Mark 5

Jesus has the power!
Mark 5

Mark 5 is a very powerful chapter, or should I say, a chapter about power.  There are two stories in chapter five that deal with the power that Jesus has — power over demons, and the power to heal — even over death!

Mark 4 ends with the tired disciples and the well-rested Jesus getting across the Sea of Galilee in a storm.  They land in the country of the Gerasenes at a seaside graveyard.  At the graveyard is a man of incredible strength who is possessed by many demons.  The demons call themselves “legion” for they are many (a legion is the largest unit in the Roman army, around 4,000 troops).  Wow, that’s a lot of demons!

The man runs up to Jesus.  Will he attack Jesus? No, he bows at Jesus’ feet and says “What do you have to do with me Son of God?”  The demons in the man wanted to be left alone.  They figured that if Jesus was at his graveyard, He must have a purpose.  The man, or rather the demons, already knew who Jesus was even though they had never met.  Jesus had power over them and they knew it.  They were scared.

Jesus sent the demons into some pigs (2,000 of them, so you can assume that there were at least as many demons), which no Jew would eat anyway, and then He sent the demon possessed pigs off a cliff and into the sea.  Boy, I bet that pig herder was mad.  Anyway, the pig herder went to tell the townsfolk what Jesus had done (kill his pigs!), and they came to see Jesus to invite him out of their city.  They did see the demon possessed man healed and in his right mind once again, but Jesus had just killed thousands of worthless livestock to save him; how dare He!  Jesus left for his current hometown, Capernaum.  The formerly possessed man went off to tell the entire region called the Decapolis what Jesus did.

Story two deals with a synagogue official, Jairus, who had a sick daughter.  He came to Jesus and asked if Jesus could heal her.  Jesus said “No problem,” but he took his time getting there; perhaps because of the massive crowd that was surrounding him.  As this large procession processed, a woman who had been bleeding internally since around the time of Jarius’ daughter’s birth (12 years) touched Jesus’ garment and was healed.  Jesus, in what must have been one of the funniest one-liners in the Bible, said: “Who touched me?”  Jesus’ disciples respond with something like, “You are, like, totally surrounded yet you ask ‘who touched me?'”  Jesus knew what he was talking about, and so did the woman.  That “touch” was the release of healing power that the woman had received because of her faith.  She confessed, and Jesus confirmed that it was her faith that made her well.

While this exciting event was going on, Jairus’ daughter died.  I’m sure that Jairus felt a wave of grief and hopelessness at this announcement, but Jesus simply said “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”  Jairus, Jesus and a few others left the crowd behind to go to the house.

By the time Jesus got to the house, the wife had already hired professional mourners who were wailing away.  When Jesus announced that the daughter was merely sleeping, He was met with skepticism in the form of laughter, presumably from the hired mourners.  Jairus and his family would not be the ones laughing.  The fact that Jesus was even at their house after the announcement of the daughter’s death told us that Jairus still had some hope that Jesus could do something miraculous.  Jesus had changed water into wine in a neighboring city.  Jairus may well have been the “pastor” at that event.  In all likelihood, Jairus was Jesus’ pastor.  (What, and you thought Jesus didn’t go to church?  Jairus was an elder in the synagogue at Capernaum that Jesus would have regularly attended.  Jesus knew Jairus and his daughter!).  Jesus, probably shaking his head at the mourner’s disbelief, went in with a small contingent and brought Jairus’ daughter back to life.  He told the family that the daughter was probably hungry and to give her some food.

So… Jesus has the power to exorcise demons, heal the sick, and even raise the dead.  Well, that’s great, Jesus is God, so… so what?  Matthew 10:5-8, among other places, shows that Jesus granted these powers to common men and women like us as well.  All we have to do is believe that Jesus still has the authority to do these things today (He does!), and demons can still be sent packing, cancer patients can be restored to health, and, amazing as it seems, even the dead can be raised.  Nothing is impossible for God!