He spoke with authority…

When Jesus spoke, his words were not empty. They had ‘power’ in them. So when he tells the evil spirit which held a man prisoner to go, the spirit goes. St. Mark is making quite clear that the mission of Jesus is a mission for the goodness of God to free us from the power of evil. In the passage which we read today Mark does not give us the words that Jesus uses, but shows us the power of Jesus in the way He commands the evil spirit to be gone. When Jesus speaks, His words heal, His words forgive, His word touches the hearts of all those who listen to Him. In a very real way Jesus is the Word of God.