Immediately: The Immediacy in Mark

To be honest, I was surprised at the frequency of the word “immediately” in the book of Mark. It is interesting how many times it comes up when you are looking for it, especially in the first chapter.



Craig Blomberg mentions in his book Jesus and the Gospels, that the word “immediately” (Gk. euthus) is used forty-two times in the book of Mark and that, “at times [it is] virtually equivalent to little more than “the next important thing I want to tell you is…”  (Blomberg p. 142)

The word in Mark gives us a view of Christ as God’s Servant, and at other times “immediately” gives us the view of how He served. We see no delay, no reluctance in the mission to be about “His Father's business”. (Luke 2:49)

The “immediateness” of the ministry of Christ in Mark lines up with the prophecy that Isaiah gave about the Servant of God when he said that the servant would set “His face like a flint” to the task. (Isaiah 50:7)

The first instance that we find the word in the book of Mark is regarding the baptism of Christ, which is coupled closely to the second occurrence. (Mark 1:10; 12)

These two verses give us the precedent for the driving force of the Servanthood of the Son. Blomberg mentions that “the first eight chapters use action-packed narratives to focus on the powerful ministry of Jesus, particularly as he gathers disciples and amazes crowds with his mighty deeds.” (Blomberg p. 129)

These deeds are all led by the Spirit and are done in the power of the Spirit pointing us back to the origin of the word back in chapter one, at His baptism. Everything that Jesus did and every place that He went was only what had been previously ordained by the Father. (Hebrews 10:7)

Whether Mark shows us the authority of Christ (Mark 5:42), or the servitude (Mark 4:29), he is giving us these to show us the glory of God and the example of our Savior. We should all learn from this perfect example which He has left us while viewing what Blomberg calls, both “halves of his Gospel”. (Blomberg pp. 131-132)

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