In today’s Gospel St. Mark places Jesus in Capernaum with his followers. He goes into the synagogue on the sabbath and he teaches them. His teaching impresses those present and Mark says ‘he taught them with authority”. Jesus, when he teaches, does so with the authority of the Father — he is revealing God’s message to us. What highlights that authority even more in today’s passage is the reaction of the ‘unclean spirit’ — the unclean spirit knows exactly who Jesus is. In an authoritative way Jesus dismisses him. Two commands — ‘Be quiet’ and ‘Come out of him’ and the result is the freeing of the man from possession and the astonishment of those who saw and heard what happened. It is a very dramatic passage. It is something that we would not see but what it shows for us is the strength of the Lord and the power of his truth. His reputation, Mark tells us, spread everywhere, throughout all the surrounding Galilean countryside. Maybe we could ask ourselves a question here: do we share the words of Jesus with others and do so in a way that encourages others to reflect on them?