Mark's gospel accumulates momentum incredibly rapidly. By v15 Jesus has already been baptised by John, led into the wilderness, and is ready to declare "The time has come".
With power encounters in v21f there has hardly been time to get followers on board and already news about him is spreading, crowds are gathering.
Jesus' itinerary seems rapid-fire too. v38 has him moving on leaving an apparent revival behind, which leads to yet more driving out demons and healing. With all this 'good stuff' going on, it seems hard to imagine how ministry could get any better.
Yet by v45, i.e. before we have even made it to chapter 2, Jesus is forced to hang out in lonely places. For Jesus, popularity does not necessarily equate to staying on the correct course, and so he is forced out to the margins.
The walk of ministry, even with so much blessing and goodness happening amongst so many people, can turn out to be a lonely road to take.
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