Is Anyone Else Seeing This? (Mark 5:35-43)

In 400 BC, Aristotle ranked sight as the most importance sense, then hearing, then smell, taste, and touch.^[1] Sight, he said, was the most essential to experience and survive in the world.

It’s hard to overestimate how much we rely on sight. Did you know that the olfactory bulb, which is like our CPU for smelling, takes up about 0.01% of our brain matter. Just 3% of your neurons are dedicated for hearing.^[2] But the visual cortex takes up about 1/3 of your entire brain.

It makes sense. Seeing is terribly important in life, not only as we experience it but as we make choices accordingly.

It’s a bit of a shock, then, when the Apostle Paul hits us with eight of the most famous words in all the Bible – words you may have adorning the walls of your home:

2 Corinthians 5:7 – ⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Paul was not just speaking in esoteric or theoretical terms. That verse comes to us as he discusses life and death, the suffering we experience, our burdens and our hopes.

According to Paul, these eight words should regulate our lives, our attitudes, our choices, and our understanding of what is really true, even if we can’t see it. We walk by faith, not by sight.

That is easier said than done. Easier read than lived. And yet, that is the kind of faith that Christ calls us to – one that willfully, actively trusts Him and obeys Him, in spite of what our eyes may see.

In our text, there are multiple groups who come to an intersection of faith and sight. Would they not only believe, but a faith that obeys, despite what they saw or expected? Let’s take a look.

Mark 5:35 – ³⁵ While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore?”

Jairus is the name of the synagogue leader. He would’ve been a man of high social standing, probably a man of means, seen as a pillar in the community. On this day, he was just a desperate father. He came to Jesus and begged Him to come lay His hands on his daughter. Jesus was on the way when they were interrupted by the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.

At this point, a lot of commentators say that these messengers were showing anger or derision toward Jesus – that if He hadn’t slowed down the girl wouldn’t have died. That they thought if He really cared, He would’ve hurried.^[3] But, how long of a delay do you think it really was? Ten minutes at most? And, obviously the girl died before they sent the messengers, who then came and found Jairus. So, this wasn’t some long delay.

I don’t see anger here, rather they’re coming and saying, “It’s over.” Even if this marvelous Teacher had healed lepers and cast out demons. Death was different. Death was the end.

And, sadly, death was all too common, especially among children. Some records show that 50% of children did not survive into adulthood in that part of the world.^[4] But, whether Jairus waited too long to humble himself and come to see the Rabbi from Nazareth, or whether the illness simply moved faster than he anticipated, now, according to these eye-witnesses, the girl was gone.

Mark 5:36 – ³⁶ When Jesus overheard what was said, he told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.”

Don’t you love how aware and observant Jesus is? There’s a mob of people pressing in on Him and He feels a woman touch His tassels. While He’s finishing up His conversation with her, He hears what these guys say. Be encouraged that no matter what it looks like or what you might be feeling, our Lord sees you, He sees what’s going on in your life, He sees into the deepest part of your heart, He hears your prayers, and He intends to commune with you all the days of your life.

Now, these messengers came with a true report: Jairus’ daughter was no longer among the living. But Jesus immediately grabs this father’s attention and effectively says, “Don’t look at them. Don’t listen to them. Listen to Me.” Jesus’ message to Jairus was, “Stop being afraid, just keep on believing.”^[5] The word He used for “believe,” linguists point out is in the present, continual sense.^[6] Right here, right now, despite the report, despite the apparent evidence, Jairus had a choice. Standing face-to-face with his worst fear, would he choose belief over fear?

We don’t hear his response, but we see it as he walks on with the Lord.

Mark 5:37 – ³⁷ He did not let anyone accompany him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother.

These three are often referred to as the “inner circle” of Jesus’ disciples. They would also be at the Transfiguration and Jesus will bring them further into the Garden of Gethsemane than the others.

Now, let’s be honest for a minute. How would you feel to be left out? To not be picked to witness the greatest miracle anyone had ever seen thus far? Imagine you’re Andrew, Peter’s brother. I mean, you’re the one who brought Peter to Jesus! You’re the one who said, “I think we’ve found the Messiah.” And you see these other brothers get to go together. And your brother is getting these special opportunities, while you hang out in the street.

The truth is, if we were ranking disciples based on what we read in the Gospels, I think we would put Andrew as starting quarterback. But that’s not what the Lord did. And it’s not because these other guys had better faith. I don’t know why Jesus made these choices. But He did. The question for the nine was, would they still believe with obedience when it looked like they were being sidelined? Did they trust the Lord enough to not be jealous? To not become bitter or resentful? To not start comparing themselves to the other disciples? But to obey faithfully and trustingly, even when the situation looked a bit embarrassing for them?

Mark 5:38 – ³⁸ They came to the leader’s house, and he saw a commotion—people weeping and wailing loudly.

Matthew’s account explains that there’s a crowd of people here along with flute players.^[7] This clues us in to the fact that at least some of these people are professional mourners. Believe it or not, that was the custom. In fact, in the Mishnah – which was completed in about 220 AD – even the poorest Jews were encouraged to hire at least two flutists and one wailing woman when someone died.^[8] Jairus, being a synagogue leader probably had a larger group.

If it seems like it was too soon for all this, remember this is first century Palestine. No coroner is coming. No refrigeration. Bodies decomposed quickly, so burial happened quickly.^[9] Given how many people were already there, it seems the family had expected this little girl to die.

In the house there would’ve been a lot going on. The wailing included instruments plus choral or antiphonal singing accompanied by handclapping. Mark says it was an uproar.^[10]

He also keeps calling Jairus “the leader.” Why keep using his title when we know his name? Well, it puts his plight in perspective. You see, he was supposed to see to the care of the synagogue. He was supposed to see to the care of his family. He was supposed to be the one people could follow for spiritual guidance. His title could be translated a “ruler” of the synagogue.^[11] But in reality, he was in just as much need as the Gadarene demoniac or the woman with the issue of blood. The leader would have to exercise enough faith to follow the Lord, Who was the true Ruler of nature, of the supernatural, of disease, and of death. And the true Ruler was also the real Master of the house.

Mark 5:39 – ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”

Some will use this verse to say that the girl wasn’t actually dead but that she was just in a coma. All three of the synoptic Gospels – including the one written by a physician – agree that she was dead. The New Testament, at times, uses sleep metaphorically when speaking of death. And certainly, from Christ’s vantage point, she was about to wake back up into this life.

Jesus was asking this group to believe in a big way. There’s the body – lifeless. But He asks them to ignore what they see and instead choose to believe Him. Faced with the sight of death, would they believe in Christ’s new life?

Mark 5:40 – ⁴⁰ They laughed at him, but he put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was.

The phrasing indicates that they not only laughed, but they kept jeering at Him.^[12] The fact that they could switch so quickly from wailing to scoffing shows they didn’t actually care for this family. They’re working a job. And, frankly, for being professionals, they aren’t acting very professionally.

But man oh man are they going to miss out. And they miss out because they chose to see rather than believe. Luke explains, “They laughed at Him because they knew she was dead.”^[13] They saw it with their own eyes! But what they thought was rock-solid, superior knowledge was the very thing that led to their exclusion. In this moment they lived by sight, not by faith.

Jesus had no desire to impress them or even to shame them by proving them wrong. So He tossed them all out. The term used for “put them outside” is one Mark also uses for casting out of demons.

Mark 5:41 – ⁴¹ Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum” (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up”).

Jews living in Palestine at this time spoke Aramaic.^[14] They would need to know Greek, too, given their proximity to Greek-speaking Gentiles in the region, but Aramaic was the language they used at home and with each other. Religious Jews like Jesus would’ve also known Hebrew. In fact, we see Jesus reading a Hebrew scroll in Luke chapter 4.^[15]

But His day-to-day speech was Aramaic. The nicknames He gave Peter, James, and John were all Aramaic. There are a variety of other Aramaic words we come across in the Gospels.

Here the phrase is very simple and very tender. He calls this child, “Little girl,” or it could also mean, “Little lamb.”^[16] And once again we see Him take someone by the hand. He did so for Peter’s mother-in-law. He touched lepers. He touched cripples. He touched the demon possessed. He is a Savior Who is not afraid to embrace us – to handle our lives and hold us in His hand.

Mark 5:42 – ⁴² Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was twelve years old.) At this they were utterly astounded.

This was not the girl’s final resurrection – sadly she would have to die again one day – but this is one of the most important events in human history. Because the One Who came saying He was the Christ had now raised the dead.

Paul would explain in 1 Corinthians 15, “[Christ] must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death.”

This scene was not the final abolition of death, but it was a precursor. Jesus is the One. He really is the Messiah that will save us from sin, from death, from hell, and bring us everlasting life.

The gir immediately started walking. No slow rousing, no initial weakness or confusion. She demonstrates how Christ raises us up – we were dead in trespasses and sins – and He raises us to a life of walking. Walking with Him. Immediately empowered by His Word and His enabling.

And this stack of stories in Mark 5 shows that the Lord involves Himself with all who have faith in Him – He does not exclude people. He will save young or old, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, chronically ill or suddenly stricken, “holy” looking people or defiled people, people of high social status or those who have been cast out. He is the Lord of all, the Savior of all.

For their part, the 5 witnesses didn’t know what to think. They were astounded. Bewildered. They could hardly believe what they had just seen. So, the Lord helped with some instruction.

Mark 5:43 – ⁴³ Then he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and told them to give her something to eat.

Wait – how could they not tell people? All the people just outside the door are going to see the girl alive in like 2 minutes.

We don’t really know why Jesus put this restriction on them. Maybe Jesus wanted to avoid being invited to every funeral in the nation for the foreseeable future.^[17] Maybe He wanted to try to shield the girl from the kind of non-stop attention she might get.

It doesn’t really matter. That’s what He asked. “But Lord, this looks like a great opportunity to prove to the Scribes and the Pharisees You are the Messiah.” But this is what He wanted.

And then, He very tenderly sees to her ordinary needs. Let’s get this girl a sandwich! Let’s have some lunch. The Lord does care for our ordinary things. He’s a hands-on Master and Friend to us.

Would Jairus believe in the face of fear? Would the mourners believe in spite of what they saw? Would the 9 believe when they wanted to see what He’d do? Would the parents believe God’s next steps after this miracle were better than what conventional wisdom might dictate?

Do we walk by faith and not by sight? We’re supposed to. We’re supposed to live out our daily, ordinary lives by prioritizing and trusting the Word we’ve heard and the leading we’ve received. The problem is, our sight gets in the way.

There is a fascinating phenomenon researchers call the McGurk effect. It demonstrates how our brains prioritize what we see over the evidence of other senses like hearing. In fact, our brains will sometimes see something and then override what we hear, telling us we’ve heard something else, even when it’s not true.^[18]

Not a big deal when we’re talking about “Ba” and “Fa,” but it becomes a very big deal when we’re talking about what the Lord has said versus what we see in life around us. May we be those who trust our Lord for Who He is and live in such a way that we stop being afraid but keep on believing.

There Won’t Be Blood (Mark 5:21-34)

In the 1920’s, cattle were mysteriously dying across the prairies of North America. Previously healthy herds began to hemorrhage, seemingly without cause.^[1] By 1933, one farmer was desperate enough to drive 200 miles through a blizzard to try to reach the state veterinarian. But, it was Saturday, and the offices were closed. With nowhere else to go, the farmer walked into a chemistry lab at the University of Wisconsin. A professor and his assistant were there and the farmer showed them a dead cow, a pile of hay, and a milk jug of the cow’s blood.^[2]

They were able to diagnose the problem: The hay was the blame. Actually, it was the mold that had grown on the hay. You see, during the financial hardship of the 20’s and 30’s, many farmers could not afford to replace feed when it spoiled. And so, their herds would eat only to bleed out.

The fix ended up being very straightforward: Give the cows new feed. And if an animal was already starting to bleed, they just needed a transfusion of fresh blood.

Blood and healing are the focus of our text tonight. A hemorrhaging woman fights through a squall of people, in a desperate act of faith. Her hope does not disappoint, even if it was a bit misguided.

Mark 5:21 – ²¹ When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the sea.

Luke explains that this crowd of people welcomed people with great expectation. But in this great mass of people, I want us to notice that only one person experiences a meaningful interaction with Jesus and an outpouring of His power.

Mark 5:22-23 – ²² One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet ²³ and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well, and live.”

As “president” of the synagogue, Jairus would’ve been a highly respected person.^[3] He’s toward the top of the Jewish social ladder. He’s probably a person of means. But facing the death of his only daughter,^[4] Jairus jettisons all dignity and pride and falls at the feet of Jesus.^[5]

The last person we saw someone in this position was the demoniac of the Gadarenes. He begged Jesus to leave him alone. Here an anguished father begs Jesus to come see his little girl. He knows he needs Jesus up close, hands on. The power he heard about and had seen, now he needed it.

Mark 5:24 – ²⁴ So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.

Luke explains that the crowd was nearly crushing Jesus. It’s so bad it’s getting hard to breathe.^[6] The crowds of Mar are always so interesting. Because, on the one hand, they welcome Jesus, but on the other hand, they’re so selfish and short-sighted that they are actually doing Him bodily harm. And how could they have so little compassion? Here’s this father, he says, “My daughter is at death’s door.” Jesus says, “Let’s go save her.” And no one clears a path. No one tries to help. And they don’t even seem to actually want anything along the way. They’re just in the way.

But notice, it says they were “following.” That’s a charged word in the Gospels. Looking at this scene, is this crowd listening to Jesus? Are they obedient toward Jesus? Do they recognize Jesus for Who He is? The facts of the case bear out the answer is no. They can see Him. There He is, within arm’s length. And yet for all but one there is no interaction – no experience of power or transformation or relationship. Heaven help us when our “following” becomes lifeless like that. That we can be in His presence, hear Him speak, be among other disciples, yet go away unchanged, unaffected, only thinking about ourselves rather than the desperate needs all around us.

Mark 5:25-26 – ²⁵ Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years ²⁶ had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.

The most expensive medical treatment out there is a heart transplant. It comes in at about $1.3 million.^[7] This poor lady didn’t spend a million bucks, but she did spend all she had. Her problem was uterine or menstrual in nature.^[8] And that would’ve caused so many other issues in her life.

Apart from the pain and the discomfort and the other troubles caused by loss of blood, her relationships would’ve been totally destroyed. You see, she would spend every day of these 12 years ceremonially unclean. Not only could she not go to the Temple to worship, she couldn’t do day-to-day things with other people since that would make them ceremonially unclean.^[9]

She’d be unable to have children. And so, she either would’ve never married or if she had been married, her husband likely divorced her, which men at that time often did when their wives could not bear children.^[10] Her life was one of pain and isolation and embarrassment and hopelessness.

And then came the doctors. The Jewish rabbis had a saying, “The best physician is worthy of Gehenna.”^[11] That is certainly unkind hyperbole, but this lady not only suffered from her illness, she suffered from the treatments, too. We have records of the kinds of things doctors did for problems like this. There were strange concoctions she would have to drink. One ritual was to carry the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen rag around her neck or carry barley corn from the dung of a white female donkey.^[12] Or, she could stand in the intersection of two roads, holding a cup of wine and have someone come up behind her and scare her and say, “Arise from thy flux!”^[13]

Funny unless it’s you’re the one paying the bill and drinking the sluice.

But here’s what’s important: God cared about this woman’s suffering. Now, she was not important like Jairus. She had no standing in the community, in fact she was the absolute opposite, socially speaking. But God was mindful of her life, He saw her suffering, and He cared enough to help her.

God’s watchful, merciful attitude toward our suffering is a long running theme throughout the Bible. The Lord sees, He knows, He cares, and He promises that we can cast our cares on Him.

Like the demoniac in our last passage, there was nothing any humans could do to help this poor lady. They had tried and only made things worse. But Christ Jesus has power over demons and disease and, we’ll see next time, death.

Mark 5:27-28 – ²⁷ Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. ²⁸ For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.”

In some ways, her courageous faith was inspiring. But it was quite imperfect. She thinks of Jesus’ power in a superstitious way – that it can be transferred magically or mechanically.^[14] Though we don’t blame her for wanting healing, she didn’t see the need to speak with Jesus. She didn’t intend to worship Him or become His disciple. Now, maybe that’s because she thought He wouldn’t have her, as an unclean outcast of Jewish society, but nevertheless, there is a vending machine, transactional character to her faith.

This is a pattern any of us can slip into. We believe the Lord has power, we go to Him with certain things that are important to us, things that are troubling us, and we pray, “Lord, solve this problem or fix this issue in my life.” But we need to remember that we don’t only need that issue fixed. At the same time we all need a heart transplant – the biggest job of all. We all need spiritual brain surgery. We all need spiritual rehabilitation. We all need more than we realize from our Great Physician.

But at least she knew Jesus could save. She reached out to Him, while the crowd seemingly just pressed onto Him, asking nothing of Him. They were faithless or simply blind to their own needs.

Mark 5:29 – ²⁹ Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

What a beautiful testimony of God’s amazing grace. Yes, her faith was imperfect, but God still rewarded her imperfect faith.

All of our faiths are imperfect, by the way. Thank God He condescends to our weakness. He does so because He wants to transform our lives with His love and power.

In an instant, the Great Physician did what a decade of doctors could not. She was totally, fully healed of her affliction.

That’s an interesting word. It’s the word used for a lash or a whip. The scourge used to flog people in the synagogue.^[15] Jesus took her scourge away. And He was willing, ultimately, to literally take the greater scourge of the Romans, pouring out His blood so we could be saved. By His stripes we are healed. And now, not only does the Lord save us from our afflictions and sufferings, because of the divine power He pours out on us, now we know that our current afflictions are only momentary and they are producing in us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^[16] Quite a treatment.

Mark 5:30 – ³⁰ Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

Why call her out? Why not just give her a knowing nod and let her go? It’s because Jesus does not want to have a transactional relationship with you. He wants to have a real, personal relationship with you. And He wanted her (and us) to understand it wasn’t His clothes that saved her.

He wants her to know some things not just about His power, but about His love and about what this healing means for the rest of her life. That He knows her and loves her and sees her.

Mark 5:31-32 – ³¹ His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” ³² But he was looking around to see who had done this.

They say there are no stupid questions. That’s not how the disciples felt at the time. Their answer was harsh.^[17] Sarcastic.^[18] They seem annoyed. Jesus doesn’t didn’t bother to answer them.^[19]

If the Lord asks you a question, it’s never a bad question. It’s not a stupid question. Sometimes God asks us very straightforward, obvious questions because we are missing the obvious lesson. We need to be humble and sensitive to what He asks, not dismissive or annoyed.

Mark 5:33 – ³³ The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Why was she so afraid? Well, she had just broken the Law. A woman with her affliction was supposed to notify everyone around her about her uncleanness. And anyone she touched would immediately become unclean, too. So now she is exposed and has to say why she touched Jesus…and all the dozens of other people she pressed through to get to Him.

Now, she had a private, transformational experience with God in the sense that she was healed and no one knew it at first. Sometimes Christians argue over whether a person need to say a prayer or go forward at an altar call when they get saved. The truth is, salvation happens in the heart. And so, that can happen in a public display or in the solitude of your own home. But, even though her rescue happened privately, Jesus asked her to give public testimony.

Mark 5:34 – ³⁴ “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

He was not trying to embarrass her, He wanted to instruct her. He wanted her to know that He considered her His daughter. This is the only time Jesus calls a woman daughter in the Gospels.^[20] And what a comfort it must of been to know that no bill was coming in the mail. He healed her for free. She didn’t make Him unclean. He solved all those problems.

And He wanted her to understand that she wasn’t only healed of a sickness, but that this faith relationship she had with the Savior meant she could go from then on in peace. A word that means wholeness of wellbeing because of right relationship with God.^[21] He said, “Be healed from your affliction.” She might say, “I already am.” But Jesus was saying, “No, the restoring and peace starts now. There’s more. You’re going to go from this place becoming more whole day by day.”

How else might He intend to make her whole? That was the question. That’s our question, too. God’s intention is that we not just be around Him – that we not just see what He says in His word or come to church or hang around other Christians and then go away unchanged. He wants to transform us and fill our lives with His power and make us whole. But we have to have faith. We have to recognize that, yes, I need the Savior to save me. And that day-by-day, as I “follow” Jesus, there’s always some treatment He intends, not only for my good, but also so that the watching crowds around me can also have their lives saved.

Jairus is about to be told, “It’s too late. There’s no hope. Your daughter is dead.” But Jesus turns to him and says, “Don’t be afraid. Believe.” What had Jairus just seen? This woman’s life restored. Transformed. Saved.

Back in 1930, those University of Wisconsin researchers didn’t stop with diagnosing what those cattle were dying from. They realized something in this fungus made the cows’ blood thin out. Fast forward another 10 years and in 1940 they developed a way to control the process for medical purposes and invented Warfarin or you may have heard it called Coumadin.^[22] It is now one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, saving countless lives of stroke patients or heart attack victims. So not only were they able to stop the suffering of the prairie cattle, but also to use the suffering that had already happened to save many other lives for decades to come.

God wants to transform your life. He sees your struggles and not only wants to care for you in them, He wants to care for others through them. Our part is to understand Who Jesus is, believe it, and reach out in faith so He can do what He wants to do in us. We don’t just gather to see Jesus pass by. To hear His word in one ear and let it go out the other. Faith means we understand Who He is and reach out, trusting that He has life for us. Salvation and rescue and transformation that we desperately need.

When Pigs Fly (Mark 5:1-20)

I had quite a scare recently. In the middle of the night, our dog started barking. It wasn’t her small chirp that lets us know she’s bored and would like to see what’s going on outside. No, this was as loud and tense as I’ve ever heard her – something had intruded.

I went out to the front room and there, in the shadows, I could make out a round, head shape at eye level, about 3 yards from me. It moved ever so slightly and I knew I had very little time to react. Instinctively, I turned on the light and now could see the intruder clearly: It was a birthday balloon that had wafted in from the other room when the A/C kicked on.

This section of Mark is fright night. I usually think of the encounter with the Gadarene demoniac as being a daytime event but Mark told us that it was evening when they got into the boat at Capernaum. Normally it takes about two hours to get to the other side of the sea.^[1] Even assuming the storm slowed them down, there’s no reason for us to think it was yet morning.

Have you ever been followed at night? The disciples, who are already terrified as of chapter 4, verse 41, land on shore and see a grotesque man, bleeding, naked, staring them down as he ran toward them. Oh, and it’s all happening with a graveyard as the backdrop. Scary stuff.

Mark 5:1-2 – ¹ They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. ² As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him.

The Gospel of Matthew and Luke both record this event. In Matthew we see there are two demon-possessed men. It’s not a contradiction, just a matter of story-telling perspective.

The Devil’s artillery failed to stop Jesus’ arrival, so he turned to troops. A legion of demons is dispatched to resist the Lord. Of course Jesus could have called down more than 12 legions of angels to protect Himself.^[2] But Jesus Christ didn’t need bodyguards, even behind enemy lines.

The Gerasenes was Gentile controlled.^[3] He’s in an unclean land, among unclean tombs, facing an unclean Gentile, full of unclean spirits. But, Jesus goes there so He might bring deliverance and preach the Good News. Exorcisms happened in the sacred synagogue and the Gentile graveyard.

Mark 5:3-5 – ³ He lived in the tombs, and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain— ⁴ because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

We want our heroes to be fantastically strong – Captain America, Wolverine, Mr. Incredible. Much different story when the monster next door has that kind of power. This guy had supernatural strength. When’s the last time you broke through metal chains? The whole community had tried to contain this menace with zero success. No one was strong enough to subdue him. You couldn’t bind him or stop him. In that description, Mark was using “as strong an expression as imaginable.”^[4]

But now, let’s realize how horrible the situation was for the man himself. He was dying in slow motion. He lived among the dead. He was cast out to starve. He spent his days shouting into the dark and slicing his own flesh, his life ebbing away a little more each day.

If you’re not a Christian here tonight you need to know: This is you. I’m not saying you’re demon possessed, but you are dying in slow motion. You were born dead in trespasses and sins and no matter how strong you may feel, you are headed toward eternal death unless you are rescued and revived by Jesus Christ. There is salvation in no other name. But He wants to save you. That’s why He came to earth. To seek and to save the lost. He came to give you life.

Mark 5:6-8 – ⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!” ⁸ For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

Your version may say the man came and “worshiped” Him, but let’s not get confused about what’s happening here. The demons are not singing praises. In fact, their opening line was a colloquial saying that meant something like, “What have I done to You that You should do this to me?”^[5] In Matthew’s account, the demons also say to Jesus, “What a minute – You’re early. You’re here ‘before the time.’” And, as we’ve seen before, it seems the demons Jesus encountered sometimes tried to gain an upper hand against Him by using invoking His earthly name and heavenly title.^[6])

The demons also try to boss Jesus around, demanding that He swear to God in an oath that He won’t torture them.^[7] It’s ironic: They’re worried about being tormented after all they had done to this poor man. They made sport of torturing him. Luke says he had been that way for a long time.^[8]

But it’s interesting – they had some measure of understanding, they immediately recognized Him. They knew His name. They knew He had absolute power that could not be withstood. But they were simultaneously in the dark about many other things when it came to Jesus and His work.

So, they were not worshiping Jesus. But they could not help but pay Him the homage He was due as the Son of the Most High God. Philippians tells us that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.^[9]

A person may mock Jesus, rebel against Him, run from His commands, but one day, Christ will return, and then they, too, will be on their knees before the King of kings.

Let’s recognize one more thing: They knew that Jesus and His Father were both merciful. That He might not destroy them, though that’s what they deserve. Did their master, the Devil, show any mercy to Job? Had they shown any mercy to this man? But the God of the Bible is a God of mercy.

Isaiah 30:18a – ¹⁸ Therefore the LORD is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion…

Jesus was willing to show these unclean spirits a measure of mercy. Now, He was not willing to allow them to continue what they were doing to this poor man. And remember, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. And these demons were feeding on one of those Christ came to save. And so He would not fail to rescue this man and bring him from death to life.

Mark 5:9-10 – ⁹ “What is your name?” he asked him. “My name is Legion,” he answered him, “because we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

There is some suggestion that demons are assigned and attached to certain areas, but that doesn’t mean we need to start doing demon maps or anything like that. Nor do we need to learn how to extract the name of demons so we can command them. The demons tried to play that game with Jesus and He is demonstrating that they have no power over Him, whatsoever.

Now, at the time, a Roman legion was about 6,000 soldiers.^[10] That’s not a specific count for how many demons are in this guy, but it was a lot. I find it ironic that they really want to stay in that locale, but don’t mind being all cooped up together in a single guy.

Mark 5:11-13 – ¹¹ A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. ¹² The demons begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.

You FFA folks might think, “Pigs aren’t really herd animals.” Mark is highlighting the cosmic conflict going on here by using military images. The word he uses was often used of a band of military recruits. And Jesus dismisses the legion, almost like a commander.^[11]

There’s another image hidden here for the original readers: The wild boar was the emblem of the Roman legion stationed in Palestine.^[12] So here’s Jesus, in Gentile land, facing a legion, and in the end the pigs are driven into the sea.

Remember: Mark was primarily writing this book to Christians living in Rome and elsewhere in Italy.^[13] So here is a subtle reminder that Jesus not only had power over legions of demons, but also over the godless legions of Rome and every other human kingdom. In the end, Christ conquers all.

Now, this situation raises a number of questions – some of which we simply can’t answer with total certainty. First, why did the demons want to go into the pigs? Well, there’s some indication in the New Testament that these sort of spirits want to inhabit other living creatures. There’s a second possible reason we’ll get to in a moment.

The second question is: Why did Jesus allow this? Doesn’t He care about the pigs? God absolutely cares about animals. But this does highlight God’s priorities. A single human life is much more important than even thousands of pigs.^[14] In Matthew 12, Jesus says outright, “A person is worth far more than a sheep.” That doesn’t mean it’s ok for people to mistreat animals, but when lives hang in the balance, God goes with the human every time. Because humans are created in His image. You are not the same as an animal. You are a human, and that is a unique being in God’s order.

Before we move on, one more quick reminder for us, especially anyone who is not a believer here. Take a good long look at the naked, bloody suffering of the demon possessed man. Try to hear the chilling screams of the pigs as they drown in the sea. That is the devil’s plan for you. That is what sin does every time. The road of sin leads to your grave. The road of salvation leads to life everlasting.

Perhaps Jesus allowed this so that this poor man would know he was really, truly safe. That the demons were gone and they would not return to trap him again. Because He wanted to remind us:

Micah 7:19 – ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

That’s what Jesus does when He forgives us because He delights in His faithful love toward us.

Mark 5:14-17 – ¹⁴ The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg him to leave their region.

So, like the 12, these Gentiles were afraid. Terrified because they did not understand Who Jesus was. They don’t glorify God. They don’t think, “Maybe we should hear more from this miracle worker.” No, they go right to: “Would You please leave?”

We’d expect people to say, “Hey, I know this other person who is demon possessed,” or, “I’ve got this sick family member, let me go get them.” But they were not interested. And perhaps that is why the demons asked to go into the pigs. Maybe they knew these people well enough to know they cared more about their sows than their souls.

Now, turn from the crowd to the man. He has been totally transformed. He’s gone from screaming to serene. From naked to clothed. And we’ll see this wasn’t just him feeling a little better, but his mind is fixed. His desires and behavior are changed. Now he has strength for life not just death.

But there he is, seated and clothed. Jesus didn’t just deliver him, but also provided for him. Perhaps the cloak was Peter’s or John’s. Maybe it was Jesus’! But he was made well, from the inside out.

Mark 5:18-20 – ¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

After all that, Jesus gets right back in the boat to go back to Jewish territory. You know, Jesus does not stay where He isn’t wanted.^[15] When a nation, a community, a family, or a church says, “We don’t trust You, we’re not interested in Your opinion or Your leading,” then the Lord withdraws Himself. That should be a very sobering thought for us. It happened to churches in the New Testament. Instead of allowing pride or fear or misunderstanding to determine our relationship to Jesus, we should be like this Gerasene man. He begged to remain with Jesus.

That’s an interesting phrase – it’s exactly how disciples were described back in chapter 3. The 12 were those He appointed to be with Him and to be sent out to preach. This man was instantly filled with a desire for discipleship.

And Jesus says no?!? What in the world is going on here? Well, let’s remember: This is a Gentile. Jesus’ ministry at this point in time was not to the Gentile world – not yet. And bringing a Gentile into the group would’ve caused significant problems among the Jews. But did Jesus say this man couldn’t be a disciple? Actually, the Lord sent him out to proclaim the Gospel in the Decapolis as the Gentile world’s first missionary. To go and spread the word of God’s power and His mercy. And the man does it, fearlessly. The disciples were afraid. The crowds were afraid. But the one who was delivered had no fear. He became a proclaimer just like John the Baptist had been a proclaimer.

As we close, a couple thoughts about discipleship. On one level, it is shocking to us that Jesus would allow the demons to go where they wanted, but not allow this man to come follow Him. But, the Lord knows what is best and what is needful. One commentator writes, “Jesus’ answer [to this man] shows how impossible it is to have a stereotyped definition of discipleship. One person is taken away from home and family, another is sent back to them contrary to his own wishes.”^[16]

Will we allow the Lord to set the destinations and directives of our lives? That’s what real discipleship is. To kneel before Him, not because we were compelled by His power, but because we are compelled by our love for Him. A love that trusts and obeys.

And second, notice Jesus did not send this man out with power to perform any miracles. What did he have? His transformed life was the demonstration of God’s power. The changes in his life were the visible proof of God’s mercy, of God’s love, of God’s truth, of God’s activity. Now, the Lord may do miraculous things through you, but that’s not what we really need to make a difference in the world. Your life, changed by the Gospel, is proof enough. Your heart, your mind, your attitude, your choices, your hope when transformed by the love of God is enough to make an unbelieving world marvel.