Politics... economics... religion...

Here's one to chew on.
If we can indeed come to appreciate how in First Century Palestine, politics, economics and religion were not separate spheres of power and influence but a matrix of particulars that were engaged all at once — then, it becomes more difficult to view Jesus as fundamentally a "religious" leader. His concerns did not ignore the material and the social, but rather recognized their effect on the spiritual.
The Gospel of Mark shows us Jesus always going out to the people, meeting them in all their needs — healing and teaching throughout.