Tuesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, January 9, 2024

Mark 1, 21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

Jesus normally taught in the synagogues of the towns he visited.  He varied from this practice when no synagogue existed in the place, or when the crowds made this impossible.  On occasion, in Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders questioned him and he answered them wherever he was.  This contrasts with how the Greeks usually spoke publicly about religion or on any other subject.  They did so in the city’s marketplace.  We see St. Paul doing this in places like Athens.  Jesus preferred to preach in the synagogues because in the Jewish culture, that was the proper place for it.  “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.”  An example of this “teaching with authority” is found in Matthew 5, 21-22: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.”  The Lord does not cite Scripture to support his interpretation — his fulfillment — of the commandment, but relies on his authority.  This “astonished” the people because only the One who made the Law would dare to transform it in the way he had.  The people had two conclusions to draw from this: either he was mad, or he was God.

“In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit.”  The Greek text actually says, “Immediately in their synagogue there was a man, etc.”  St. Mark uses the word “immediately” very often in his Gospel.  Here, it indicates that the possessed man appeared suddenly in the synagogue, that he rushed into it.  “In their synagogue, etc.”. Those with unclean spirits are found in all places.  The spirit is called “unclean” or “impure” because it is foul with hatred and anger.  It is also terrified, as on this occasion.  We see a graphic display of the uncleanness of demons when the mob of demons, “Legion”, requests to be sent into the herd of swine feeding on the hillside.  ““What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  The Greek phrasing here is nearly the same as in John 2, 4, in which the Lord answers his Mother at the Wedding at Cana, and which is usually translated along the lines of, “What is this to you and to me?”  The demon is saying to the Lord, What does this man matter to you?  The demon seems to pause for an answer before he speaks again: “Have you come to destroy us?”  That is, Have you come to destroy our power over the world?  The demon senses the power of the Lord, knows that he does not fear him, and is uneasy that the Lord does not deign to answer him.  Another pause, and then: “I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”  The demon does not in fact know that the Son of God stands over him, but he throws out a line, desperate for some response, something to fight back with.

“Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Quiet! Come out of him!’ ”  The Lord does not dignify the demon by answering its questions, nor does he allow such as it to proclaim his identity to anyone.  The Lord reveals his divinity not through the screeching of a vile demon, but through his expulsion of this demon.  He silences the demon and commands him to go forth from the man.  “The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.”  The unclean spirit did not want to return to hell, there to be jeered at  by the other demons for its failure.  The convulsions and the cry show the extent to which the demon controlled the man.  The Lord was not exorcising some weak breath of wind, but a powerful spirit, stronger than any man but this one.

“All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority.’ ”  The word translated here as “authority” also means “power”, which establishes and maintains authority.  We can only imagine the scene within the synagogue during and immediately after the exorcism.  The formerly possessed man, sitting on the floor, looking around, unable to understand what he is doing there; the Lord Jesus looking upon him with love and helping him to his feet; and the assembly, in turmoil, some briskly shaking their heads, as though to clear them, and others talking at once.  The episode seemed to happen so quickly, so abruptly, without warning.  “He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”  First, the teaching in which the Lord transformed — fulfilled — the Law, but then he shows himself capable of commanding the demons with the result that they obey him.  If the demons obey him, how much more should we? they must have wondered.  And that is the logical question.  

“His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.”  This exorcism, coupled with the miracles he performed in Capernaum, and his preaching, caused the Lord Jesus to be spoken of throughout the region.  Sadly, as we know, despite all that the Lord did in that city, we later find him lamenting: “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day” (Matthew 11, 23).  The city, unlike the demons throughout the land, grew accustomed to the Lord, and its inhabitants went about their business as if he were not there.