Jesus after Jesus had calmed the storm and come across the lake in the boat with his disciples

Mark 5


The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

¹They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.^{[1] 2}When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil^[2] spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. ⁴For 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. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

[This man was in a sorry state. Perhaps he was trying to cut himself to get rid of the evil spirits. Perhaps the evil spirits were causing him to cut himself.]
⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" ⁸For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
⁹Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
¹⁰"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

[A legion was a unit of the Roman army with about 4 to 6 thousand men. This man had hundreds if not thousands of devils in him. This was a very unusual case of possession.]
¹¹A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹²The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." ¹³He gave them permission, and the evil 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.
¹⁴Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵When 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. ¹⁶Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man--and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

[Those herding the pigs wanted Jesus to leave because they believed he had just killed a large number of their livestock. But it was the devils who caused the pigs to run over the cliff. As far as they herders were concerned it could have been a storm or some natural occurrence that killed them. Jesus had saved this possessed man from a terrible existence, but they were more concerned with the pigs than a man's soul. This was like the case of the Alexander the metalworker persecuting Paul because the teachings about Jesus did away with idol worship and he lost business. This is the height of selfishness to put your own economic concerns above the saving of souls. But we should be warned by this passage too not to let our selfish desires overcome our desire to do good.]

¹⁸As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." ²⁰So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis^[3] how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

[We'd seen times before when Jesus tried to keep what he was doing and teaching relatively hidden. But in this case as he left, he told them man to go and tell his family what happened. So the man went and told people in the Decapolis which means ten cities. Apparently ten cities in the area.]

A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman

²¹When 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. ²²Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet ²³and 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." ²⁴So Jesus went with him.

[This was a switch for a ruler of a synagogue to come and fall at Jesus' feet first thing. But his daughter was dying. He allowed the urgency of the situation to overcome his pride and he fell at Jesus' feet. But we find that he is interrupted.]
²⁵A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She 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.

[There are those today who have horrible diseases. There isn't much hope of them being healed. Some fall prey to those who pretend to have medical answers but it ends up being a false hope. This was this case with this woman. Although it was probably even worse at this time since medicine was just sort of charms and witch doctor stuff. After twelve years, she'd spent all her money and tried everything the doctors had to offer. But here was someone different. Someone who could really heal her...without even trying.]

²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."

[At the very least this woman was hopeful. She had faith. She could have been very jaded after going through one non-working treatment after another as she had. This could be an example to us. We must always believe that God has the power to heal us even if he chooses not to. We must believe in his ability to do it.]

²⁹Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
³⁰At 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?' "
³²But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

[This was an active faith that this woman had. She didn't just believe that Jesus could heal her but she put her faith into action. She touched his garment. This was true faith that caused her to act. This is a similar faith to the one any Christian must possess. Our faith is dead if it doesn't cause us to act. It's all well and good to say you believe in Christ, but we know that faith is real when it causes us to obey Christ.]
³⁵While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?"
³⁶Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe."
³⁷He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.

[In those days there were actually professional paid mourners. Those who would wail and cry upon the death of someone. Perhaps this was done to help those who really needed to mourn to let go and do it for real.]

³⁹He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." ⁴⁰But they laughed at him.

[This might actually have been another case where Jesus in doing a good deed was interrupting the income of someone. If he raised this girl from the dead, these professional mourners would have no job here.]

⁴¹After 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. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" ). ⁴²Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

[It was just like he was telling the girl to wake up in the morning. It was that simple for him.]

Mark 6

A Prophet Without Honor

¹Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. ²When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
³"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,^[1] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
⁴Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." ⁵He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

[Jesus was returning to Nazareth where he grew up and it people weren't exactly welcoming him back. Up to this point in his ministry, he'd apparently avoided his home town. But he'd performed many miracles in the surrounding areas and so he had credentials as the Son of God. These men were bringing up things like his father's occupation and his earthly relationships to try and discredit him as simply a man.

And it was true what Jesus said about prophets being refused by their own countrymen. We see this many times in the old testament.

When Nehemiah went to restore the walls of Jerusalem, he faced all kinds of mockery by those trying to discourage him. Jeremiah faced persecution from religious leaders after a good king died and he warned Judah to turn from their evil. But God protected him so that he could continue to warn them. Ezekiel warned Jerusalem about their upcoming capture by Babylon if they wouldn't turn from their idolatry. He was ignored.

Hosea's life was an actual metaphor for the unfaithful Israel. God told him to take a wife that wasn't faithful to him and his life was a terrible living example in which he kept calling his wife back to him but she continued to be unfaithful. And the people around him went on as they had been.

Why was this that the people you'd most expect to respect a prophet would be the ones to least respect him? They say familiarity breeds contempt. You can see this sometimes in sibling rivalry or other situations.

In verse 6 it mentions that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. Why won't they listen to him?]

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

⁷Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil^[2] spirits.
⁸These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. ¹⁰Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."
¹²They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

[This was very little preparation Jesus was telling the twelve to take. A staff and sandals. This might have been a method for them to determine who would listen to the message...those that helped them out. And Jesus sent them out in pairs. The law had previously said that the truth could be established by two witnesses. You remember about how Paul later talks about the workman being worthy of his wages in 1 Corinthians. Jesus also warned them that they would experience some rejection.

As for the anointing sick people, the reference I was reading mentioned that it was pretty common for the Jews to anoint themselves with oil except when they were sick or fasting. If one of the twelve was about to heal someone, they'd anoint them with oil again because their sickness was about to be over. That might be one possibility.]

John the Baptist Beheaded

¹⁴King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying,^[3] "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
¹⁵Others said, "He is Elijah."
And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago."

[Elijah the prophet had been taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. They thought maybe Jesus was a prophet at the most, but certainly not the Messiah whom they thought would be a powerful earthly king.]

¹⁶But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!"
¹⁷For 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. ¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." ¹⁹So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ²⁰because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled^[4] ; yet he liked to listen to him.
²¹Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²²When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
²³The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom."
²⁴She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?"
"The head of John the Baptist," she answered.
²⁵At 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."
²⁶The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

[Herod had an odd relationship with John. He had John arrested and yet he sort of protected him from his own wife for a while who would have had him killed in the first place. Herod was also afraid of the opinion of the people because John had some influence. But in the end, Herod went to the extreme of beheading John to keep up appearances in front of his guests. He had made a rash promise in his temptation by the daughter of Herodias and had to keep it. And the accuser against Herod and Herodias in their unlawful marriage was no more.]

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹Then, 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."
³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴When 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.
³⁵By 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. ³⁶Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
³⁷But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages^[5] ! 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."
³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹Taking 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 set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

[The apostles come back from their missionary efforts and report to Jesus how it went. Perhaps they had a lot of success because the people are really following Jesus at this point and they run around the lake and beat him to the other side. There's the emotional image of Jesus having compassion on the people because they're like sheep without a shephard. He goes so far as to not send them away, but to personally see that they're fed by performing a great miracle.]

Jesus Walks on the Water

⁴⁵Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. ⁴⁸He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified.
⁵¹Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

[The disciples at this point should have had faith and not been so surprised at this miracle because they'd seen him divide the loaves and other miracles. But maybe it never ceased to amaze them when Jesus would perform some new miracle.]

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶And 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 him were healed.

[Here were all of these people hussling around carrying mats with sick people trying to bring them to Jesus. Apparently, the word about the woman touching his garment in the crowd had gotten around and everyone wanted to do it.]