Structural analyses of Mark differ as to whether this pericope belongs with the preceding section or with what follows. It is a bridge passage, moving Jesus and his followers on their way to Caesarea Philippi, picking up the theme of blindness from 8:18, and leading into the extended attempt to cure the disciples’ blindness which will conclude with another healing of a blind man in 10:45–52. Because these two healings form a framework around Mark’s second act I will here treat them as belonging to it as introduction and conclusion.