In this first story of Jesus healing in Mark’s Gospel, we are confronted by “the unclean spirit” possessing and torturing the man in the synagogue. Whatever we make of it, unclean spirits live and reside in our own hearts and world. They manifest in harmful words and actions to self and others among other things. We rest in the awe-inspiring power of Jesus who has the ability to extract all that is unclean from our hearts and world.