Mark's whole telling of the story of Jesus is designed to function as an apocalypse. The reader is constantly invited by the gospel as a whole to do what the disciples are invited to do in the parable-chapter, that is, to come closer and discover the inner secret behind the strange outer story.

bishop n.t. wright, the new testament and the people of God, p.395

this is going to be very influential in my upcoming hermeneutic project on Mark for leithart.