Mark

Jesus Sends Demons to the Pigs
Jesus Heals Issue of Blood
Jesus Restores Little Girls Life

Mark 5:1-13

Jesus arrived at the 'other side' for His appointment.  While it is the other side of the Sea, He also left the Jews behind and was stepping out of the boat into gentile territory.  It's an interesting excursion of His Galilee ministry, but gives us a foreshadow of His work going out to all mankind. 

 

Upon stepping out of the boat, Mark uses his favorite word 'immediately' to indicate this man was nearby to meet Him.  This man was a gentile in gentile land – ostensibly unclean and ungodly.  He was living among the tombs; of which would be considered unclean due to dead bodies.  To top it off, this man had an unclean spirit.  If the gentiles were considered to have no hope, this gentile was the most hopeless of all. 

 

The tombs were a common dwelling place of the demented in that day (according to McArthur).  See 1 Peter 5:8.  In Matthew 8:28 there are two men there; Mark seems to mention only the most prominent.  The unclean spirit is demon possession.  This guy had tremendous strength as has been noted even in modern day demon possession.  No one could bind him; chains and shackles couldn't hold him.  While it appears he could not be bound, in reality, he was bound by these demons.  The crying out and cutting himself was the apparent torment of the man fighting against this evil inside him. 

 

As seen with other demons, the man ran up to Jesus and bowed down before him.  The demons submitted to Him and declared Him Son of the Most High, calling Him by name.  The demon implores Him by God not to torment him.  The word 'implore' is a word one might use to command the demon to give his name or to come out of someone.  Used in Acts 19:13 to command the spirits, "We exorcise you…"  These foul spirits are attempting to turn the table on Jesus.  If they could get Jesus' oath to not torment them, that would be an eternal free pass indeed.  The demons didn't know Jesus' intention – they can't read minds.  They knew their destiny and begged that Jesus not send them to the abouso for eternal torment. 

 

Again, we don't see Jesus chit chat but gets down to business and commands the spirit to come out.    We should note, He doesn't deal with the man.  The man can't be dealt with until these demons are taken care of.  Getting the name of the demon seems to be part of the exorcism; although the name offers more of an indication of the extent of the possession and not a name.  Legion was a Roman military unit of 6000.  The demon in essence said they were legion with a legion of names.  The demons knew that Jesus had the power to expel them; they begged not to be put out of the country.  They had the run of the place since no one was able to subdue them; it was a good country with no light, no presence of God. 

 

They become convinced they are leaving the man, so they suddenly desire the swine.  Jesus gave them permission to enter the swine.   Why would he do this?  Is it possible it was done as an example to us to show how real these demons are?  Was it done for the benefit of the Apostles, so they might see?  The swine ran into the water and drowned (mass sueycide).  Losing this large herd of swine (2000) would have had a huge impact on the local food supply and economy.  Yet, that doesn't seem to be a factor for Jesus. 

 

Demons seem to be spirits that need embodiment to have power.  They derange the mind and body.  Demons have to be granted access – they must be given an entrance.  For example:  Ouija board, astrology column, etc.

 

What a deliverance this must have been for this man.  We see the man in his right mind, clothed and now willing and desiring to follow Jesus.  When we have an encounter with Jesus, we want more, we want to cling to him, go with Him or stay with Him.  But we can't just yet.  Instead, we are to tell others and be a witness in this world.  This formerly possessed man became a seed in this gentile land.  Where the Jews were told not to tell about the miracles, this man was to speak of them to all.  The man was obedient to his calling in light of his dramatic deliverance.   This man's life was a stark contrast to his previous life. 

 

The people came from town and saw this man clothed and calm and in his right mind; and this scared them.  He had to have been a frightening sight before; but after, his appearance was normal.  Why would they be frightened of a healed man?   They were scared of what they didn't understand.  If this man could be transformed to normal; does it mean they could be transformed to be possessed?  This may have been what they were wondering.

 

Mark 5:21-24

Jesus returned to the western side of the sea, probably at, or near, Capernaum.  The crowd quickly surrounded Christ.  One among the crowd was noteworthy; Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue.  The word translated ruler means he was likely an elder, but not the chief elder.  He was prominent in the synagogue and the community.  He would have been widely known and respected among the Jews.  To approach Jesus this way was a big step for him.  The lines were being drawn; those who would follow Christ and those who would reject Him.  But none of that mattered to Jairus because his twelve year old daughter was near death. 

 

Jairus' understanding of Jesus was that He had to lay his hands on his daughter for her to get well.  More importantly though, he believed Jesus could make her well.  Jairus fell at Jesus' feet and implored Jesus to go to his daughter.  We get a glimpse of his desperation.  He doesn't care about his reputation.  He doesn't care about dignity or pride, theology or doctrine, tradition or synagogue; he wants the life of his daughter to be spared.  Jesus agreed to go with Jairus and he followed him with this crowd in tow.  Jairus must have felt at least some hope, but also impatience and fear they would be too late.

 

Mark 5:25-34

The crowd crushed in around Jesus as He followed Jairus.  As they made their way a woman in the crowd found her way to Jesus.  This woman had suffered for twelve years with her condition.  Luke called it incurable.  This was a flow of blood that made her unclean, kept her from worship and impacted her life and health daily.  She had none of the modern conveniences or medicines to deal with such a thing.  She sought out the advice of the physicians of her time and had suffered many things from them.  What did this mean?  Barclay offered this:

The Talmud itself gives no fewer than eleven cures for such a trouble. Some of them are tonics and astringents, but some of them are sheer superstitions like carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen rag in summer and a cotton rag in winter; or carrying a barley corn which had been found in the dung of a white she-ass.^[1]

 

Clark adds regarding elixers and supposed medicines:

'Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of corcus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood. But if this fail, Take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this fail, Set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright her, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this do no good . . .' " (Clarke)

 

Besides the indignity of the superstitions and frustration of snake oil remedies of her time she suffered in her conscience; she had spent all she had and was no better, if not worse.  It wasn't just physical now and this moved her, in desperation, to seek Jesus.  She did not yet know him as the Great Physician.  She had only heard he was healing people.  It was His touch that healed.  If she asked, would He touch her, she must have wondered.   What if He asked her what was wrong?  The humiliation and embarrassment of stating her condition among the crowd would be more than she could take.  But also, if He touched her, He would become unclean because of her condition.  In fact, anyone in the crowd who touched her was ritually unclean.  She must have decided a stealthy approach would be better.  In her mind, if she could just touch him, she might be healed and go her way without anyone knowing what happened.

 

This multitude of people encompassed Christ.  He was likely getting jostled around so many were touching Him and pressing against Him.  It was probably with great physical effort this woman got to Jesus to touch His garment.  Imagine that moment as she reached; closer, almost, stretch and then…..  Suddenly, something changed.  She felt it in her body.  A feeling she hadn't felt in twelve years, the flow had stopped.  She was healed. 

 

Then Jesus stopped and turned around asking who touched Him.  This woman was healed by the power of Christ; as that power went out of Him, He knew it.  He knew someone had touched Him, but its interesting that He didn't know who it was?  It is, perhaps, just an opportunity for this woman to receive this healing freely.  She otherwise might have walked away feeling she got away with something, stolen healing. 

 

The disciple saw Jesus' question as odd; after all they were in the crowd, many were touching Him and pressing Him as He moved along.  When He asked who touched him, twenty, thirty, forty people might have raised their hand in confession.  As Jesus looked around, He spotted the woman.  She was obvious to Him; scared she'd made Him angry; fearful of being exposed.  She was experiencing overwhelming joy in her healing, awe of this man before her, fear of the crowd's response and unsure of what Jesus might say or do. 

 

She went to Jesus and fell at His feet, at His mercy; in awe of Him, in fear of Him, she told Him the truth.  Her faith made her well, but only because of who it was directed at.  She believed rightly that Jesus could heal; He could and did.  She could go in peace, knowing she was healed and she had not stolen it from Him, it was given freely.

 

Note: (The hem of the garment was an identifying part of the person.  Their status or rank in their culture was detailed in their hem.  By touching his hem, she touched his identity.) 

 

Mark 5:35-43

Every moment was critical to Jairus.  Although it was just moments, this time spent on the woman put Jairus' daughter at greater risk of dying.  Jesus was still speaking to the woman when news arrived that Jairus's daughter had died.  It was too late.  She was gone.  What a horrible thing for a father to hear.  While those of his house said there was no sense troubling Jesus further, Jesus said to fight off the fear and only believe.  This is belief exclusively.

 

What does it mean to believe exclusively?  Well, Jairus was just given a lesson in that by this woman with an incurable condition.  She believed, excluding doubt; risking embarrassment, risking punishment and ridicule.  Any fear of bruised pride, relinquishing control of your life, loneliness or broken heartedness must be set aside for exclusive belief.  It's belief that says He is master over all; greater than the law, calming the waves and sea, commanding demons, healing incurable diseases.

 

This is what it means to follow Jesus.  Exclusive belief.  His plans for our life are far beyond what we can imagine.  I don't believe the story of the woman would end well if she blended into the crowd and disappeared, hoping to return to her life.  Belief has a cost.  What if Jairus asked Jesus first, "What's this belief going to cost me?"  But he didn't ask because he had a perspective on life that kept his eyes from his own pride and self control and sinful nature.  Exclusive belief costs us 'self'.  Jairus gave his self, life and all he had for his daughter.

 

Jesus separated from the crowd, taking only the disciples with Him.  The mourners were present, mourning for the dead in their tradition.  Jesus plants the idea in their mind that the child is sleeping so when He resurrects her, it does not become widely known.  They mocked Jesus for this.  Jesus went into the room with the girl with the parents and His disciples.  He held the girls hand and told her to get up, to arise.  The phrase 'Talitha, cumi' is Aramaic.  This little twelve year old sat up, stood up and walked around. 

 

***

There is a link between Jairus and the woman; they each had an encounter with Jesus.  The previous twelve years had been vastly different for each of them.  In fact, their lives were quite a contrast:

 

For twelve years:

• Jairus experienced joy of the birth of his daughter and seeing her grow up.
• This woman had been plagued daily with her condition during that entire time.

Social & financial status:

• Jairus was prominent, well know and influential
  • He was probably well off as a ruler of the synagogue.

• This woman was a nobody, we don't even know her name. 
  • She would have been forced into divorce, banned from the synagogue and shunned by the community as they would relate her condition to a wickedness in her life. 
  • The woman had nothing, it was all spent on cures.

Faith & approach to Jesus:

• Jairus approached openly, publicly
  • He came to Jesus on behalf of someone he loved.
• She approached quietly and privately
  • She came on behalf of her own need.

Healing belief

• Jairus thought Jesus had to be present to do certain things to heal his daughter.
• The woman believed she just needed to touch Jesus garment.

The response

• The woman received an immediate response
• The response to Jairus was with delay and after apparent failure.

Healing

• The woman was healed publicly of her private and incurable, unseen condition.
• Jairus daughter was healed privately of her very visible, incurable condition.

There are many things we learn from this passage.  We know there are no limits to the power of Jesus and there is no specific way to approach Him.  We don't have to have some level of education, wealth or status in the community to be heard.  When we seek Him, there is no expected response time, it's entirely in His hands.  There seem to be a couple things in common among these healings and miracles:

• Come, seek, ask; this can be done on behalf of someone else.
• Exclusive faith; this, too, can be done on behalf of others.

Exclusive faith casts out all fear; for fear is the opposite of faith.  Do not doubt that He can and often does.  Knowing that He sometime does not, is not doubt.  Our exclusive belief says, "If he doesn't heal, He'll give His grace."  It's as if we were to say, "Heal the body or change the heart to accept what is happening."

 

When we walk with Christ, there are no coincidences or accidents.  When we find our self in a difficult season, we are there to be ministered to, to minister, or both.  We are in a season to exercise the faith we say we have; to trust in the Jesus whom we profess to believe. 

 

Should healing occur, we praise Jesus.  Should healing not occur, we go home to see Him face to face.  To live is Christ, to die is gain.  In all things, praise Him.

 

©2018 Doug Ford