The first chapter of St. Mark's Gospel presents us with Jesus who is going from his hometown
of Nazareth to the town of Capernaum, which is located on the northwest corner of Lake
Gennesaret.
It says, and there he taught them on the Sabbath days.
The Sabbath was the day that the Jews were accustomed to go to the synagogue and be taught
by their scribes.
The people were astonished at his doctrine and at the wonderful fruit.
The people were amazed at the force and unction of his preaching.
Indeed, we can only imagine the eloquence of our Lord's words, the wisdom, and of course
the truth with which those words rang out and how they would have captivated the minds
and hearts of anyone who was sincerely seeking the truth and desiring to know it.
But for those who were not of the truth, they were...
driven away by his words, we might say.
And this is evidenced in the reaction we see from the man possessed by the evil spirit.
There was in the synagogue a man who had an unclean spirit, and he cried aloud, saying,
Let us alone.
What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth?
See, here we have our Lord preaching the truth, and now the demon, who is a son of the Father,
of lies, is confronted with the truth and finds it more of a torture than anything else.
Art thou come to destroy us?
That is, have you come to banish us from this man and throw us back into hell?
I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God.
It's an interesting fact that the demon himself attests to the divinity of Christ.
I know who thou art.
I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And this is just another example how faith without works is dead.
A faith that is not vivified by obedience, by charity, has no power to save one.
As St. James tells us in his letter, that even the demons believe, but they tremble.
And so here we see a perfect example.
A perfect example of that.
That this demon knows who our Lord is, but of course it doesn't work for his salvation.
Jesus then rebuked the spirit, commanding him to be silent and to go out from the man.
Our Lord doesn't accept the testimony of the demon.
In fact, the demon, of course, doesn't proclaim our Lord as the Holy One of God with good intentions.
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But instead, with evil intentions.
And so our Lord, knowing this, commands him to be silent and to go out from the man.
Our Lord wants to reveal his divinity and the fact that he is the Messiah slowly but surely.
He educates the people gradually.
Then the devil, throwing the man into the midst of the crowd,
went out of him and left him unharmed.
Here we see the pride of the devil,
throwing the man into the midst of the crowd,
making a scene,
and though he desired to harm the man,
he was unable to,
because again, the demon's actions are limited by whatever is permitted by God.
And so he left the man unharmed.
Great fear came upon all who witnessed this miracle,
and they said to one another,
So here we see our Lord's power over the unclean spirits.
They must, they are constrained to obey his word.
And so we ask our Lord to continue to enlighten us with his wisdom,
with the force and unction of his words and of his doctrine,
and also to protect us from the deceits, the lies, and the power of the evil spirits.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Hallelujah!
Amen.