Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 1:23

"And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out," — Mark 1:23 (ASV)

Suddenly the synagogue service was disrupted by the cry of a man “possessed by an evil spirit.” Thus, early in his ministry Jesus came into conflict with Satan. This is significant, for Jesus came to destroy the power of the devil . The NT accounts of demonism do not seem so bizarre as they once did. Reports of demon possession nowadays come not only from distant and remote mission fields but from the most sophisticated of our urban centers.