I know who you are: the Holy One of God. Following the arrest of John the Baptist by king Herod, Jesus embarked upon his mission of proclaiming the good news of the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. In the Gospel Reading for today, we see him enter a synagogue together with his disciples in order to fulfill his Sabbath obligations. And as he took his place among the other teachers, two strange things took place. First and foremost, those gathered in the synagogue became amazed at the teaching of Jesus. In their own words, Jesus’ teaching came forth with authority unlike the teachings they were used to hearing. This aura of authority that accompanied the words of Jesus resulted from the authenticity of Jesus’ being, as his subsequent teachings would later reveal. Jesus was not simply spewing some words that he had memorized from the Torah or from the Talmud. His teaching was authentic because it emanated from his very being. His very life lent credence to his teaching. In other words, he taught what he lived (he was an authentic teacher). 
The second strange thing that happened on this day is that we get to know the identity of Jesus from an unlikely source. A man with an unclean spirit happened to be present in the synagogue that day, and as Jesus continued to teach – perhaps pointing to the coming to an end of the darkness that had gripped the world as evidenced by the presence of unclean spirits – the unclean spirit burst out in shrieks and told Jesus that he knew Jesus was the holy one of God. It is highly unlikely that the unclean spirit was making a proclamation of faith (confessing Jesus as the Christ of God). It was a “smart move” that the unclean spirit was making. The unclean spirits knew who Jesus was. They also knew that he was not going to let them continue with their business as usual. He had come to tell them that their time was up and to shut them down. And so, by "recognizing" Jesus as the holy one of God, the spirits wanted to render Jesus powerless over them. However, Jesus was too smart to be distracted by the evil spirit’s cunning move to “endorse” him. Having rebuffed the unclean spirit’s plot, Jesus then proceeded to do that which he had come to do: he rebuked him. He was not going to let the evil spirit confuse him or to continue confusing the people. There was no room for the evil spirits and their works in the kingdom which he had inaugurated. 
Is there a difference between my confession of Jesus as the holy one of God and the unclean spirits’ confession? Is my confession informed by my appreciation of Jesus, or is it informed by fear? Is my confession a defensive/ self-preservation move, or is it a result of a life-changing relationship I have had with Jesus?