Lk 4:31-37
31Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, 32and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, 34“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. 36They were all amazed and said to one another, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
He Commands The Unclean Spirits: The power that Jesus shows in driving out the unclean demons is not so much an apologetic proof of his mission or divinity as a manifestation that the dominion of God is now being established over the “dominion of Belial,” freeing human beings from the subjection of the devil.
Ancient peoples believed that things beyond human control—earthquakes, diseases, fertility—were due to non-human persons, not to natural causes. They believed in demons who were considered superior to human beings and caused them harm. To drive out demons is an action a man cannot do by himself; an outside agent has to be involved. It could be God who is more powerful than demons, or other angelic or demonic forces. Jesus’ detractors claim that he drives out evil spirits not by the authority of God but by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.
Jesus’ power over demons is essentially a function of his place in the hierarchy of powers. He is higher than the demons. The demon claims to know who Jesus is—that he is the Holy One of God. This is not a confession but an attempt to gain power over Jesus through knowledge of his name. In the world of magic widespread at the time, to know the identity of one’s opponent is to have power over him. The demon, however, fails to control Jesus and is ordered to submission. Ironically, the demon’s failed attempt to “know” Jesus reveals the great divide between him and his conqueror. Jesus is “holy,” in contrast with the demon which is “unclean.” The unclean one seeks to destroy the human person; the “Holy One of God” comes to heal and to save.