Mark 1:12

ἐκβάλλει : historic present, much used in Mk. with lively effect; introduces a new situation. The first thing the Spirit does (εὐθὺς) is to drive Jesus into the wilderness, the expression not implying reluctance of Jesus to go into so wild a place (Weiss), but intense preoccupation of mind. Allowing for the weakening of the sense in Hellenistic usage (H. C.), it is a very strong word, and a second instance of Mk.'s realism : Jesus thrust out into the inhospitable desert by force of thought. De Wette says that the ethical significance of the temptation is lost in Mk.'s meagre narrative, and that it becomes a mere marvellous adventure. I demur to this. The one word ἐκβάλλει tells the whole story, speaks as far as may be the unspeakable. Mt. and Lk. have tried to tell us what happened, but have they given us more than a dim shadow of the truth?