Throughout the entire Gospel of Mark, the disciples are shown not understanding the messages that Jesus tells them. In Mark 4:41 the disciples are very shaky with their faith during the storm until Jesus strengthens it to the point of them saying, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” In Mark 6:12-13 it seems that Jesus feels the disciples understand his teachings enough to send them out on a mission to spread the word. This is a big step for the disciples in their journey because in earlier stories they cannot understand the message of Jesus. The disciples take a step back in Mark 6:51-52 when on a boat they think they see a ghost walking on water. The end of verse 52 says that the disciples did not understand the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. In Mark 7:17-18 the disciples are still confused by a parable Jesus told and ask him to explain it once again. This shows that the disciples still cannot completely understand Jesus as this point. All of these stories show that the disciples are making progress in their faith, but they still have to learn a great deal. Jesus understands this and realizes he has to continue to teach them before he leaves them.

The story of the blind man Bartimaeus is very different than all of the other healing stories in the gospel. When Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is coming he cries out with all his might to see him despite protests from other people around him. When Jesus gets over to him, Jesus tells him that his faith has healed him. This is different than the other healings of Jesus because he never stared intently or touched Bartimaeus in any way. The disciples would have been watching this even though they probably would not have understood. The unnamed woman in Mark 14:3-9 pours very expensive ointment over the head of Jesus. Witnesses of this event take protest saying that she should have sold the ointment and given the money to the poor. Jesus says that the poor will always be around but he will not be, and that she was preparing his body for burial. It seems that the woman understands the path that Jesus has to take going forward better than the disciples did, as she was helping to prepare his martyrdom.

The parable of the sower is a parable that explains how different people receive the word of Jesus. I would put the disciples in the category of the ones sown on good soil. Verse 20 says, “And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” I would put them in this category because Jesus planted their faith in him. Even though the disciples struggled to understand the message at first, Jesus was able to give them a good foundation to go spread the word. And after the death of Jesus the disciples spread out to preach to different communities and started the religion. I would also put Bartimaeus and the unnamed woman in this category because they seem to have a fundamental understanding of what Jesus was preaching.

In Mark discipleship seems to mean following and listening to increase your understanding of the teachings. Even though the disciples of Jesus are witnessing him every day, it still took them a long time to fully understand the message. Jesus hand picked these twelve disciples because he knew they would eventually understand the message and go on to spread the good news to all corners of the Earth.