184 Wim J.C. Weren 4,12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew (anecwrhsen) to Galilee. j v 12,15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed (ajnecwvrhsen). 14,13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew (ajnecwvrhsen) from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. 15,21 Jesus left that place and went away (ajnecwvrhsen) to the district of Tyre and Sidon. That these sentences have the character of a refrain is clear from the fact that, apart from the verb ajnacwrevw, they also have a number of other fixed elements: a) people close to Jesus or Jesus himself withdraw(s); b) they do this because they hear or perceive that Jesus is being threatened by his adversaries; c) this withdrawal brings him to a new location that is usually named explicitly; d) in four cases, the refrain is accompanied by a fulfilment quotation (2,15.23; 4,14-16; 12,18-21). The whole series shows a certain amount of progression. Initially, the wise men and Joseph are the subject of ajnacwrevw (2,12-13.14.22) but, from 4,12 onwards, this action is completed by Jesus himself. His life is threatened firstly by the local political leaders, Herod the Great (2,12-13.14) and his sons Archelaus (2,22) and Antipas (4,12; 14,13), but further on in the book, his circle of enemies is expanded with the Pharisees (12,14; 15,21), who are plotting his death. Progression can also be observed in the fact that Galilee, a region where initially Jesus is still safe (2,22; 4,12), is gradually becoming a hazardous area, as a result of which Jesus begins to avoid towns and villages, staying in uninhabited areas (14,13), and even venturing in the direction of the district of Tyre and Sidon, places inhabited by the gentiles (15,31). Having turned his back on the Pharisees and the Sadduccees (16,4), he leaves for the region of Caesarea Philippi. These moves have the remarkable effect of increasing Jesus’ radius of action: in fact, he meets large crowds even in uninhabited areas, and, although he knows that he has been sent only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (15,24), he relents to a woman from the world of the gentiles and has mercy on her, too. The fulfilment quotations connected to this refrain make it clear that Jesus’ wanderings take place according to a certain plan and that they have already been announced in texts of the Scripture that are presented by the narrator as God’s own words. Thus, Jesus does not travel so restlessly through fear of his enemies, but in obedience to God. The refrain discussed focuses the attention on the constant that Jesus distances himself from Jerusalem and Judea, his native soil. This