Mark opens his Gospel by revealing a world in which cosmic and earthly conflicts intersect, like planes intersecting in a line. The Spirit descends upon Jesus from an open heaven and drives him into the wilderness to struggle against Satan. But that intersection is a segment – brief,
unexplained, and unfinished.1 In 3:22 – 30, Mark takes up again the cosmic characters from the prologue and dramatizes their conflict more
completely, creating a narrative line. Following a series of mostly
human conflicts in the opening chapters, the imagery in Jesus’ words
to the scribes re-imagines the intersection. Using symbols available to
him from Jewish tradition and apocalyptic thought, Mark imagines a
world in which Satan is the strong ruler over a united kingdom of demons that fights against the Spirit. According to Mark, this cosmic battle
is carried out in the ministry of Jesus.