When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

"Get out of your head!" my mentors said as I entered the ministry. After thirteen years in the seminary, after studies in literature, philosophy, theology and scripture with only a nod toward STEM, I was full of ideas; I lived the life of the mind. I had a solution for every problem and a problem for every solution. It was not easy to leave that comfortable place and enter the world where people live and sensible ideas don't always make sense.
Jesus encountered my kind of resistance as he drove out many demons and cured many who were sick. The experts came down from Jerusalem and over from Capernaum to get a look at this phenomenon. How should they classify him? A quack, a pseudo-messiah, a rabble rouser? Trouble, certainly! They had seen trouble before and knew how to deal with it.
Saint Mark says only the demons knew who he was and Jesus would not permit them to speak. There were no ideas that could explain or contain Jesus.
Shunryu Suzuki writes of self-styled experts in his wonderful book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The "expert" has categories and classifications for everything he sees, hears, and senses. He has been there done that and knows what you're talking about before you open your mouth. Winston Churchill once spoke of such an authority when he said, "I wish I were as expert in one subject as Lord ____ is in every subject!" The expert mind cannot comprehend what it sees in Jesus.
The "beginner's mind" views every moment with childlike simplicity. Everything is silver-edged with wonder. Doesn't this soup taste wonderful? Look at this window; isn't that fascinating? How amazing is that? That's brilliant; why didn't I think of that?
At the beginning of this new year, Saint Mark reintroduces Jesus to us. Again we hear familiar stories and pause to contemplate their beauty and startling originality.
Unlike Saint Matthew's beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, Saint Mark's Jesus begins his ministry with Jesus' furious activity. He is not especially interested in Jesus' message. We see him hurrying along the highways shouting, "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." And then, "he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes."
We might ask, "What was he teaching?"
Saint Mark has little interest in Jesus' spiritual, theological or philosophical teachings about "the good life." The Christ is not a philosopher. Rather, he is an event, a sudden, unexpected crisis who says, "Now! Now! Immediately! The Kingdom of God is at hand!" There is no time for explanation; there is no time for contextualization. If you don't know the context; if you have not been waiting patiently and eagerly for the Kingdom of God to appear; if you think you already have a pretty good grasp on the past, the present and the future: you have no clue to what is happening now. 
Beyond his exclamation the only clue is his mercy: "He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons." That will tell you all you need to know; that will tell you what you must do. Saint Matthew gives us a further hint, "Blessed are the merciful; they will be shown mercy."