2nd Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 20th January 2022 — Gospel: Mark 3,7-12
Not to Make Him Known
When Jesus cured the people of unclean spirits, He commanded the demons not to make Him known, although the demons knew who He was and fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Mark once again has the command to silence. Some interpret this command as belonging to the rite of exorcism, others see it as Mark’s desire to reject the testimony of the demons as evidence for Jesus’ identity. One of the reasons is this. In history, God prepared the people and culture for thousands of years, to announce the arrival of His Son. During Jesus’ ministry, God worked strategically to reveal who Jesus is and what He has come to do. But the demon’s apparent compulsion to declare Jesus as God’s Son works against God’s plans. It would affect the spread of the kingdom, so Jesus silenced them. Another reason is tied to Satan’s title as the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44). And so, the demons have no good motive for sharing about what Jesus was trying to do. If Jesus validated the demons as witnesses to His identity, they’ll assume the authority to tell people more about Jesus, i.e., lie about Him. This would make God’s message more dangerous like that of the Pharisees who knew Jesus as Messiah, yet were blind to the truth.
