Reflections on Mark 5

Mark 05 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Jesus and his disciples crossed Lake Galilee and came to shore near the town of Gerasa.
   
2. When he was getting out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit quickly ran to him
   
3. from the graveyard where he had been living. No one was able to tie the man up anymore, not even with a chain.
   
4. He had often been put in chains and leg irons, but he broke the chains and smashed the leg irons. No one could control him.
   
5. Night and day he was in the graveyard or on the hills, yelling and cutting himself with stones.
   
6. When the man saw Jesus in the distance, he ran up to him and knelt down.
   
7. He shouted, "Jesus, Son of God in heaven, what do you want with me? Promise me in God's name that you won't torture me!"
   
8. The man said this because Jesus had already told the evil spirit to come out of him.
   
9. Jesus asked, "What is your name?" The man answered, "My name is Lots, because I have 'lots' of evil spirits."
   
10. He then begged Jesus not to send them away.
    
11. Over on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.
    
12. So the evil spirits begged Jesus, "Send us into those pigs! Let us go into them."
    
13. Jesus let them go, and they went out of the man and into the pigs. The whole herd of about two thousand pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
    
14. The men taking care of the pigs ran to the town and the farms to spread the news. Then the people came out to see what had happened.
    
15. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had once been full of demons. He was sitting there with his clothes on and in his right mind, and they were terrified.
    
16. Everyone who had seen what had happened told about the man and the pigs.
    
17. Then the people started begging Jesus to leave their part of the country.
    
18. When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man begged to go with him.
    
19. But Jesus would not let him. Instead, he said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how good he has been to you."
    
20. The man went away into the region near the ten cities known as Decapolis and began telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him. Everyone who heard what had happened was amazed.
    
21. Once again Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him.
    
22. The person in charge of the Jewish meeting place was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He knelt at Jesus' feet
    
23. and started begging him for help. He said, "My daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live."
    
24. Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around.
    
25. In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.
    
26. She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.
    
27. The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes.
    
28. She had said to herself, "If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well."
    
29. As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.
    
30. At that moment Jesus felt power go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
    
31. His disciples said to him, "Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who touched you?"
    
32. But Jesus turned to see who had touched him.
    
33. The woman knew what had happened to her. She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story.
    
34. Jesus said to the woman, "You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in pain."
    
35. While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from Jairus' home and said, "Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?"
    
36. Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, "Don't worry. Just have faith!"
    
37. Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John.
    
38. They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise.
    
39. Then Jesus went inside and said to them, "Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn't dead. She is just asleep."
    
40. But the people laughed at him. After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was.
    
41. He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, "Talitha, koum!" which means, "Little girl, get up!" The girl got right up and started walking around. Everyone was greatly surprised.
    
42. (SEE 5:41)
    
43. But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, "Give her something to eat."

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Chapter 5 records three powerful demonstrations of Jesus' deity. The first relates to His power over satanic forces. Though it is wise to have a healthy fear of Satan and his forces, Jesus' followers have the constant shield of His protection around them. In every New Testament record of demonic possession, the demons both recognized and feared the presence of Jesus. The presence of Jesus' Spirit in those who follow Him provides a deterrent to these forces of evil. However, Satan is cunning and has many tricks in his arsenal to snare the followers of Jesus. But this reality merely emphasizes the need for Jesus' followers to be continually reflecting on His teachings through scripture and communing with Him in prayer. Without this constant connection we lose our focus and become more susceptible to temptation. Though the presence of the demons possessing this man who lived among the tombs were numerous, their numbers had no affect on Jesus' power over them. They were at His mercy and acknowledged this by asking for mercy.

The second demonstration of Jesus' deity in this chapter was the unusual healing of the woman with the hemorrhage. Her healing was not dependent on Jesus' recognition of her presence or of her desire to be healed, though He may well have known of her presence in the crowd and what she was thinking. Nor did the healing of this woman require a magical formula or incantation. No pattern can be seen in any of Jesus' healings of using a magical formula. God's power was in Jesus and went out from Him at her touch of his robe to heal her. However, it seemed that Jesus' disciples were more amazed that Jesus' sensed the touch of this woman in the press of the crowd than at the healing.

A third demonstration of Jesus' deity was the raising of the synagogue leader's daughter from the dead. In chapter 4 we read of Jesus' power over nature in His calming of the storm. Which is the greatest demonstration of His deity, power over nature or power over death? I'm not sure we can make that distinction. For God, who has made everything that is and thus has power over everything that exists, can power over one thing be greater than over another? The distinction is in man's perception. One person perceives Jesus' power over nature to be greater than His ability to heal. Or another person perceives His power over death to be greater than His ability to know what a person is thinking. Each person is attracted to Jesus by what they perceive to be of greatest value and thus are drawn to respond to Him.