The route Jesus took was an unusual one, because Jesus’ journey took a horseshoe shape through mostly desert country—from Tyre north to Sidon and then southeast through the Decapolis and back to the Sea of Galilee.
There is speculation as to the reason for this unusual journey in Mark’s Gospel and some even wonder whether Mark had his facts straight. There is, however, no reason to distrust the accuracy of Mark’s Gospel. The most probable explanation is that Jesus wanted some privacy with his disciples, and he wanted to get away from the harassment of the Pharisees and Herod Antipas for a while.1
Those who are sceptical about the route give the following explanations: Mark did not know the geography of Palestine very well and made mistakes; or Mark made up Jesus’ visits to these unusual places to account for the fact that there were Christian congregations in these areas in Mark’s day; or Mark was giving a summary of a journey he believed Jesus had undertaken but that he did not know the details of.2,3
There are no reasons to accept these explanations as true. It would be unusual for Mark to fabricate a journey that makes him look ignorant of geography. Furthermore, Peter, who is a key source of information for Mark, would hardly allow such a fabrication, and he did know the geography of the area.4
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.