MARK 5:1-43

MARK 5:1-43

MARK 5:1-17 - Near where the boat landed, on the high plateau above the shore, was a graveyard, or a place of many rock-hewn tombs. In and among these there dwelt a demoniac of violent character, a wild, untameable man, made such by the evil powers that possessed him. He had terrorized the entire countryside for a long time; and, though often captured and bound with fetters and chains, he had snapped his bonds as with superhuman might, and thus freed himself from all control. Day and night his strange, weird cry could be heard as he roamed about on the mountains, cutting himself with stones and shrieking in his fearful agony. It is a terrible picture of a man completely dominated by Satan. 

  Though the lips of the man moved it was the voice of the demons that spoke. These evil spirits recognized Jesus at once and needed none to tell them the mystery of His nature. The Lord had commanded already that the demon come out of the man. Then He bade him confess his name. The answer was an astonishing one: “My name is Legion: for we are many.” This indicated that not one alone but a vast number of evil spirits dwelt in the wretched man who had so terrorized his neighborhood. 

  The freed man, once so wild and fierce, now became gentle and quiet. Covering his formerly naked body with clothing, he took his place in adoring love and gratitude at the feet of Jesus: no longer mad but now serene and in his right mind. 

MARK 5:20 - “He … began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him.” Decapolis (“ten cities”) was the name given to a group of villages on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, the very towns from which the people had come who begged Jesus to depart out of their coasts. Through this man’s testimony that attitude was changed when Jesus again visited that district. He was welcomed then in a very definite manner (7:31).

  MARK 5:21-34 - As they moved along a poor, afflicted woman joined the company. She had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. Mark tells us that she had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all her living in the vain effort to obtain healing, but all had failed, and she was no better but rather worse. Pressing through the crowd she reached forth an eager, trembling hand, and the moment she touched the blue fringe of His robe she knew the work was done. She felt in her body that she was whole of that plague. 

   MARK 5:35-43 - Jesus reassured the distressed father, saying, “Be not afraid, only believe.” What comforting words were these at such a time! Who but He, who was the Lord of life, could or would have uttered them, when all hope seemed gone and death had intervened already? When we are at the end of all natural resources the same blessed words come home to our hearts to give peace and confidence today.

“He suffered no man to follow Him, save Peter, and James, and John.” These three formed the inner circle of His chosen ones. Later, they were with Him on the mount, when He was transfigured before them (9:2), and again in the garden of Gethsemane (14:32, 33). 

   “He took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi.” He spoke in Aramaic, the language of His childhood in Nazareth. The words are interpreted for us, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” Literally, we are told, they are, “Little lamb, wake up!”

“Straightway the damsel arose, and walked.” There was instant response. To their joy and amazement, the parents beheld the color come again into the pale cheeks, as their darling sprang from the couch and came to their arms. She was about twelve years of age and her immediate deliverance from death amazed all who beheld her. 

The four distinct incidents in the gracious ministry of our Lord, recorded in the last part of chapter 4 and in chapter 5, all bear witness to the Deity of Him who had stooped in grace to take the Servant’s place. In the first one (4:35–41), we see His power over nature, eliciting the cry of amazement from His disciples, “What manner of Man is this!” The second scene depicts His power over Satan, as evidenced in the deliverance of the demoniac. The stories of the healing of the woman who had an issue of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter are intertwined in verses 21 to 43, and set forth the Saviour’s power over disease and death.

The three recorded instances in which He raised the dead are also very suggestive. All are dead in sin, and only He can give life. Whether it be a child in its comparative innocence; a young man in his youthful vigor, as in the case of the son of the widow of Nain; or one in his maturity, like Lazarus who had been dead four days, and whose body was in process of corruption—all needed the life that Christ alone could give, and He proved Himself sufficient for each case.