BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

Today’s reading opens with Jesus and his disciples getting dirty. They enter into the thoroughly gentile “region of the Gerasenes” and encounter unclean spirits in an unclean tomb in a land filled with unclean pigs. Mark is making a huge point here. Jesus does not avoid the unclean or broken. He enters in and heals.

A tormented man possessed by a whole legion of demons cries out night and day. Proximity to death defiles a person. The story mentions three times that the man lives among the tombs. Jesus commands the demons to leave the man, then sends them into a herd of unclean pigs that drown in water, symbolizing a cleansing.

Later, a synagogue official, Jairus, begs Jesus to heal his dying daughter before it’s too late. As Jesus and Jairus push through the massive crowd, a lone woman fights her way to Jesus.

She’s been sick for 12 years, bleeding, rendered unclean. Doctors have failed to help, but she’s heard that Jesus can heal. She touches his cloak. Immediately, health and wholeness flood her body. Jesus feels the power leave him and asks who touched him. She’s afraid to admit it was her. She fears an accusation of transmitting her uncleanness. Jesus praises her for showing true faith and sends her away in peace.

Then messengers from the household of Jairus bring news: His daughter is dead. Jesus tells Jairus to believe, and they continue to the house. There, Jesus raises the dead daughter of Jairus back to life. Jesus’ holiness is contagious, bringing life and goodness to everyone he touches.

Whether facing demon possession, debilitating illness, or even death, Jesus brings hope into the most hopeless of circumstances.

Reflection Questions

• In Mark 5:7, the demons call Jesus the “Son of the Most High God.” Meditate on our Psalm 97 reading. Where can you find similar language in this psalm? What might this suggest about Jesus’ power and authority?
• In Mark 6, Jesus sends out his 12 disciples on a mission. The very next story tells us of the death of John the Baptist, the subject of today’s video. Why do you think those stories are back-to-back? What might this tell us about the lives that followers of Jesus should expect?