🙏 Heavenly Father, we return to Your Word to hear You speak to us today. Reveal more to us about Your Kingdom. Show us Your love, show us ourselves, and show us our savior. We are Your children, still learning to trust, obey, and accept the free, abundant life you have to offer us. It is in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray this. Amen.
Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
5 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Points to Ponder: In the last two chapters, we saw crowds of people come to hear Jesus. Some accused Him of having an impure spirit (Mark 3:30) and being in league with the demons and Jesus warned them of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, calling it an eternal sin – one that would not be forgiven. Before passing over that warning lightly, consider this story; the placement is remarkable!
Here we meet a man that actually has an impure spirit, many in fact… he is clearly not in league with the demons and no one could control or subdue this man, not even with chains.
In the last set of stories – crowds of people listen to Jesus, but not all believe. Here a legion of demons, fall on their knees… acknowledge Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. We see the demons begging Jesus not to be sent out of the area, then submitting to His authority by leaving the man to inhabit pigs. (James 2:19)
There is a lot to think about after this man is dressed and in his right mind again. First, the townspeople, who knew of the man’s history, see his restoration, and are afraid. 😔 Next, when these people hear about the loss of their livelihood, the pigs, they plead with Jesus to leave the area. 💔 And finally, after being made whole again, the man wants to go with Jesus, but obeys His will instead and stays behind to tell his story around the Decapolis – sowing seeds of the Good News to more people… including those that just asked Jesus to leave!
It is interesting that the demons begged Jesus not to be sent away from that area… then the townspeople pled with Jesus for Him to leave that same area. (The Decapolis, also called the Ten Cities, was an area mostly populated by non-Jewish, Gentiles.) Jesus did allow the demons to stay… in the pigs, that drowned! Jesus also honored the townspeople and He left the area, but he left behind the man who was now restored as a witness to testify on His behalf.
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Points to Ponder: In one short section, this Gospel packs two major stories intertwined with each other that highlights the grace and power of Jesus. We have the synagogue leader Jairus, pleading with Jesus to heal his twelve-year-old daughter and Jesus sets off with him.
Along the way to Jairus’ house, an unexpected delay occurs: the woman, who had a bleeding issue for twelve years. She knew that if she’d just get to touch His clothes, she’d finally be healed. And she went for it… and she was healed!
The same 12 years! The same length of time that this girl was alive, another girl was suffering. We learn a lesson here about patience and how time is never an issue for the One who created time!
Jesus stops His entourage and asks… who touched my clothes? The disciples ask a different question, but Mark uses the same words in Jesus’ question as the words that expressed the woman’s faith. 💞 The woman tells her story and because of her faith, she is rewarded with the title, ‘Daughter’. 🥰 In the meantime, Jairus is told that his daughter has died.
It should cause us to stop and consider our own reaction if we were in this man’s place. But Jesus tells him not to be afraid, but instead to believe. He tells the mourners that the child is only sleeping and they laugh at him. But Jesus gives us a preview of resurrection-life when Jesus speaks life back into this girl… she can again, stand up, walk around, and eat. Nice!
It gives me great comfort to know who calls me ‘daughter’! (John 1:12, Romans 8:14, Galatians 3:26)
A Prophet Without Honor
6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Points to Ponder: What a sad commentary on humanity in a broken world. We look for reasons to dismiss the greatness of others around us… especially if they are familiar to us! Competition… jealousy… self-focused insecurity… if you find yourself, dismissing someone else’s gifts because you don’t have them yourself, you’re probably also missing the opportunity to discover and finely tune your own gifts! In Romans 12:6-8 Paul tells us we all have gifts. Remember the ‘body’ metaphor that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 12:12. Our gifts are for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7) and they are designed to build unity in the Church. (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) Paul repeats this in Colossians 1:18 and reminds us that Jesus is the head and we, the Church, are the body.
Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. He could do few miracles in His own hometown, because of that. They took offense at Jesus – do we take offense when we realize that He is asking us to take a submissive role, with Him as the head of our lives? Do we take offense when we see others with what we consider greater gifts? In other words, are we offended if we are asked to be an ‘ear’, because we desired to be an ‘eye’? Do we dismiss our amazing gift of ‘hearing’ because it is not ‘sight’?
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Points to Ponder: This still blows my mind! The disciples up to this point didn’t always seem to get what Jesus was saying, but now He is empowering them to drive out demons and heal people. And He sends them with nothing but the message of the Kingdom to preach. And they went. And suddenly, having a ‘greater gift’ seems pretty scary. (But not alone, never alone, they went in pairs. The two went out as a single witness to teach others about the kingdom and to fight the spiritual battles over demons, together.)
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”
And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.
25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Points to Ponder: This is just a nasty display of human behavior. John the Baptist, told Herod and Herodias that their relationship was unlawful – John spoke the truth, according to the law of God. King Herod was raised as a Jew. Herodias nursed a grudge, but Herod knew John was righteous and wanted to protect him. Herod liked to listen to John even if he was puzzled by him. Herod feared John… but never grew to fear God. Herod was King – yet he is brought down by a young girl, a member of his own blended family, who danced to please Herod on his birthday in front of all the important people. Herod makes a foolish oath, then acts to save his own reputation. (Some more history on this crazy Herodian dynasty here or here.)
Perhaps a great lesson to learn in life is that it is okay to say out loud… I was wrong. Herod was still the king, he could have and should have refused her demand. But he didn’t and the tragic consequences stays in his mind and in history.
This section began by saying that King Herod heard about ‘this’, i.e., all the miracles associated with Jesus and His disciples. We get the backstory of the beheading of John the Baptist, only because King Herod assumes that Jesus must be John, raised from the dead.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Points to Ponder: The feeding of the five thousand – a miraculous event recorded in all four Gospels. We will revisit this a few more times in Mark’s Gospel, but let’s first acknowledge that for all Christians, this is an elephant in the room. EVERYONE knows about this event, yet only those with faith in the divine identity of Jesus accept this as truth. Some try to find an acceptable explanation to ease the minds of unbelievers in the hope of inviting them into salvation. But there is no mathematical or natural explanation for this miracle. Neither can we explain the manna from heaven that fed the Hebrews in the wilderness for 40 years. Both of these accounts, point to the nature of God as our provider – Jehovah Jireh. A name for God that Abraham taught us in Genesis 22:13-14.
A few things to observe in the retelling of this event include: (1) the disciples were already empowered and went out before with no bread and preached the kingdom message and healed people. (2) When Jesus brought life back into Jairus’ little girl, He directed others to give her something to eat. (3) In the chaos of the disciples returning and the news of John the Baptist’s beheading, Jesus led his disciples to a solitary place… but the chaos followed them! Jesus had compassion on the large crowd of lost people and began to teach them – His teaching brings them life and they do not leave. While the disciples recognize the need of the crowd to eat, they are unprepared for Jesus’ response… You give them something to eat.
💥…Insert miracle here… Jesus thanks the Father for what the disciples bring to Him, breaks the offering and gives it back to the disciples to distribute… and all ate and were satisfied and there are plenty of leftovers. There is power in generations that live like Jesus. Jesus trusted His Father to provide and shows us how to do the same as His children. 💥
Jesus Walks on the Water
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Points to Ponder: After feeding 5,000 men plus their women and children with a few loaves and fishes, why not walk on water? 😁 This is where you break out in song… Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from Heaven above.
The disciples, in the midst of divine power, do not get it. And we take some comfort in reading that their faith was not immediate, it needed to grow. Ours does too. But as we’re comforted in reading the disciples state of confusion, we have to remember that we have the rest of the story and we need to grow quickly. We have the Gospels where we read that the disciples’ hearts were hardened – they did not have the resurrection yet, they did not witness the ascension yet, they did not receive the Holy Spirit yet, they did not have the testimony of the New Testament. We do.
Summary: We have moved into the truly miraculous here, seeing the divine authority being manifest in Jesus – the Son of God. We see demons submit to His authority, we see life being restored in parent/child relationships, we see His leadership style – in equipping His disciples with His own power in order to extend the Kingdom invitation.
We see Jesus asking His disciples to trust and obey. And when they do, He provides them with what is necessary to complete what He has asked them to do… You give them something to eat. We see what His provision can look like. And before you start trying to explain the miracle by some natural force, we see Jesus’ command over the natural forces of wind and waves.
🙏 Heavenly Father, we Your children, thank You for bringing us into Your Kingdom and sharing Your wisdom to help mature us into the likeness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Help us to remember clearly who You are. Forgive us when we are tempted to praise anything other than You. You are worthy of all our praise and it is in the mighty name of Jesus that we approach You with both our prayers and our praise. Amen.
For more meditation on this section, read 1 Corinthians 12-13. While we may still struggle with some areas, we can read what Paul wrote as our spiritual condition in 1 Corinthians 13:11-12. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul writes about spiritual gifts then being part of one spiritual body and desiring unity within that body. He follows this with redefining love according to God’s wisdom. He then reminds us of our rebirth and what it is like to be a child and think like a child.
Perhaps a great lesson to learn in life is that it is okay to say out loud… I was wrong.
That sentence is so powerful, on so many levels.
Also, the prayers here are so beautiful and powerful.
Thank you for another great study.