Three "chiasms" in Mark 14

Mark 14: Three chiasms

Why Mark 14? It came up in my reading, I jotted down the main points, and this emerged.

What's a "chiasm"? A piece of writing which goes from one point, to a different point, and onward to a variation of the first point: a b a'. (Sometimes the 2nd point is followed by a variation on itself: a b b' a'. Chiasms can be much longer and fancier than the following examples; I read that Knox Seminary in Florida was putting the whole Gospel of John and the Revelation into one chiasm. Outside the Bible, I've read that the '80s? King Arthur movie "Excalibur" had a chiastic pattern and that Saint Patrick sometimes used them.)

Who cares? You're reading this, aren't you? If God put these patterns into the Bible, then let's notice them and think about them, among other things.

1a. Chief priests conspire against Jesus, 14:1-2
1b. Jesus anointed with 300 pennyworth of ointment, 3-9
1a'. Judas conspires with chief priests, 10-11

2a. Where shall we eat the passover? 12-17 Notice that Jesus called it a passover. I happily admit that it has additional OT antecedents and additional NT meaning; but let us not deny what our Master ("I shall eat the passover") affirms. (Some do deny this, or come close to denying.)
2b. One of you will betray Me, 18-21
2a'. My body, and my blood of the new covenant, 22-26 (New passover, and more).

3a. Peter will deny me, 27-31
3b. Jesus prays in Gethsemane, 32-41
3c. Jesus betrayed with a kiss, 43-46
3d. "One of them" uses sword to cut off ear of servant of high priest, 47. (Matthew tells that Jesus rebuked the swordsman, Luke that Jesus healed the ear [rebuke not mentioned], John that Peter cut Malchus' ear and Jesus rebuked Peter [healing not mentioned]. The reader may, or may later, think about what the Holy Ghost had in mind with these varying omissions and inclusions. The words of Jesus in 48-49 just below may be taken as an implicit rebuke or as taking the rebuke for granted as something known.)
3e. 48-49 Jesus answers, Are you come with swords as to arrest a thug? I taught daily in the Temple and you took me not; but the Scripture must be fulfilled.

3d'. 50-52 They all forsook him and fled. A young man followed him covered (only) in a linen cloth; the young men grab him; he leaves the cloth and flees naked. / This chiasm suggests that his response--fleeing, even at some cost and shame--excels the swordsman's response. It might also be taken as equally bad, with Jesus' staying to teach as correct. / The contrast between 'They forsook him' and this young man who followed Him until he lost something may be in the young man's favor. / Priests wore linen: so we might think (a) the High Priest will soon be naked on the cross, or (b) the antiJesus priestly system is stripped naked. Or both, without pressing either too hard; God in His Providence eternally knows what we're going to think, and mis-think, of His word. / Raymond Brown (slightly liberal Roman Catholic?) in his scholarly tome THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH gave Mark 14:51-52, the young man, about 10 pages, which didn't stick with me. / 3d and 3d' might be labeled "fight" and "flight," but those are modern English labels; they may do well enough to label what Mark wrote, but I doubt he had anything so snappy in mind. (I could be wrong: I don't know Aramaic or Hebrew and I'm weak in Greek.)

3c'. 'Trial' of Jesus before chief priests, elders, and scribes, 55-64
3b'. Jesus mocked: "Prophesy" (talk to or for God), 65
3a'. Peter denies Jesus three times, 66-72

One thing that struck me during this reading was the priestly emphasis here. Besides the explicit mentions (verses 1, 10, 43, 47, 53-55, 60-61, 63, 66) and besides Jesus as our High Priest, priests were anointed (1b), the Passover was celebrated at Jerusalem where the priests worked (2a, 2a'), and Jesus in the central verses 48-49 (3e) mentions the Temple.