The man possessed in the synagogue (Notes)

Saint Mark - Chapter 1

Man possessed with a devil in the synagogue. J-J Tissot

[21] Et ingrediuntur Capharnaum : et statim sabbatis ingressus in synagogam, docebat eos.

And they entered into Capharnaum, and forthwith upon the sabbath days going into the synagogue, he taught them.

[22] Et stupebant super doctrina ejus : erat enim docens eos quasi potestatem habens, et non sicut scribae.

And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes.

[23] Et erat in synagoga eorum homo in spiritu immundo : et exclamavit,

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, i.e., a man having an unclean spirit, that is to say, possessed by a devil. The Greek has, in an unclean spirit, and it is a Hebraism. For the Hebrew uses ב, beth, i.e., in, when one noun governs another in the genitive.

And he cried out, i.e., the spirit, by the mouth of the man possessed, “as though he were suffering torment,” says the, Scholiast in S. Chrysostom, “as though in pain, as though not able to bear his strokes.” “For,” as Bede says, “the presence of the Saviour is the torment of the devils.” Christ desired that by this public testimony of the demon concerning Him, in the synagogue of Capernaum (for it is plain from ver. 21 that these things occurred there), the Jews who were gathered there might acknowledge Him to be Messias. There is nothing about this demoniac in Matthew, but there is in Luke 4:33.

[24] dicens : Quid nobis et tibi, Jesu Nazarene? venisti perdere nos? scio qui sis, Sanctus Dei.

Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.

Saying. The Gr. subjoins ἔα, which the translator of Luke 4:34 renders by let alone, as if the imperative of the verb ἐάω, i.e., suffer, permit; as Euthymius says, dismiss us. Others take ἔα as an adverb of grieving, wondering, beseeching. As it were, “Ah!, alas! Lord, in what have I injured Thee?”

What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know who Thou art, the Holy One of God. “What is there between us and Thee, O Jesus? We have not attacked Thee, O Christ, who art holy; but sinners, who are, as it were, our own. We have no contention with Thee; do not Thou, then, contend with and destroy us.”

Come to destroy us. Some MSS. add, before the time. But the words are not found in the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic received texts. They seem to have been transferred hither from S. Matt. 9:25. With respect to the meaning, in the first place, Bede says that the demons, beholding the Lord upon earth, supposed that they were to be immediately judged. It was as though they said, “Do not Thou, O Jesus, by Thine advent bring on so quickly the day of judgment, and banish us to the bottomless pit without any hope of coming forth.” Second, the Scholiast in S. Chrysostom says, “Thou givest us no place among men when Thou teachest divine things.” But this is mystical. Third, and correctly, “Hast Thou come to destroy us, to cast us out from men, and send us to hell?” Whence Theophylact says, “He calls going out of men his destruction.” For the highest pleasure of the devils is to possess and vex men.

I know, &c. Arab. O Holy One; the Gr. ὁ ἅγιος, emphatically, the Holy One. “Thou who art so holy that Thou communicatest Thy holiness to others, since Thou art, as it were, the Fountain and the Sun of holiness, who sanctifiest all the saints, the Messiah and the Son of God, for whom all are eagerly waiting so many thousand years!” There is an allusion to Dan. 9:24, “until the Holy of Holies, i.e., Messiah, be anointed.”

I know, i.e., I suspect, I think. For, as the Scholiast in Chrysostom says, the devil had no firm and certain knowledge of the coming of God. Because, as S. Austin says (lib. 9, de Civ. c. 21), He only made known to them as much as He wished; and He only wished as much as was expedient.

[25] Et comminatus est ei Jesus, dicens : Obmutesce, et exi de homine.

And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man.

And Jesus threatened him: Gr. ἐπετίμησεν, i.e., rebuked, chided him with threats. That He would punish him unless he were silent.

Saying, Speak no more: Arab, shut thy mouth. Wherefore? I answer, First, Because it was not fitting that Christ should be commanded by the devil.

Second, That He might not appear to be a friend of the devil, and to hold intercourse with him. For afterwards it was objected to Christ that He cast out devils by the aid of Beelzebub. By acting as He did, Christ has taught us to shun all dealings with the devil; for he is the sworn enemy of God, and is wholly bent upon injuring and destroying us, even when he promises or brings us any corporal aid. Wherefore, as the Scholiast in Chrysostom saith, “Be silent; let thy silence be My praise. Let not thy voice, but thy torments praise Me. I am not pleased that thou shouldst praise Me, but that thou shouldst go forth.”

Third, To show that we should resist flattery, that it may not stir up any desire of vainglory in our breast.

Fourth, Euthymius says, “He has taught us never to believe the demons, even when they say what is true. For since they love falsehood, and are most hostile to us, they never speak the truth except to deceive. They make use of the truth as it were a kind of bait.” For, liars that they are, they conceal their lies by a colouring of truth. They say certain things that are true at the first, and afterwards interweave with them what is false, that those who have believed the first may believe also the last. For this cause Paul drove out the spirit of Python, who praised him, Acts 16:18.

Fifth, Because the demon in an unseasonable manner, and too speedily, disclosed that Christ was Messiah. For this might have injured Him, and turned the people away from Him. For so mighty a secret should be disclosed gradually, and the people be persuaded of its truth by many miracles; for otherwise they would not at first receive it and believe it. This was why (8:30) Christ forbids the Apostles also to say that He was Christ. So Maldonatus and others.

Symbolically: Bede, “The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that he might not speak.”

[26] Et discerpens eum spiritus immundus, et exclamans voce magna, exiit ab eo.

And the unclean spirit tearing him, and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him.

And the unclean spirit tearing him, &c. Tearing (Vulg. discerpens), not by lacerating or mutilating the man who was possessed by him, for Luke says (4:35) that he did no harm to him, but by contorting and twisting his limbs this way and that, as if he wished to tear him piecemeal. For the Greek σπαράττω signifies to pull or tear in pieces. The devil did this through rage and madness, that being compelled by Christ to go out of the man, he might injure him as much as he could. But the nearer and the more powerful the grace of Christ is, the more impotently does the devil rage. For, observe, the devil only raised a dreadful tempest, but one that was vain and ineffectual. For he cannot hurt when Christ forbids. Christ permitted it for three reasons. 
1. That it might be plain that this man was really possessed by the devil. 
2. That the malice and wrath of the demon might be made apparent. 
3. That it might be clear that the demon went forth, not of his own will, but because he was compelled to do so by Christ.

Tropologically: S. Gregory teaches (Hom. 12, in Ezek.) that the devil wonderfully tempts and vexes sinners when they are converted. “As soon,” he says, “as the mind begins to love heavenly things, as soon as it collects itself for the vision of inward peace with its whole intention, that ancient adversary, who fell from heaven, is envious, and begins to lie in wait more insidiously, and brings to bear sharper temptations than he was wont, so as, for the most part, to try the soul which resists in a way that he had never tried her when he possessed her. Wherefore it is written, My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, stand fast in justice and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.”

And crying out. With dreadful howlings, shrieking, and roaring, to show how unwillingly he went out, and what great power was applied to him by Christ. For he uttered no articulate speech. For Christ had forbidden him to speak when He said shut thy mouth. Thus Euthymius says, “Being scourged by the Lord’s commands, he cried out with a loud voice, and yet he spake not when he cried, because he uttered cries which signified nothing.” Titus adds, “When the man was restored to himself, then he uttered the speech of a man.”

[27] Et mirati sunt omnes, ita ut conquirerent inter se dicentes : Quidnam est hoc? quaenam doctrina haec nova? quia in potestate etiam spiritibus immundis imperat, et obediunt ei.

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: What thing is this? what is this new doctrine? for with power he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

What new doctrine is this, &c. “What is this heavenly and divine doctrine, which indeed God confirms from heaven by so many and such mighty miracles? For Christ, the Teacher of this doctrine, not by prayers, but of His mere power, and by His command only, orders the devils to go out, and they obey Him. Wherefore this must be the Messias, the Son of God, and the true God; for He alone commands the devils by His power.”

[28] Et processit rumor ejus statim in omnem regionem Galilaeae.

And the fame of him was spread forthwith into all the country of Galilee.

Saint Luke - Chapter 4

[31] Et descendit in Capharnaum civitatem Galilaeae, ibique docebat illos sabbatis.

And he went down into Capharnaum, a city of Galilee, and there he taught them on the sabbath days.

[32] Et stupebant in doctrina ejus, quia in potestate erat sermo ipsius.

And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his speech was with power.

[33] Et in synagoga erat homo habens daemonium immundum, et exclamavit voce magna,

And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice,

[34] dicens : Sine, quid nobis et tibi, Jesu Nazarene? venisti perdere nos? scio te quis sis, Sanctus Dei.

Saying: Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God.

[35] Et increpavit illum Jesus, dicens : Obmutesce, et exi ab eo. Et cum projecisset illum daemonium in medium, exiit ab illo, nihilque illum nocuit.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Hold thy peace, and go out of him. And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all.

[36] Et factus est pavor in omnibus, et colloquebantur ad invicem, dicentes : Quod est hoc verbum, quia in potestate et virtute imperat immundis spiritibus, et exeunt?

And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: What word is this, for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?

[37] Et divulgabatur fama de illo in omnem locum regionis.

And the fame of him was published into every place of the country.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam