 3-9, v. 10-11. The ancient division in BΞ: Mark 13:32-14:2; 14:3-9, 10-16, see H. von Soden, Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments ..., I.1, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, ²1911, p. 434. 37 So v. 3-9 is not ‘ohne weiteres auslösbar ..’, as Dibelius claimed, see n. 26.