Much as a “cold open” draws a viewer in to a TV episode, the beginning of each Gospel is meant to make a statement and draw in the reader. In Mark, Jesus’s first public act of ministry is this shocking scene of a disturbed man confronting Jesus in the synagogue. Already, Mark shows us that Jesus not only heals the sick, but he can vanquish evil. It might have been that the disturbed man was not someone off the street, but someone who worshipped regularly at the synagogue, demonstrating that Jesus can heal the bad and difficult parts of our own lives, the evil that enslaves us.