Mark is laying a lot of foundation stones here in chapter 1: Jesus as the long-awaited one, greater than the new Elijah; Jesus as the one blessed by the father and led by the Spirit; the call of Jesus to leave all and follow him; and now the primacy of life lived in devotion to God and what comes out of that. Here, at the end of chapter 1, we have two short stories, both beginning with prayer and leading to the proclamation of what God is doing in Christ.