Mark · chapter 5 of 16
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Mark 5 tells three miracles of Jesus: he frees a demon-possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes, whose demons enter a herd of pigs; he heals a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years; and he raises the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus, a synagogue ruler, with the words Talitha cumi.
After calming the storm, Jesus reaches the other side of the sea, into Gentile territory, and in the same chapter he cares for an outcast man, an unclean woman and the daughter of a respected leader. Mark 5 shows that his authority reaches what people fear most: demons, incurable illness and death.
In the region of the Gerasenes, a man with an unclean spirit lives among the tombs; no one can bind him, and he cuts himself with stones. He sees Jesus from afar, runs and falls down before him, and the demons beg not to be tormented. Jesus asks his name and the answer is Legion, for they are many. They beg to be sent into a large herd of pigs; Jesus permits it, and the pigs, about two thousand, rush into the sea. The frightened townspeople ask Jesus to leave. The freed man wants to go with him, but Jesus tells him to go home and tell what the Lord has done; he proclaims it throughout the Decapolis.
Back on the other side, Jairus, one of the synagogue rulers, falls at his feet asking him to come and heal his dying daughter. On the way, a woman who has suffered from bleeding for twelve years and spent everything on doctors without improving comes up behind him and touches his cloak, thinking she will be healed. Immediately the bleeding stops. Jesus feels power go out of him and asks who touched him. The woman, trembling, tells him the whole truth, and Jesus calls her daughter, says her faith has made her well and tells her to go in peace.
News arrives that the girl has died. Jesus tells Jairus not to fear, only to believe. At the house, amid weeping, he says the child is not dead but asleep; they laugh at him. He puts everyone out, takes the father, the mother and Peter, James and John, takes the girl by the hand and says: Talitha cumi, little girl, get up. She rises and walks, for she was twelve years old. Jesus orders that she be given something to eat and that no one tell it.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus does not let the freed man follow him but sends him home to tell how much the Lord has done for him and how he had mercy. His first mission is to give testimony among his own people.
The woman thinks that merely touching Jesus' garments will make her well, and at once the bleeding stops. It is a humble, hidden faith, from someone who dares not ask in front of everyone.
Jesus calls the woman daughter, tells her that her faith has made her well and sends her away in peace. He is not content with physical healing; he wants to restore her dignity and her place among the people.
When bad news arrives, Jesus tells Jairus not to fear, only to believe. In a father's worst moment, faith means following Jesus without yet understanding what he will do.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Legion, because they were many. — Mark 5:9
Answer: They rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned, about two thousand of them. — Mark 5:13
Answer: To go home and tell what the Lord had done for him; the man proclaimed it throughout the Decapolis. — Mark 5:19-20
Answer: Twelve years, with a flow of blood. — Mark 5:25
Answer: Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease. — Mark 5:34
Answer: Talitha cumi, which means: little girl, I say to you, arise. — Mark 5:41
Mark 5 encourages anyone who feels their problem is too big, too old or too embarrassing. Jesus is not scandalized by the man among the tombs or by the unclean woman. In a small group you can ask what situation we have carried for years without bringing to Jesus out of shame or weariness.
The story of Jairus teaches us to believe in the middle of delay and bad news, and the man from the Decapolis reminds us that all of us have something to tell. Sometimes the plain testimony of what God did at home is the best evangelism there is.
Mark 5 ends with a girl raised up and an astonished family. In Mark 6, however, Jesus returns to Nazareth and meets unbelief among his own people, and he sends the twelve out on mission.
The text gives no further explanation. It shows that demons have no power except what Jesus allows, and that their destructive work is real. The loss of the herd also led the townspeople to ask Jesus to leave, while one man was restored, which is worth far more.
A legion was a unit of the Roman army of several thousand soldiers. The demon using that name points to the multitude of spirits that tormented the man. Even so, all of them obey Jesus.
Under the purity laws, her bleeding made her ritually unclean, and her touch could spread uncleanness to others. Touching Jesus without permission could be seen as an offense. Jesus receives her with tenderness, not reproach.