The Demons Know Who Jesus Is
In the third Chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark, we hear:
“7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.” (Mk 3:7-12)
In all of the Gospels, we see Jesus driving out demons as one of the ways that He heals people. The demons know who Jesus is. The unclean spirits know the Word of God when they encounter Him. In the passage of Mark above, we even see this subverted echo of the words of St. Peter: “You are the Son of God.” Then, we hear: “he strictly ordered them not to make him known.” In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus also commands the demons not to speak. Why?
When the demons speak, they do not always lie. When compelled by their Maker, they speak the truth. But Jesus has no desire to hear the demons; He silences them. Because He knows that the demons are liars, even calling Satan the Father of Lies. He knows that they are fallen angels with brilliant, but broken, intellects. He knows that they know the end of the story. Warped by the love of themselves, the fallen angels are committed to breaking the already broken world. Facing the power and glory of Jesus, all they can be is fall down terrified. And then when they think they are out of God’s watchful gaze - of course knowing that they never are - they seek to lead fallen humanity into temptation, sin, and ultimately damnation.
Jesus reserves the preaching of the Gospel for those who have been touched and transformed by Him. He wants those who have experienced His love and received it to go out to the ends of the earth, not the demons.
It is curious to think of those who claim to be Satanists today. These self-avowed Satan worshippers, at the highest levels, seem to be sincere in their dispositions and beliefs. And they will all, to a man, tell you that God is real. They know that Jesus is real. They know that the Holy Eucharist is His Body and Blood. And, yet, they reject the grace of God and His freely given love to turn inward. They trade eternal paradise for faulty earthly pleasure. I pray that these misguided souls will find their way home to the Lord’s embrace before they draw their final breath.
If the demons know who Jesus is, then why are we so shy to proclaim Him? We should be shouting from the rooftops that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is sovereign Lord and King! If we do, our Lord will not silence us. He will smile and bless us. He will draw us in and hold us close to His Sacred Heart and tell us to not fear, to not worry, and trust in Him. The demons know who Jesus is. Back to Hell with them. We have work to do and Good News to share!