"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" (Mark 1:24)
Why does the demon in Sunday’s Gospel use the plural "us" rather than the singular "me"? Jesus’s following words of exorcism clearly show there is only one demon involved.
When a devil interferes with us, he wants to identify himself with us, so we believe his lies as if they were our own thoughts: this is why the demon is using the plural "us".
In reality, it is God who identifies himself with us, not the devil: he became a human being to share our thoughts, emotions, pleasures and pains, as we hear Moses say in the first reading: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself, from among yourselves, from your own brothers; to him you must listen" (Deuteronomy 18:15-16).
