Mark 5:21

Mark 5:21 says, 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.  After healing the demon possessed man and sending him on his way, Jesus once again crossed over the sea by ship.  The people where the man was healed had asked Jesus to leave, and He did.  They could not have forced Jesus to leave, but He did not force them to follow Him.  We cannot force people to follow Jesus today, but as Christians we are commanded to share the gospel with everyone.  After Jesus crossed over, many people were gathered to see Him.  I believe most probably came out of curiosity or to see how they might physically profit from being in the presence of Jesus.   Many people today look to Jesus for the wrong reason, and when they do they go away disappointed.  Verse twenty-two adds, And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, There was a leader of the synagogue who came to Jesus for a particular reason and fell at Jesus's feet.  Verse twenty-three continues, 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.  His daughter was sick, and the man believed that Jesus could physically heal her.  As a religious leader, it may have been hard for him to come to Jesus humbly and ask for help, since he was a man of authority in the Jewish religion.  We need to be careful that we don't put more faith in religious leaders than we do in Jesus Himself.  The man still felt that it was necessary for Jesus to come and lay His hands on his daughter in order to heal her.  This means that he didn't truly understand Who Jesus was.  Some people today in time of trouble will call out to Jesus for help, not fully understanding Who He is.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. Though Jesus did not need to be physically in contact with the girl to heal her, He went with the man and the crowds followed Him.  I believe most simply wanted to see if Jesus would heal her or fail to do so.  Jesus will come to us and heal us spiritually if we simply put our faith in Him and ask Him to save us.  The first step is to come to Jesus by faith, and if you haven't, once more my prayer is that you will do so today.  

Mark 5:14

Mark 5:14 says, 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. After Jesus allowed the legion of demons to enter the swine and the swine killed themselves, the ones that fed the swine went into the city and the country and told what had happened.  They may have been afraid that they would be blamed for the loss of the swine.  For whatever reason they did this, they were sharing the news of the power of Jesus.  Some people today may encounter a miracle and tell others what happened even if they do not really believe in God's power, but if they do, God's power is still being testified to.  Verse fifteen adds, 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. Then verse sixteen continues, And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.  People came to Jesus to see what was happening and found the man who had been demon possessed sitting, clothed, and in his right mind.  No matter how sinful we may be, if we come to Jesus in faith, He will restore us to spiritual wholeness, and then we need to figuratively sit as His feet and learn from Him. Those who came, instead of celebrating the miracle, were afraid.  If someone who does not believe in God sees a great work of God, they will likely be left afraid.   We often fear that which we do not understand, but as Christians when we see God doing miraculous things we need to give Him our praise and share the news with those around us.  Verse seventeen continues, And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.  The people asked Jesus to leave after they were told what happened to the man and the swine.  They were evidently more concerned for the loss of the swine than they were of the healing of the man, and to many people today seem to be more concerned about what it might cost them materially to follow Jesus than about the miraculous salvation that He provides.  Verse eighteen says, And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.  Jesus went to a ship to depart when those around Him asked Him to.  If you do not want to be with Jesus, He will not force Himself on you.  As a matter of fact, unless you invite Him into your life, you will never benefit from His death on the cross for you.  Though those who saw the man healed of the legion of demons and the destroyed swine asked Jesus to leave, the man himself prayed, or asked Jesus, if he could go with Him.  We should always want to be close to Jesus, but we cannot just spend all our time seeking what we think is the best way to do this.  We must ask God what He wants us to do instead of asking Him to endorse what we want to do.  Verse nineteen adds, 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.  Jesus didn't allow the man to go with Him, just as we may at times be told no when we have a plan to serve God in a particular way or place.  Jesus told the man to go home and tell his friends what Jesus had done for him.  We need to start where we are and tell people about the great things God has done for us because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty continues, And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. The man went to Decapolis and told the people there what Jesus had done for him, and they marveled at what Jesus had done.  We are not told if they accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord or not, but the man had done what Jesus asked Him to do.  That is all we can do as well.  We may not have been as demon possessed as this man, but we were all sinners when we encountered Jesus, and our salvation when we put our faith in Him is no less marvelous, and we should tell everyone about our salvation experience.   

Mark 5:9

Mark 5:9 says, And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. When Jesus was casting out the demon, he asked what the demon's name was.  This would mean that the demon was real and not just something the man had created in his mind.  The answer to Jesus' question was, "My name is Legion: for we are many."  It is no wonder that the man was uncontrollable, until he came to Jesus.  No matter how many demons there may be in a person's life, the demons will never be more powerful than Jesus.  All a person has to do to be healed is to come to Jesus by faith.  Even a legion of demons were powerless before Jesus.  Verse ten adds, And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.  The demon or demons asked that Jesus not send them out of the country.  Jesus may not always send our demons far away from us, but He will always give us power over them if we continue to put our faith in Him. Verse eleven states, Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, Verse twelve adds, And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. The demons, or devils, asked that they be allowed to enter a nearby flock of swine, and Jesus allowed them to.  We might wonder why Jesus didn't just send them away, or even destroy them, and I believe the reason was that there were more lessons to be learned from this encounter.  We may not always understand why God does things the way He does, but we can be certain that it is best way and learn from how He does things.  Verse thirteen continues, 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. The herd of swine, nearly two thousand, ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned.  The escape of the demons was short lived, and there must have really been many to affect so many swine. There really is no lasting escape for the demons in life today, even if they think they are manipulating Jesus.  No matter what demon you may be facing today, if you come to Jesus Christ for salvation, He will cleanse you of all of them if you truly put your faith in Him.  

 

 

Mark 5:1

Mark 5:1 says, And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. Jesus and the disciples crossed over the sea to escape the crowds for a while.  Jesus wanted to be alone with the disciples at times so He could teach them more thoroughly what it truly meant to be a disciple.  We today as Christians need time alone with Jesus to understand more what it means to be His disciple.  Of course, we really cannot be with Jesus physically, but we can be with Him spiritually through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Verse two adds, And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, The way across sea was not restful for the disciples, because they as yet did not truly understand Who He was, but by His power they reached the other side, only to be confronted with a demonic man.  We might think that when Jesus delivers us from a troubling situation that we deserve a break, but we like the disciples and Jesus instead might find ourselves confronted with an even more troubling situation.  Verse three states, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:  Verse four adds, 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.  People had attempted to bind this man with chains, but he broke the chains.  He was a man to be feared, and yet he was a man that the disciples and Jesus were confronted by.  I don't know if the disciples were afraid or not, but considering their attitude on the boat, I believe they probably were. Sometimes, we may be confronted with by scary person or situation as we share God's word, but I believe whether we are afraid or not will be a result of whether our focus is on the situation or on Jesus. Verse five continues, And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. This man was not only a threat to others but to himself as well.  He was cutting himself with stones.   We may have never been that demon possessed, but until we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are a danger to ourselves spiritually, and possibly to others too if we stand between them and God.  Verse six states, But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, This man, who was a terror to others, ran to Jesus when he saw him afar off and worshipped Him.  The man had been a threat to others and to himself, but he did not run at Jesus to harm Him.  Matthew Henry says that what men could not do with chains, which was to restrain the man, God did by His invisible hand.  No matter how terrible a person may be, if they recognize Jesus Christ for Who He really is and come to Him by faith, He will heal them spiritually.  It is not enough to just acknowledge Jesus as a great man, but we must come to Him recognizing that He is the only One Who can save us, and we must acknowledge Him as our Savior and Lord.  Verse seven adds, 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. The demon, or as is later stated the demons, in the man cried out in a loud voice asking what he had to do with Jesus, acknowledging Him as the Son of God.  The demon recognized what too many people refuse to recognize, and that is that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. The demon, so powerful in the world and so terrible to those around him, had no power before Jesus and asked that He not torment him.  There is no being that can stand before Jesus Christ and be more powerful than He is, not even Satan himself.  Verse eight continues, For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.  There was not great battle.  Jesus simply said, Come out of the man, thy unclean spirit, and that was the extent of the battle.  We may see movies where demons almost defeat those trying to cast them out of a person, but I personally believe that if someone is doing this under the guidance and authority of Jesus Christ that there will still be no great battle.  The power of Jesus has not diminished.  As a matter of fact, Jesus said One even greater was coming, and that is the Holy Spirit.  The first step for the man was to recognize Jesus, and then to come and worship Him in faith.