In the Company of Jesus tracks the way in which the characters other than Jesus are portrayed in the Gospel of Mark. Malbon employs a literary approach that reveals the contribution of these minor characters -- the twelve disciples, Bartimaeus, Jairus and his daughter, the women who followed Jesus, and the Jewish leaders -- to the Gospel story. After outlining the four elements of narrative criticism -- characters, settings, plot, and rhetoric -- Malbon explores each of the characters who populate the Gospel of Mark, showing how they function to advance the narrative by their interaction.