From the pivotal moment recounted by and about Moses to the moment in Capernaum in today’s Gospel, God’s people have received the preparation by the Holy Spirit to see and to witness to Jesus Christ. In Mark’s Gospel, there is a concern to give an account of what Jesus says and does during the time of his ministry, but also to proclaim the fullness of who he is, of what he accomplishes, and the full effect of his very being upon us only in the full light of his death and resurrection.
More than once in Mark’s evangelical account evil spirits and demons seek to protect themselves or to manipulate Jesus by jumping the gun and “pulling back the curtain” on Jesus’ true identity.
“I know who you are” in the mouth of today’s unclean spirit is not something said in awe but something said with a sneer, with a tone of challenge or even dismissal. Jesus would not be distracted by this from his intention to heal the man before him, nor from the full course of his life and ministry which would seem to end in calamity and failure. He would not be tempted to derail his own mission by submitting to the accolades and personal high that might come from being recognized ...as eventually would occur on Palm Sunday. Even then Jesus would not allow that raucous welcome into the Holy City to deter him from the threat of events that would become the means of his entry for us into the tomb and only then into the fullness of glory in the Kingdom.
Jesus knew the fickle and at times very shallow nature of fame. Fame might grab our attention, but to what does it draw us in the long run? Whether in politics or entertainment, in school or at work, in our neighborhood, parish, or families, we have gifts to revel and gifts to see. There is truth we can reveal or seek to exploit or manipulate. Truth itself is of God, and we are God’s servants.