At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness — Mark's characteristic immediately (euthys) appears here for the first of many times. The Spirit that descended at the baptism immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness for testing. The word translated sent out (ekballō) is the same word used for casting out demons — the Spirit's propulsion is forceful, not gentle. The testing immediately follows the divine declaration of sonship: the tempter's strategy will be to subvert the identity just declared. The wilderness is the theologically laden space — Israel was tested in the wilderness for forty years; Jesus is tested for forty days in the same arena, recapitulating Israel's history to succeed where Israel failed.

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