We are now in Mark chapter five. Jesus and his disciples are still in the boat. " They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him." This guy had super human strength and couldn't be controlled by anyone. He was also strong enough to break any restraints. "Night and day...he would cry out and cut himself with stones." Frankly, if this person existed, he is more likely to have had a mental illness than a demon. Also, the fact that he is alive means that he is receiving some kind of basic sustenance from somewhere.
When the man saw Jesus, he fell on his knees in front of him. Jesus ordered the evil spirit to come out. The man yelled, "what do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high god. Swear to god you won't torture me." So, the evil spirit didn't immediately obey Jesus. First it tried to bargain with him. Jesus ask the spirit what its name was. It said, "Legion, for we are many." Sounds like Schizophrenia.
The demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into some nearby pigs. Jesus "gave them permission." The spirits came out of the man and into a large herd of pigs. About 2,000 pigs ran down a steep bank into the river and drowned.
Interestingly, there actually wasn't any region of the Gerasenes with ten miles of the lake (Sea of Galilee) which Jesus is supposed to have just crossed. It's like the author of Mark doesn't know the region very well. Second, the story suddenly jumps from the lake to a river, possibly the Jordan. Also, this is the east side of the lake, or river, gentile territory, as seen by the herds of pigs. What is Jesus doing here any way? Not to mention, he is now responsible for the death of about 2,000 pigs owned by some sure to be angry pig farmer(s).That's a lot of dead pigs in the river.
The news got out and people came running to see what had happened. They saw the formerly demon possessed man dressed and in his right mind. (This version never says the man started out naked.) The people were told the story and clearly were not happy, because they begged Jesus to leave. Jesus got back in the boat. The cured man wanted to come with him but Jesus ordered the man to go and tell his family how the lord had mercy on him. The man went around the whole region telling what Jesus had done. But there is no extrabiblical record of it.
Next, Jesus goes back to the other side of the lake. Among the large crowd gathered there was a synagogue leader Jairus. This man begged Jesus to come heal his dying daughter. Jesus followed Jairus with the large crowd milling about them. In the crowd was a woman with some kind of ailment that caused her to bleed for twelve years (and she's not dead or an invalid?). It doesn't say what kind of bleeding, presumably it was menstrual. This would have made herself, and everyone who came in contact with her, ritually unclean, including Jesus. She came up behind Jesus and touched his cloak, thinking that just touching Jesus's clothes would give her access to his healing powers, which the story says it did. Jesus felt the power go out of himself and turned around saying, "Who touched me?" The disciples reminded him of the press of the crowd, but Jesus kept looking. Funnily enough, he didn't have the power to know who touched him. The woman confessed, "trembling with fear." Jesus told her that her faith had healed her. Here's the thing about that: this woman's problem was of a hidden/private nature. She could have lied. Jesus could have lied. Even if we were right there, we wouldn't know the truth of the healing without an examination, which of course wouldn't happen. Should we just believe?
Of course we mustn't forget about Jairus's daughter. The story seems to have gotten side tracked. More next time.
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