Mark
Copyright © 2008 Darroll Evans
CHAPTER 5
Mark 5:1-20
1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea,
into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs
a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with
chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains
had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither
could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying,
and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus,
thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou
unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered,
saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send
them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us
into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and
entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the
sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked
in the sea.
14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the
country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and
had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were
afraid.
16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with
the devil, and also concerning the swine.
17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the
devil prayed him that he might be with him.
19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto
him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done
for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20 And he departed, and began to publish in
Jesus and His followers
crossed the
When Christ came ashore, He
was immediately confronted by a man from the tombs, a man with an unclean
spirit. What followed is one of the more
preached stories within the Bible.
As the confrontation between
Christ Jesus and the “Legion” of demonic spirits, there are a few things that
have escaped most theologians.
The demons abused the man
living among the tombs! They forced him
to do things contrary to even “human” nature.
Demons abuse those who fall under their sway. Sin may look, to the carnal eye, as something
of beauty, but the reality is that sin is contrary to mankind.
Jesus did not speak against
the man! The man was not Jesus’
enemy. The demons that controlled him
were Christ’s enemies.
Jesus did not use physical
means to bring the man into compliance with the love of God.
2 Cor 10:4-5
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;
Conversion by force is not
part of Christian evangelism! In the
past, such coercion has been attempted, and it failed! Those who made the attempts (the crusaders
and other Roman attempts) were not Christians!
The demons did not disobey
the command of Jesus. It may surprise
you to learn that the Bible never says that any Demon disobeyed Christ
Jesus.
Certain angels fell when they
rebelled against the God-head, but that was within the framework of God’s plan
for the ages. If it had not been, God
would not be omniscient!
The demon lied! They followed Lucifer’s lead.
John 8:44 Ye
are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
They said, “My name is Legion:
because we are many.” (v. 9)
Prior to that, the demon(s)
said, “I adjure you by God, that you torment me not.” (v. 7)
Let me offer a literal
translation of the portion of verse 7.
“I implore you the true God (Gr. ton Theon-ton qeon), do not torment
me.”
Even demons acknowledged
Christ Jesus as the true God (God the Son).
Second point: A legion of
demons referring to themselves by using a singular pronoun? Linguistically that just will not fly.
As you know, the “legion”
adjured, asked, begged---not demanded---to be allowed to go into a herd of
pigs. But even pigs know that to be
demonically led is death, so they simply finished the act.
The pigs then ran into the
sea rather then live as demonically possessed
animals.
The pig herders ran off! They
told their story in the city and the surrounding area.
Then people came to see what
had happened, they saw Jesus and the demoniac sitting quietly. The demoniac was clothed and in his right
mind. However, the town’s folk were
afraid. They begged Jesus to leave the area.
The point is that all those who do not acknowledge
Christ as Lord are mentally ill! That may sound radical, but it is true!
Believing Christ Jesus is
scary to those who do not
truly believe!
When Christ started to board
a ship to leave, the formerly possessed man asked to be taken with him. Instead, Jesus told him to stay at home and
tell how God had blessed him.
The man left Christ and the
others, and began to proclaim all the great things Jesus had done for him. He told it in the
The area was a Gentile area
and that is a pre-Pauline indication of God’s concern for Gentiles.
That demoniac was a Gentile
living in a Gentile land and yet Christ healed him.
Mark 5:21-23
21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto
the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth
at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may
be healed; and she shall live.
This story is segmented. In the first segment concerns Jairus’ plea on behalf of his daughter. He asked Jesus to come to his home an heal her.
Apparently she was dying,
Mark 5:24-34
24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she
had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his
garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I
shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her
body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him,
turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched
my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the
multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what
was done in her, came and fell down before
him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee
whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
That is the story of the
woman with the issue of blood.
This story has been
misrepresented year after year by people who cannot understand how the human
body works according to kinesiology.
First, if you believe the
traditional story, let me be the first to tell you that no sick woman crawling
on her hands and knees can catch a group of men walking at a normal pace and
then weave her way through the crowd without somebody noticing her.
With that fact in mind, let’s
look at the Bible text in some other versions.
Matt 9:19-22
19 So Jesus arose and followed him,
and so did His disciples.
20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from
behind and touched the hem of His garment.
21 For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall
be made well."
22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good
cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well
from that hour. (NKJV)
Mark 5:25-34
25 Now a certain woman had a flow of
blood for twelve years,
26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all
that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched
His garment;
28 for she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made
well."
29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her
body that she was healed of the affliction.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of
Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My
clothes?"
31 But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"
32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.
33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her,
came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in
peace, and be healed of your affliction." (NKJV)
Luke 8:43-48
43 Now a woman, having a flow of
blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and
could not be healed by any,
44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately
her flow of blood stopped.
45 And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?"
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes
throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched
Me?'"
46 But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for
I perceived power going out from Me."
47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and
falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people
the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
48 And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has
made you well. Go in peace."
(NKJV)
Where does it say that she
crawled?
The story of the woman with
the “issue of blood” is told here, in Matt 9:19-22, and in Luke 8:43-48. Often it is humanly dramatized in such a
manner as to be unbelievable.
We are told of a woman who
was so ill she was forced to crawl on her hands and knees through a mob
following Jesus, and that that sick woman was so fast at crawling
that she caught up with the crowd.
She managed to make her was
through the crowd to find Jesus and touched the hem of His cloak. My only comment to those well intentioned and
yet ignorant teachers is, “Nonsense!”
That fairy tale is not biblical.
The fact is that the Bible never says the woman crawled to get to Jesus!
That tradition is told and
re-told by men more interested in dramatics than facts.
If she had crawled, somebody
would have tripped over her as they walked along. Or they would have stepped on her hand causing
a loud scream.
She was attempting to touch
hem (Gr kraspedou-kraspedou), the fringe or tassle of His “garment.”
It is my opinion that the
“garment” she touched was Jesus’ prayer shawl, talit tallis.
In any case, until we touch
Jesus we will not be clean from whatever ails us.
There is another fact that we
must understand. We are drawn by the
Holy Spirit to reach out and touch Him. Our sin-filled humanity is quite
comfortable within its sin-filled self and on our own we will not seek Him.
The woman represents all of
us who were sin-sick until our (Spirit-led) encounter with Christ.
The hem of the garment spoken of is
this story is the fringe of Jesus’ prayer shawl, his talit
tallis. It was
not the bottom hem of his cloak.
Jesus asked, “Who touched my
‘clothes’?”
To learn more about the
prayer shawl you will need to study how it is made and what tallis
and the colors of the talit tallis
mean.
The talit
tallis is considered a “garment!”
Num 15:38
Speak unto the children of
I will not take time to delve
into that study at this time. However, I
highly recommend the study to all Bible students.
Mark 6:35-43
35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of
the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith
unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only
believe.
37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the
brother of James.
38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the
damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them
that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel
was lying.
41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha
cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto
thee, arise.
42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of
twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
43 And he charged them straitly that no man should
know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
Now, we finish the story of Jairus’ daughter.
Jairus had asked Jesus to come and heal his daughter.
As the healing of the woman
with the issue of blood took place, news came that Jairus’
daughter had died. That may seem to be
bad news, but we must remember that God (Father, Son, Holy
Spirit) has power over of death. Death
does not have power over God!
Many Christians fail to fully
understand that!
Jesus told Jairus to not be afraid, but only believe.
Jesus went into Jairus’ home allowing only Peter, James, and John to come
with Him.
As Jesus entered the home
there were many mourners already there.
Jesus asked them, “Why do you
make this commotion, and weep?”
He told them, “The damsel is
not dead, she is just sleeping.”
They laughed. So, Jesus put
them all out! Then Jesus took her parents and the Apostles and went into the
room where she was lying.
He took the girl by the hand,
and said, “Talitha cumi!”
Which is Aramaic for “Maiden, arise!”
Immediately she got up and
walked. Here (as an aside), we find that
she was twelve years old. She was at the age of the “bat-mizvah,”
a Jewish coming out party for girls.
They were greatly astonished!
Jesus told those with Him
that they should not tell what happened publicly. Then he told them to get her
something to eat.
Nourishment is important to
those of us raised to life in Christ Jesus.
He is that nourishment, the Bread of Life!
John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.