Walking On Water

⁴⁵ Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

⁴⁷ Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. ⁴⁸ He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹ but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰ because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵² for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

⁵³ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴ As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶ And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Having picked up the leftovers, the disciples are hurried back onto the boat by Jesus.  It is as if Jesus fears that if they linger with the crowd something terrible will happen.  Does he fear that they will take credit or that they will begin to believe that Jesus' miracles are at their beck and call?  Whatever the reason Jesus commands them onto the boat.  

The disciples gone, Jesus then dismisses the crowd.  While his followers had wanted to send the crowd away to fend for themselves, the people are first fed before being sent.  Like many characteristics in Mark (blindness and deafness come to mind) hunger is not only a literal condition but also a spiritual one.  Jesus has fed the crowd with his teaching and now they are ready to be sent with the abundant message of the now present Kingdom of God.

The point of this trip, Mark has told us some verses earlier is to rest.  That had been thwarted by the crowd that awaited them on the shore, but now with the crowd dismissed and the disciples on the boat, Jesus withdraws to the mountainside to pray.  The Hebrew scriptures often refer to mountains as a place where people have important encounters with God.  Jesus who was fully human as well as fully God needed to pray as he went about the work of the Kingdom.

And then there is another incident on the water in the middle of the night.  One benefit of reading Mark in its entirety is that it is impossible to not notice that some of the familiar stories seem to be repeated.  Jesus just fed five thousand and in a few chapters will feed four thousand.  Jesus calms the storm and now does the same with the additional detail of walking on water.  These repetitions may be retellings of the same event or similar activities that are told to place extraordinary emphasis on particular ideas.

This time in the current incident of night sailing, Jesus is not asleep on a cushion.  In fact he is wide awake and sees their struggle before the disciples see him.  This echoes the calling of the disciples in chapter one, where Jesus sees the prospective disciples and approaches them with the call to follow.

Whether it was a clear night or Jesus is using some form of divine vision, he sees that they are struggling at the oars because of the wind.  And shortly before dawn, Mark tells us, Jesus acts.  Intentional or not, this strikes me as one of the great comforts of scripture.  The old saw is that it is always darkest before the dawn.  At the darkest moment, before hope even starts to show itself, Jesus comes to be with us.

But the comfort is a strange one, because though Jesus has seen them struggling walks on the water he does not appear to be all that interested in stopping to help them.  Mark tells us he intends to pass them by.  Jesus has told them that he will meet them on the other side, and that appears to be what he intends to do.  Does he see that the disciples have the situation under control and do not need his help?  Does Jesus need to be invited before he will respond?  I don't know.

When they see him, the disciples don't really see him.  They are convinced that he is a ghost.  Like Herod earlier who mistakes Jesus for John the Baptist, the disciples even after all their experiences with Jesus are unable to recognize him.  Seeing someone walking on water, they are convinced that it must be some form of apparition, despite having seen Jesus show control over the natural world by stilling the storm and multiplying the bread.  Seeing the figure does not bring them comfort but terror.  And perhaps that is why Jesus is going to pass them by, because he knows that if they see him they will jump to the wrong conclusions, and he will only add to their fear.

When it is obvious that there is nothing to do, but to respond to the frantic disciples, Jesus says the oft repeated phrase when people have an encounter with an angel or the divine.  "Do not be afraid," he tells them.  It is interesting in our modern world that we have built such a comfortable picture of God that we wouldn't even consider being afraid in God's presence.  But throughout the bible, the response of even good people when confronted by God is to be afraid and God or the angels first effort is to quell that fear.

When Jesus enters the boat, the second storm is stilled.  The disciples are amazed, but Mark wants us to understand that their reaction is not a positive one.  They are amazed because they still don't understand who Jesus is.  We wonder how that can be.  They have lived with Jesus, been taught by Jesus, seen the miraculous acts of Jesus but still don't believe.  But disciples, then and now, have trouble truly understanding God's son.  Mark tells us their hearts were hardened which brings to mind the Pharaoh whose hardened heart keeps him from letting the children of Israel go and will lead to great destruction.  Our hope is that their hardened hearts (and ours) will be transformed, but their appears little evidence that this happens prior to the resurrection.

With Jesus in the boat, the rest of the trip is uneventful.  Upon landing, the typical reaction cycle is repeated again.  People know who Jesus is, get their friends, crowd around him.  Jesus has taught and fed the crowd on the other side of the lake, but the crowd on this side appears more interested in being physically healed.  They bring the sick on mats (like the friends who lower the paralytic) and touch the edge of his cloak and are healed (like the woman with the flow of blood).  It has almost a carnival feeling--adoring crowds and the sick being healed.

It seems almost as if a cycle is being repeated.  Mark begins with the calling of the disciples, followed by Jesus teaching and then his healing ministry.  Now Jesus has sent the disciples, taught the hungry crowd and again cured the sick.

Wow!

Just wanted to post a quick thank you to the readers of On Your Mark.  I hope that you have both been challenged and engaged by my running commentary on Mark so far.  On Friday, the ticker indicated that there had been over 1,000 page views since the blog was started.  Visitors came from 21 states and 15 countries.  It truly is a world-wide web!  Thank you for reading and never hesitate to add your thoughts in the comment section!

Looking Up

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵ By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶ Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸ “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

I was struck immediately when I read the first verse of this passage by the title "apostle."  This is the first and only time in the gospel that Mark will use that name for the disciples.  In Greek, it means "the sent out ones" which is an appropriate description for the followers of Jesus who have just gone out to do the ministry Jesus has assigned them.  The church has generally reserved this title for the disciples in the period after the resurrection.  Usually, Jesus' speech at the end of Matthew known as the Great Commission is considered to be the sending out moment for the twelve then eleven (Judas having left).  Whether Mark, who has just completed telling about the disciples of John getting his body and Herod's concern that John has been raised from the dead, wants to foreshadow for his readers the resurrection of Jesus and the subsequent sending of the disciples or uses the word in a generic way or makes a slip referring to the disciples as they were when he was writing, I don't know.  But it is certainly an odd place to use this word which by Mark's time would have been very established as the way to refer to the post-resurrection disciples.

The returning disciples have a positive report to share all their successes, in a distinct contrast to Herod's banquet.  Jesus sends the disciples out without bread, in contrast to Herod's table heavy laden with food and wine, and now despite their success they return and the crowd is so large that they do not even have time to eat.  Herod, the king, has plenty of time to eat, but the needs of the world are so great that Jesus and the apostles go hungry.

Jesus sees that his disciples are wearing down and suggests that they get away for some quiet and rest.  They get on a boat to escape the crowd for a solitary place.  So far, Jesus has called disciples from a boat, had a boat at the ready, taught from a boat, gone to the gentile territory in a boat and now uses a boat in what turns out to be a futile attempt to evade the crowd.

The crowd outwits them and their attempt at a regenerating withdrawal is thwarted.  In fact, the crowd awaiting them is bigger than the crowd they left.  What will Jesus do?  The specific reason for going where he has is to escape the crowd.  Will Jesus refuse to land the boat?  Will he curse the crowd and tell them to go away and leave him alone?

Jesus reaction is not anger or disappointment but compassion.  They are like sheep without a shepherd, Mark says.  Or perhaps more accurately they are sheep with a shepherd who hear the shepherd's voice and respond.  Jesus puts thoughts of self-care to the side and addresses the need before him, teaching the crowd.

Quickly, the day passes unnoticed and as it begins to close, the disciples are concerned that everyone is getting hungry, but unlike Herod, they lack a banquet table to supply the crowd.

As they have before, the disciples bring what they perceive to be a problem to Jesus (What do these parables mean?  Do you not care if we drown?  How can you know who touched you?) but this time not with a question for they already have a plan.  They want Jesus to tell everyone to leave and go home since they don't have any food.  They appear to have done a study that tells them they are in an unfavorable location (remote) and it would be cost prohibitive (they can make everyone buy their own food) to meet this ministry need. They are not that different than we are.  We put together all sorts of plans and then ask Jesus to bless them rather than seeking God's leadership first.

Jesus, with a sly smirk I imagine, tells them he has a better idea.  Why don't you feed them?  The disciples have found the need and decided to solve it using human approaches.  They don't feed the crowd because they can't feed the crowd.  And they point out the obvious to Jesus--It is too expensive.

But Jesus directs them back to the crowd to see if there is any bread.  He tells them to "Go and see," which sounds similar to the invitation he gives the disciples to "Come and see."  Indeed, the issue of blindness permeates the gospels.  The blindness is not only literal but a blindness to the work of God.  When Jesus tells the disciples to see, he may be addressing their blindness to the possibilities of God acting in the world.

The disciples may have come back to Jesus discouraged or may have returned with an "I told you so" tone.  Five loaves, two fish--"Can we send them away now?"  But Jesus orders the chaos.  The crowd becomes an organized group at Jesus direction, sitting in distinct groups waiting for what will happen next.

The disciples have looked at the crowd and clearly described the problem.  They have looked around and come up with their solution.  But Jesus has told them to not just look but see.  When the loaves are brought to him, Mark tells us that Jesus does not look at the crowd or the meager resources.  The first places he looks is heavenward.  Then, he prays and breaks what he has to share.  And in that God's answer to the problem is revealed.  The people are fed, the leftovers collected and from the meager start there now is a basketful of leftovers for each of the twelve disciples. The disciples looked around, but Jesus looked to heaven.  What a different outcome than the one the disciples had planned for--not only enough food for the five thousand men (not counting the woman and children who were undoubtedly there as well) but they would not have to pay for their own dinner and had leftovers for tomorrow as well. 

Off With His Head

¹⁴ King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to,²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Jesus' reputation has clearly gone well beyond the backwaters of Galilee where his ministry began.  News of his activity has reached the ears of King Herod.  This is the first reference to any political power in Mark.  The story of Jesus is not a story of any kingdom but the kingdom of God.

This is the first time that the focus has been taken off Jesus for an extended period and placed on someone else in the gospel.  And the person is not really who we might expect.  The focus is not on John the Baptist who already has played a part in the story, although he will be central in the incident.  It is on King Herod.  It seems reasonable to wonder why the new center of attention.  If this is as Mark tells us the good news of Jesus the Christ, the son of God, what does this incident have to do with it?  Some have suggested that it is to explain Jesus' position as greater than John.  Others see a foreshadowing of the crucifixion.  Perhaps it is a necessary redirection to explain John's absence. Or it may occur when it does immediately following the disciples successful ministry as a reminder that following Jesus is not always easy and sometimes dangerous.

Or maybe, Herod is meant to describe a person who is struggling with the message of Jesus, but the weeds choke out his faith.  Like the soil in the parable, Herod seems fertile ground, but the complications of his life and alliances choke out the gospel.

Herod is a fascinating character.  Being king is not an elected office, but Herod seems as attuned to public opinion as any candidate.  When word comes to him about Jesus he is left to make a decision.

Some suggest to him that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead and this explains his miracles.  Others believe he is the reincarnation of Elijah. Finally some suggest that Jesus is a prophet (which of the claims is the only one with any evidence in Mark--he has just said in Nazareth that a prophet is not welcome in his hometown--the implication being that Jesus does stand in the prophetic tradition).  These speculations mirror precisely those raised by the disciples when Jesus asks them "Who do people say that I am?"

Herod recognizes that Jesus is special, but his own guilt over what he has done to John keeps him from seeing who Jesus really is.  Herod is convinced that Jesus is John, back from the dead and seeking (we can assume) revenge. Herod's concern is not about Jesus, but about what Jesus might do to him.  He is entirely self-centered.

The narrative is then drawn into a retelling of John's execution.  Herod appears to be an easily manipulated person.  Herodias, Herod's wife, but formerly the wife of his brother Philip is offended that John has drawn attention to their relationship.  John has pointed out the violation of scriptural law by the couple, so the response of Herod is to invoke civil law and have John imprisoned.

But Herod seems to have some respect for religious authority and does not kill John immediately, even though his wife pressures him to do so.  Herod doesn't understand John, but likes to listen to him.  This seems in some ways like the disciples of Jesus who like to listen to Jesus but are unable to comprehend his message.  It appears that Herod is on the verge of faith and that the story at this point could go either way.

Herodias saw her opportunity at Herod's birthday dinner.  She sends in her daughter to dance for the gathered men.  Traditionally, this is seen as a lascivious display (which it may have been and, if so, one has further reason to question Herodias and Herod that they are willing to put their daughter on display as an object of attraction) but this is not clearly in the text.  We are told only that she danced for the crowd which may have been an innocent display of talent prodded on by doting parents.  It may say more about us than the text that we turn this into a sexual display.

When Herod promises her anything as thanks, even up to half his kingdom (which suggests that he was either a foolish leader or drunk), she does not know what to do.  After consulting with her mother, she asks for John's head on a platter.

Once again, we are shown that Herod is self-centered and easily manipulated.  He is distressed feeling trapped by his oath and the eyes of his guests.  He seems to forget that he is King and can do what he wants to do.  Herod is a victim of peer pressure.  He will not back out of a course of action that he knows to be wrong.

The executioner is called and the head placed on a plate.  No one seems to want to have the gory mess for long.  It is brought to the king, who looks in horror and gives it to his step-daughter whose reaction is the same.  She delivers it to her mother as quickly as possible.  Herodias is the only person who seems happy with the outcome.

John's disciples come and get the headless corpse and take care of their master's body.  It is a clear contrast to the disciples of Jesus who come to take Jesus corpse and find that it is no longer there.

When faith takes root in Herod, it is choked out by concerns of keeping peace in his family, keeping rash promises, and how he is seen by his friends.  The same story is often repeated in our time in response to Jesus.

Mark refuses to give us a clue about Herod's reaction other than that he thinks Jesus is John raised from the dead as he will just as abruptly move back to the return of the disciples to Jesus.  We are left wondering what Herod will do about Jesus just as Jesus calls us to make a decision as well.

Home And Away

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. ² When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? ³ Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” ⁵ He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶ He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. ⁷ Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

⁸ These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.⁹ Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹² They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Having healed the man possessed by demons and the woman with the flow of blood and Jairus' daughter, Jesus returns to his hometown and at the same time returns to doing what he seems most interested in doing--teaching.

This ought to be a local boy does good moment.  Maybe a parade, or at least a dinner with the mayor--some sort of special recognition for the teacher and his disciples returning now after remarkable miracles to his home.  But Jesus' reception is quite different.

When the Sabbath came, Mark says.  It makes me wonder what Jesus was up to until the Sabbath came.  Did he go by the old house?  Did he show the disciples the playground at the elementary school where he played?  Did he talk with friends about what had been happening?  Did everyone pat him on the back and say "Welcome home!"?  We simply don't know.

But Jesus on the Sabbath is in the synagogue, perhaps an important nudge from Mark to his readers that if it was good enough for Jesus then maybe Christians ought to make a point of being in church on Sunday.  The people who heard him were "amazed."  Which is a very common word used by Mark to describe the response by groups to Jesus.  It is a very ambivalent word.  It certainly is not the same as "believed" or "trusted".  The crowd recognizes that what Jesus has taught is out of the ordinary, but they don't accept it for themselves.

Instead they ask "Where did he get these things?"  Their strategy to keep from engaging the message is to tear down the messenger.  It begins benignly enough attributing to Jesus a certain wisdom and the power to do miracles.  But then the challenges become more malicious.  Isn't he a carpenter?  How in the world could an uneducated tradesman have anything to say?  His mother Mary is a nice enough woman, but he certainly isn't from an influential family.  They would surely have named his father if the family had any clout.  And then there is the list of brothers--we don't know anything about them--were some of them not such upstanding citizens?  And there are of course his sisters who go unnamed.  But a careful reading shows that the one's asking the question can't even bring themselves to say Jesus name themselves.  The demons don't hesitate to speak Jesus name, but this crowd seems to treat him like the Voldemort character from Harry Potter--"he who must not be named".  If they name him will it be harder to dismiss him?  If they say Jesus will it remind everyone that all of the associations that they are calling to mind are really unimportant?  Are they trying to keep the spotlight as far away from Jesus as possible?

And then for me there is that surprising listing of family.  Joseph is lacking.  Some have taken from this that he died an early death.  But more surprising to me is that Jesus had a whopping big family.  What would it have been like to grow up in the crib next to toddler Jesus?  We see Jesus as a solitary figure, but in his early life, there was always a crowd of siblings looking to their older brother.  Four named brothers and sisters in the plural means there were a minimum of seven siblings, maybe more.

And when the crowd moves from amazement to considering that Jesus seemed not much different than they did and came from a family that may have been worse than their own, Mark tells us they take offense.  This is the reason why businesses bring in consultants.  People listen better to voices that are not familiar to them.  If the voice is too familiar, then inevitably personal jealousies creep in to the equation. The townspeople knew Jesus as a little boy and his family and they could not hear the remarkable gospel because they confused the message with the messenger they thought they knew.

The epilogue to the story is that Jesus utters the well known "A prophet is without honor in his own country."  Just as interesting though are the next sentences.  First, the people's attitude is able in some ways to stop God's power.  Jesus could not do any miracles among them.  But the people's unbelief is not powerful enough to fully turn off the spigot of God's grace as Jesus is able to heal a few (which strikes me as pretty miraculous in its own right).

Jesus reaction to the crowd taking offense is the same as the crowd to his wisdom.  He is amazed.  The crowd is amazed at what Jesus has (his wisdom) while Jesus is amazed at what they lack (the wisdom to have faith).

This profound failure among the inhabitants of his home town is immediately followed by remarkable success in the neighboring villages.  Jesus begins to send out the disciples two by two.

His instructions are to travel light.  To rely on the kindness of the people they encounter.  They are not to arrive, find a place to stay, and immediately begin trying to climb the social ladder to better accommodations.  They are to find a place and stay there.  If they find the people not receptive, they are to shake the dust off their feet and go elsewhere.

What is most interesting when read in context is that there is no record of Jesus shaking the dust off his feet when he leaves his hometown.  Why is this?  Is it because as the Son of God, Jesus has divine patience over human sinfulness?  Is it a nostalgic fondness for the people he grew up with?  Is it an example for the disciples that it should be quite a while before this step is taken?

The dust will be a testimony against them, which reminds me of the parable of the soils.  Is the dust rocky or hard or filled with weed seeds?  Is the testimony against them a revelation of the way they have rejected the gospel?

The disciples--who have been obtuse and misunderstood almost everything to this point, being only correct in following Jesus command to follow--are when sent out and following the directions of Jesus remarkably successful.  They do what Jesus does.  They preach repentance (which doesn't seem remarkable to us, but is the first thing Jesus does and the first things his disciples do), drive out demons (which we would give top billing) and bring healing.  The disciples at their best, even with their personal failings imitate Jesus and the world is changed.

Do Not Be Afraid

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” ⁴⁰ But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Following his foray into gentile territory, Jesus returns to his home area.  Once again, the crowd seems to immediately assemble around him.  A synagogue leader named Jairus comes, and like Legion, falls at the feet of Jesus.  Just as the demoniac (both before and after the possession), he begs Jesus to do something for him.

Jairus' plea is quite personal.  His daughter is dying.  While we may not have personal experience with violent demons, all of us know the tragedy of losing a loved one.  In that short sentence, "my little daughter is dying" lies the unfathomable pain and grief that is a part of our human condition.

Jairus believes that Jesus' touch is necessary to bring his daughter's healing.  This is interesting because of the healings that have occurred so far, two have required Jesus' touch (the leper and Peter's Mother-in-Law) but three have required only Jesus' words (the evil spirit, the paralytic and Legion).  But in this passage, Jesus' touch is an important element in the healing of Jairus' daughter as well as in the central story of the woman who will touch his garment.

As Jairus leads Jesus to his home, the crowd understandably follows along.  They are anxious to see what will happen.  Jairus appears to be the first person in the authority structure of the Jewish faith who encounters Jesus and accedes to his power.  All the other scribes and pharisees are angered by Jesus, and have instituted their plans to get rid of him.  Why is he willing to buck the system?  This may be due to Jairus' despair at his daughter's condition.  He will try anything to help his daughter.  Jairus' maverick action was certainly a fascination for the crowd.

Mark often places a story within a story, and here is a perfect example. Suddenly the focus shifts from Jairus to the woman with the issue of blood. Like Jairus, she knows suffering.  She has been to the doctors of the day (whose enlightened treatments of such ailments included ingesting animal feces) with, to what should be no surprise to our modern minds, no healing and actually worsening results.

She has suffered for 12 years from her condition which was not only a physical one, but also a spiritual one.  Her bleeding would make her perpetually unclean.  Not only would she be excluded from society, anyone who came into contact with her would also need to go through a week long purification.  Merely her touch would profane anything with which she came into contact.

Like Jairus and Legion, she is at the end of her rope, sneaking anonymously into the crowd.  Had she been noticed, the reaction would have been violent towards her.  But somehow undetected, she makes it to Jesus and touches the back of his garment believing that the touch she needed was not from the hand of Jesus but from her hand touching not Jesus, but Jesus' clothes.  And Mark tells us, she is immediately healed.  Now this is the opposite of the way purity is supposed to work.  If I touch a clean plate with a dirty hand the plate gets dirty, it doesn't make my hand clean.  The Jews believed that this touch would have made Jesus impure, not the woman pure.  But once again Jesus confounds their expectations

Then comes the strange response from Jesus, "Who touched my garments?"  The short answer is everyone probably touched him in the jostling of the large crowd.  The disciples can not figure out what the fuss is all about.  But Jesus keeps looking.

The woman knows the jig is up and falls on her knees before Jesus.  This is the third time in the chapter that someone bows to Jesus, but the first time it happens after the healing.  The now healed woman pleads with Jesus because she is afraid of what Jesus will do.  She has trusted Jesus for healing, but now is frightened that Jesus will condemn her for her impudence.  She has broken a series of social taboos in touching Jesus--she is unclean, she is a woman.

But Jesus responds with compassion and with a redefinition.  She believes that touching Jesus garment has healed her.  Jesus feels the power go through him.  He will not let her go thinking that the touch has healed her.  Jesus tells her that her faith has made her whole.  She is to no longer be afraid, but to be at peace and freed from her suffering.  He sends her off as another disciple.

It may have been common practice, but it seems jarring to hear Jesus refer to this woman as "daughter".  It seems to remind us that Jesus' mother, brothers and sisters are those that do his will.  And it serves as a bridge between the two stories--between Jairus whose love for a daughter has caused him to seek help and this "daughter" of Jesus who is healed by Jesus.

As Jesus is pronouncing a blessing on this persistent woman, some messengers arrive from Jairus' home.  They tell Jairus that Jesus is no longer necessary for his child has died.  In that moment Jairus' world stopped and slowly fell apart at his feet.

Jesus is remarkably calm in the midst of the news telling Jairus not to fear but to have faith.  This provides another link with the nested story as the woman with the issue of blood has been an example of the healing power of faith.

Here Jesus pauses to thin the crowd.  It is an interesting move.  Perhaps the crowd loses some interest upon hearing that death has occurred and begins to dissipate on its own.  They say to each other that there is no hope of seeing a miracle now.  Jesus has only his close circle (Peter, James and John) of disciples to accompany him.

But even as Jesus dismisses one commotion, another awaits him.  People are crying and wailing in grief.  Of course, it was the custom of the day to hire professional mourners and it may well be that these grievers that Jesus meets outside the house are actually being paid.  This might explain their laughter rather than shock or anger at Jesus who tells them the child is only sleeping.

Once again, Jesus is intruding into the commerce of his day in the same way that he has left swineherds and doctors out of jobs, now these mourners will have to find a new way to make a living.  Even though Jesus is not the one who has hired them, he dismisses them and we are left with Jairus and his wife, the disciples, the little girl and Jesus.

In this peaceful setting, Jesus takes the girl's hand and tells her to stand up. She does this immediately to the surprise of everyone (if she had been only asleep, it must have been quite sound to last through the wailing of the mourners!).

Did you notice how old the girl is?  12 years old, the very same length of time that the woman suffered from the issue of blood.  The number may be symbolic, or it may be the memory link that brought these two stories together in Mark's mind.  

Now, again on home soil, Jesus tells everyone to keep this all quiet.  The chapter that has begun in a foreign cemetery with a wild man ends in a bedroom with a girl wiping the sleep from her eyes. 

Do not be afraid; just believe.

Legion

5 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. ² When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³ This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴ For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷ He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” ⁸ For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” ¹³ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

¹⁴ Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷ Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

When Jesus and his disciples get in the boat to go to the "other side", they are going to land outside of Jewish territory.  There is a fair chance that given the patterns of commerce and the insular nature of the state of Israel, none of the disciples had ever been there before.  After all, why would they want to go to a pagan place when everything they needed was readily available in their own villages.

So, after the scare on the lake, they land, some eyes wide with wonder and others their eye narrowed in jingoistic suspicion.  Their worst fears are confirmed when the welcome wagon arrives.  They got in the boat to leave the crowd behind and now they are met by another crowd, this one in the body of a single crazed man.  Like many people, his condition has come to define him.  He has no name other than the one that the demons will announce later in the encounter.  Like many people who don't fit in, he becomes not a person with a name but a body with a condition.

He is living among the tombs and in a way he is dead already.  The man has been driven from polite society because they are unable to "civilize" him.  He no longer receives invitations to family dinners or joins his friends for the afternoon.  They have all abandoned and forgotten him.  He lives among the dead because he is as good as dead to his own community.

The demons that posses the man are violent and strong.  Like a circus strongman, he breaks the chains and shackles that are placed upon him.  The violence was not only directed toward his family and town, but also on himself as he would cut himself with stones.  A pathetic lonely figure, it is not clear whether this self-harm is the destructive nature of the demons turned inward or the self loathing, self punishment, or even attempted self cleansing of the man towards his possessors.

As Jesus gets off the boat, the man runs up to him and falls on his knees.  Mark includes the fascinating detail that the demoniac sees Jesus at a distance, this implies that he could run away rather than towards Jesus, but even his demons can't keep him from approaching.  Remember this is the dangerous man who can't be bound, but at the sight of Jesus he falls to a posture of submission (worship?).

The disciples have just asked "Who is this?" on the boat, and the man from his knee bellows in an evil rage the answer for all to hear.  "What do you want from me, Jesus, son of the most high God?"  Here we have again repeated the title given in the opening verse of Mark.  This is the second demon (interestingly this one in gentile territory as if to make the point that Jesus is bigger than just the Jewish religion) to make the pronouncement following the one made by the heavenly voice at Jesus baptism.  The disciples, who have had the benefit of individual instruction and viewing close hand the acts of Jesus don't know who he is, but the first time the demons lay eyes on him, Christ is recognized.

Jesus ask the man's name, whether in the steps of an ancient exorcism to exert authority over the demon or in compassion wanting to have his name to show that he is more than his condition, we do not know.  And it really doesn't matter as the name that is given--Legion--is the condition that grips the man.  Whether there is a sly jab at the Roman occupiers of Israel in this account is not clear.

The demons beg not to be sent out of the area and Jesus accedes to their request and drives them into a herd of unclean pigs.  The destructive demons porcine presence causes the animals to plunge off a cliff to their death.

Polite society could conveniently forget about the demoniac among the tombs, but now Jesus has threatened their livelihood.  Who will after all make restitution for the herd?  Upon hearing about this lemming-like leap, the town leaders go out to find the formerly out of control man now in his right mind and dressed.

How will they respond?  Will they celebrate and throw a party?  After all, the lost one has been restored.  As an aside, this story has odd echoes of Luke's story of the prodigal son in it.  The demoniac and the father see the Son/son from afar and run to him.  In the far off country, the prodigal slops the pigs and the demons from the man are sent into the herd.  But the difference between the Father and the town is striking.  The Father rejoices at the son's return.  The townspeople don't rejoice but beg Jesus to leave.

The demons beg to stay in the region.  The townspeople beg Jesus to leave.  The harsh reality is that people would rather have things stay as they are rather than risk things being turned upside down by Jesus.  They would rather have their livestock than the man restored.

The man who has been healed (resurrected in a way as he goes from living in the tombs back to his home) is ecstatic.  He asks Jesus if he can go with him.  Jesus has previously told others to keep quiet, but here he takes a totally different approach.  Some have suggested that this difference is because the man does not live in Israel.  Rather than inviting him to come with him, he instructs him to go and tell everyone where he lives.  "Go home and tell of the mercy you have received," Jesus tells him.  The man formerly known as Legion is the first foreign missionary!  Everyone knows who he was and who he becomes and when they hear his testimony in the local square they are all amazed at the power that has healed him.