Mark 5

1 – 2

Jesus and His followers went across the lake to the region of the Gerasene people. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man came to Him from the tombs where dead people were buried. This man, who lived in the caves, had an evil spirit living in him.

The original language says that this man was walking in the places where people remember the dead. The devil wants to trap you into walking in circles always thinking about bad memories. The first step of a demon attack is to get you to be alone and to stay away from other Christians and stay in the graveyard of old memories.

3 – 4

No one could tie him up, not even with a chain. Many times people had used chains to tie the man’s hands and feet. But he always broke the chains off. No one was strong enough to control him.

What kind of chain would the devil like to put on you? A small chain that you can pretend is a necklace? Does the devil treat you like a dog with a dog chain? Is there a chain that you sometimes can break but it comes right back again? Anger can be a secret chain that is hard to break.

5. Day and night he would wander around the burial caves and on the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones.

Over and over the devil puts bad memories in your mind, “Why did those things have to happen? Other people do not want you to be a part of their group so just stay away from people. You have gone this far so why not go farther? You deserve the things that happen to you and it feels good to hurt yourself.”

We can see when the devil is attacking this way when someone is screaming or crying in a pit of sadness. Walking through this with them in love and sharing Bible verses in prayer is the only way out.

6. While Jesus was still far away, the man saw Him. He ran to Jesus and kneeled down before him. Jesus said to the man, “You evil spirit, come out of that man.”

When a person is being controlled by demons they have two minds living inside of them. The man’s mind would become weaker and weaker as he gave more of himself to the demons. We see that what was left of this man’s mind did want to come to Jesus. When we are helping such people we need to pay attention to the things they do that show they are asking for help.

7 – 8

But the man shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, promise God that You will not torture me!”

People say that Jesus has nothing to do with their problem. Today we are told that people with confused minds have to go to a professional doctor because pastors only know the Bible and cannot help with problems of the mind.

The church today has accepted this and pastors now send people to a doctor who has no idea what he is doing and gives the people medicine to make them sleepy so that they do not have to live a real life anymore. Do you see the plan of the devil in this?

Have you been angry at God and said the He has nothing to do with your problem? Has the devil said that God is angry at you and is torturing you? People say, “God, why are You doing this to me?” when it is the devil who is doing these things. The Bible says that we are the bride of Christ. Can you think that Jesus would torture His bride with anger?

9. Then Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?” The man answered, “My name is Legion, because I have many spirits in me.”

When you know the name of a demon it helps you to see what kind of attack is coming against you. A Roman Legion is 1000 soldiers. Another way to say this is that the man knew that he had thousands of problems. A thousand will fall around you. Psalm 91:7

10. The man begged Jesus again and again not to send the spirits out of that area.

Demons will not leave any place that has been given to them. Jews are not supposed to eat pigs so we see that they had given this area to the demons. The demons knew this and asked Jesus that if they could not stay in the man then could at least keep the area as their own because the people had given it to them. We need to take back any area that we have given to the devil. See Ephesians 4:27.

11 – 13

A large herd of pigs was eating on a hill near there. The evil spirits begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs. Let us go into them.” So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned. There were about 2,000 pigs in that herd.

Jesus used the demons to destroy the pigs so that the people could be set free from the things they had given to the devil.

14 – 15

The men who took care of the pigs ran away. They went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had had the many evil spirits. The man was sitting there, clothed and in his right mind. The people were frightened.

It is sad to see how people do not care when they see someone has been set free from an evil life. They are only thinking of themselves. They think that God did these things to punish them and they do not see that they also need to be free from their own chains of sin.

16 – 17

Some people were there who saw what Jesus had done. They told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him. And they also told about the pigs. Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.

They would rather have things stay as they were and not have Jesus stay around to make a change in their lives. Sometimes we will try to do everything our own way first and wait as long as possible before asking Jesus to help us!

These are Jews who living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. They did not want the land that god has promised to them!

18 – 20

Jesus was getting ready to leave in the boat. The man who was freed from the demons begged to go with Him.
But Jesus would not allow the man to go. Jesus said, “Go home to your family and friends. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.” So the man left and told the people in the Ten Towns about the great things Jesus had done for him. All the people were amazed.

We see that this man did share what God had done for Him and when Jesus came back to this area He was able to help many people because the people could see that the change in this man was real. Mark 7:31

21 – 24

Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake. There, a large crowd gathered around Him. A ruler from the synagogue, named Jairus, came to that place. Jairus saw Jesus and bowed before him. The ruler kept on begging Jesus again and again. He said, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put Your hands on her. Then she will be healed and will live.” So Jesus went with the ruler, and many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around him.

Some people say that God knows everything so they do not have to pray. They say that God should just take care of them if He is a good God. We like to be asked when someone wants us to do something for them. Sometimes God waits to see how badly we want something before He answers.

25 – 29

A woman was there who had been bleeding for the past 12 years. She had suffered very much. Many doctors had tried to help her. She had spent all the money she had, but she was not improving. She was getting worse.

When the woman heard about Jesus, she followed Him with the people and touched His coat. The woman kept on saying, “If I can even touch his coat, that will be enough to heal me.” When she touched His coat, her bleeding stopped. She could feel in her body that she was healed.

She crawled on the ground so that nobody could see her in the crowd. The Jewish laws said that she was not supposed to touch anybody because she was unclean. We need to see that people outside of the church feel that they do not belong and we need to tell them that we also did not belong but God pulled us into His house and He is also pulling them!

30. At once Jesus felt power go out from Him. So He stopped and turned around. Then He asked, “Who touched My clothes?”

Jesus lives in those who belong to Him and there is power inside of us. We sometimes can feel that some energy has left us after we have been working in the ministry.

31 – 34

The followers said, “There are so many people pushing against You! And You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’”

But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched Him. The woman knew that she was healed. So she came and bowed at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told Him the whole story. Jesus said to the woman, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace. You will have no more suffering.”

God does not want us to hide what He has done for us but tell it in front of everybody! Why would you want to keep it to yourself?

35. Jesus was still speaking to her when some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. The men said, “Your daughter is dead. There is now no need to bother the teacher.”

Jairus saw what Jesus had done for the woman who touched Him and it helped him to trust God. This is why we need to tell what God has done for us because it helps others to see that God can help them also!

36 – 39

But Jesus paid no attention to what the men said. He said to the synagogue ruler, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”

Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with Him to Jairus’s house. They came to the house of the synagogue ruler, and Jesus found many people there crying loudly.

There was much confusion. Jesus entered the house and said to the people, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? This child is not dead. She is only asleep.”

Jesus uses the word for sleep sometimes when we think of death. In God’s world final death means to be forever separated from God. To Him it is no problem to bring someone back from death so He does think of it the way we do.

40. But they only laughed at Jesus. He told all the people to leave. Then He went into the room where the child was. He took the child’s father and mother and His three followers into the room with Him.

We need to be careful not to laugh at God.

41 – 42

Then he took hold of the girl’s hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum!” This means, “Little girl, I tell you to stand up!” The girl stood right up and began walking. She was 12 years old. The father and mother and the followers were amazed.

Peter was in the room and remembered this when he had the same kind of problem in Acts 9:41.

43. Jesus gave the father and mother strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl some food.
Spiritual war drains your body. This girl was in a fight for her life.