1:10 immediately. This important word (sometimes translated “straightway”) is characteristic of Mark (twelve times in the rest of the New Testament, forty-two times in Mark). It perhaps suggests not speed but rather the sureness and inevitability of God’s sovereign plan, recalling the “straight” (same root as “straightway”) paths divinely prepared for Jesus’ coming and ministry.

Spirit descending. This descent of the Spirit is a sign of Jesus’ messiahship (v. 8 note). In Jesus’ baptism, as later in Christian baptism (Matt. 28:19), all three Persons of the Trinity are involved. The initiative of the Father, the vicarious work of the Son, and the glorifying, enabling power of the Spirit are all present.