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One of 5 terms NT interpreters have used to refer to brief narratives that culminate in a saying of Jesus. R. Bultmann defined Apophthegm as "sayings of Jesus set in a brief context." R. Tannehill defined it as "a brief narrative in which the climactic (and often final) element is a pronouncement which is presented as a particular person's response to something said or observed on a particular occasion of the past."
Although some interpreters add other stories, the following are universally accepted:
| Mark 2:15-17 | Eating w/tax collectors & sinners |
| Mark 2:18-22 | Question about fasting |
| Mark 2:23-28 | Plucking grain on the Sabbath |
| Mark 3:31-34 | True relatives of Jesus |
| Mark 10:13-16 | Blessing the children |
| Mark 10:17-22 | The rich young man |
| Mark 10:35-40 | The sons of Zebedee |
| Mark 12:13-17 | Paying taxes to Caesar |
| Mark 12:18-27 | On the resurrection |
| Mark 14:3-9 | The anointing at Bethany |
| Luke 14:1-6 | Healing of the man with dropsy |
Other terms used to describe this are: paradigm, pronouncement story, chreia and anecdote.