1. Mark 1:24 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is meant by the question, “What have you to do with us”?

Mark 1:24 (ESV)

24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God.”

The Old Testament contains a similar expression, What have you against me? It is a formula for a dismissive demarcation over against others1: see Judges 11:12; 1 Kings 17:18 and other places. We could translate it as What are you doing here with us? (see Turner2). For the unclean spirit does not characterize Jesus as the man from Nazareth for no reason. That is where he belongs! What is he doing here in Capernaum? By telling the people that Jesus is a stranger in their city, he drives a wedge between the public and the speaker. He makes an appeal to local pride.3