Mark 2:1 to Mark 3:6. A group of incidents designed to illustrate the growth of hostility on the part of scribes and Pharisees. At first they merely make silent criticisms (Mark 2:6), then they question the disciples (Mark 2:16), later, they challenge Jesus Himself (Mark 2:18), and later still, they resolve to get rid of Him (Mark 3:6). The theme continues into the following section (see HNT, p. 18). The arrangement of these incidents is due to the evangelist and is not necessarily chronological.