I think that Mark incorporated these ten miracles into a travelogue between Jewish and non-Jewish territory because it shows that there are similar miracles for both parties. Stories tended to be clustered and grouped together. These stories in Mark, as explained by L. Michael White in Scripting Jesus, are near duplicates of one another. Therefore, this could be a form of storytelling of oral tradition. It is suggested that the author of Mark intentionally replicated and reworked these stories and told them in similar order for some thematic or narrative purpose and dramatic effect. It seems as though Mark has taken the motif of misunderstanding and “gives shape to proper understanding of Jesus’s messianic identity and scatological expectations for its own audience decades later.” (Pg. 266) Meaning that Mark took the secrecy and privacy of these events of Jesus and made it a vehicle of interpretation through storytelling and for the other gospel writers.

There are a number of events in the Markan narrative that are similar, duplicated, or repeated. In each case, the second telling of the miracle “intensifies” the misunderstanding of the miracle. The point is, that even though the disciples have experienced this miracle before, they are more so astounded than the first time. These are called miracle doublets. An example of these doublets is the miracle of feeding of the 500 and 400 (6:30-44 and 8:1-10). These doublets are found through the chapters of 4-6, and 6-8 of Mark.

Mark’s triplets are individual stories that are stitched together to intensify each story’s theme. One story may be interrupted with another story that matches a similar theme or narrative to help the audience understand a theme being portrayed. “This forces the audience to read one episode in the light of the other.” (Pg. 269) White provides an example of this as Jesus is being accused of having a demon between two scenes of Jesus’s family and their misunderstanding (3:19-35) (Pg. 269). This allows for deeper theological significance and understandings of the gospel stories. By taking these separate and isolated miracle stories and interconnecting them elaborates the purpose of Jesus’ mission and character of his proclamation.