“And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.”
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, what is this? A new teaching — and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him — the crowd combines the amazement at the teaching with the amazement at the exorcism under the same category: authority. A new teaching is not merely novel but unprecedented — the combination of teaching and commanding authority over the spiritual realm is genuinely new in their experience. He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him: the obedience of the spirits is the key datum. Other exorcists used elaborate formulae and rituals; Jesus commands, and the spirits obey. The authority is in the person, not the technique.
Church Fathers on Mark 1:27
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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