Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
This episode is based on the fact that Jesus had the power to cast out demons. Once the opponents accepted this as factual, then they could explain it away by saying that he had this power because he was possessed by the devil or used diabolical power to trap people unawares. That would be like a Russian soldier dressing like a Ukrainian one to sabotage Russians as a way to help the Russians win, or like a Ukrainian soldier dressing like a Russian one to do the same thing. That does not work.
If, however, we were to go back to the scene of Jesus’ baptism, we could see how Mark described the Holy Spirit of God descending on Jesus and driving him out into the desert. Mark has told us that it was the Spirit of God that was driving Jesus in his preaching and ministry.
I think we have a challenge here, a challenge to see to see the good people do without explaining it away by impugning motives or any other excuse. Just as we like to receive credit for good done, so does everyone else. If we do not trust others, why should we be upset when they do not trust us?
Mark wrote his account of the life of Jesus to show Jesus as the Son of God. He started from the premise that Jesus was the Son of God. This was no secret for Mark and those who heard this gospel. If there was a secret, it was how Jesus was Son of God or how he was recognized as Son of God.
He is Son of God, but not by disguising himself as the prince of demons. In chapter 15, verse 39, the Roman centurion will tell us how Jesus was the Son of God, When the centurion “had seen how he had died, said, ‘In truth, this man was Son of God.’”
We show that we are members of God’s family, and therefore sons or daughters of God by the way we live and die.