“Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”
What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God — the spirit's speech is the first Christological confession in Mark, and it comes from a demon. What do you want with us is a Hebrew idiom declaring incompatibility. Have you come to destroy us communicates that the demon understands the eschatological significance of Jesus' arrival: the kingdom's coming means the destruction of the demonic realm. I know who you are, the Holy One of God — the demon's knowledge is accurate but its recognition is not worship; it is the enemy's intelligence report. Throughout Mark, the demons know who Jesus is while the disciples struggle to understand.
Church Fathers on Mark 1:24
Since by the envy of the devil death first entered into the world, it was right that the medicine of healing should first work against the author of death; and therefore it is said, 'And there was in their synagogue a man, &c.'
Moreover, how great is the power which the lowliness of God, appearing in the form of a servant, has over the pride of devils, the devils themselves know so well, that they express it to the same Lord clothed in the weakness of flesh. For there follows, 'And he cried out, saying, What have we to do we Thee, Jesus of Nazareth, &c.'
For to come out of man the devil considers as his own perdition; for devils are ruthless, thinking that they suffer some evil, so long as they are not troubling men.
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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