This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 4–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 4:35-41 Teacher, Don’t You Care?
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
It was around sunset when Jesus informed His followers that they needed to travel to the other side of the lake. The reason may have simply been because this was the only way to escape from the crowd. Mark, who usually says so little when compared to the other gospel writers, decided that it was important for his readers to know that no preparations were made before leaving. Why? Perhaps, they were making a quick exit before the crowd realized what they were doing, like a group of rock stars slipping away from mobs of screaming fans.
Shortly after leaving the shore, Jesus fell into an exhausted sleep. Then a wild storm developed that rocked the boat back and forth as each wave smashed against the sides. The disciples were experienced sailors, so they attempted to deal with the storm by themselves. However, it worsened until they knew that they could not handle it in their own strength. So far, there had been nothing to criticize in their behavior, but now they made a grave error. Their mistake was that they had given in to their fear. When they realized that they could not handle the situation, they should have had confidence that their Master was more than able to deal with the problem. When they woke Jesus, they should have been explaining to Him that the storm had worsened beyond anything that they could handle, and they needed Him to take over. Instead, they cried out to Him that they were in trouble, and He did not even care. How many times do we copy the disciples by blaming God for our troubles and accusing Him of not caring? Instead, we should simply be confidently informing Him that the trouble is too much for us to handle and requesting His assistance.
For sinful humans, Jesus is unexpected in every way. Isaiah tells us that Jesus had no beauty that would attract people to him. “For he grew up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground; he had no form and he had no majesty that we should look at him, and there is no attractiveness that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). And yet, people were drawn to Jesus, and the disciples were attracted most of all. However, that attraction was balanced with perplexity. Jesus was unpredictable to them. They never knew what He would do from moment to moment, so the disciples were constantly mystified, confused, and awed by Jesus’ actions and words. On the one hand, He confused them by condemning respectable religious leaders and the traditions that their culture had taught the disciples to respect. On the other hand, He challenged their ideals by praising despicable people, like tax collectors and Gentiles. Because of this, Jesus constantly bewildered His followers. In their eyes, He was full of contradictions. Their Rabbi was a respectful, peaceful rebel, but He was not in rebellion. He was the Messiah, yet He did not conquer anyone by force or rant against the Romans. The disciples were frequently on edge because they never knew what to expect next. Jesus would spend hours in prayer during the night and in the morning come to them with new marching orders from His Father. The twelve men who were Jesus’ closest friends had already made a lot of adjustments to their unorthodox Master, and they probably thought that they were starting to know their Rabbi’s ways, but now, He did something astonishing even by the disciples’ new standards of the extraordinary. Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, reprimanding them as if they were an overenthusiastic puppy who needed a swat on the nose, and the elements responded to Jesus’ authoritative words!
The disciples had already observed miracles of healing and demons being cast out. They had heard wondrous messages that stirred their hearts and reached deep into their souls. Their minds had been stretched by Jesus’ counter-intuitive teachings. They respected Him as their rabbi, yet in their minds, they were still setting limits on Jesus’ power. The twelve men did not understand that while Jesus was no longer omniscient, he was still God. The disciple’s fear and wonder at Jesus’ control of nature was the result of unconsciously categorizing Jesus as a modified prophet. He had done great miracles, but they had read of such miracles being done before. Even raising the dead was nothing new. It is true that prophets had also shown control over the elements like parting the Red Sea and turning back time, but Moses was in a unique category of his own, and the disciples might not have understood what an amazing miracle turning back time really is. Thus, in their minds, they probably thought of Jesus as being special, but maybe not as important as Moses. This episode on the sea forced them to recognize that they were dealing with someone new and different, who was far beyond any of the prophets that they had ever heard about, even their greatest hero Moses. The disciples still did not understand that they were dealing with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but they were widening their views and realizing that they were part of something much bigger than they had ever thought possible.
Christians often follow similar stages of learning to know Jesus. When we first accept Jesus into our lives, we think of Him as a kind of personal knight-in-shining-armor who rescues us and performs miracles in our lives. As we grow to know Him better, we start to realize that He is much more than our personal Savior and more powerful than we imagined, and we expand our ideas of who He is to include Creator and Leader of the heavenly armies. Later, we may have our own personal calming-the-seas moment and start to realize that Jesus is of such importance that we can barely imagine His immenseness. At that point, some people err and forget that Jesus is also small. He can make Himself small enough to fit into every crack and crevice of our lives. Thus, we need to develop faith that God is both big enough and small enough to handle all our problems. We can trust that God can be small enough to keep track of and take care of each of His beloved followers while still being immense enough to maintain the complex balance of the universe at the same time.
DAY 5–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 5:1-20 A Demoniac: The First Missionary
They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.” For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding. All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.” At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs. They began to beg him to depart from their region. As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.” He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
The territory of the Gerasenes was in the area of the Decapolis. The “Dec” part of that word means ten. “Polis” means city, as in metropolis. This was the area of ten Greek cities (which included Damascus). It was a Gentile area, so the presence of a large herd of pigs was not unexpected. Was the demoniac a Gentile or Jew? The passage does not say, but it is highly likely that he was Gentile. The crowds who begged Jesus to leave would have definitely been Gentile.
While we do not know the ethnic background of the demoniac, we do know quite a bit of other information about him. First, he was extremely strong. He had broken the chains used to restrain him, not just once but multiple times. He lived far away from settled areas in the caves that were used as tombs. He wore no clothes. He was in incredible agony from the possession so that his screams could be heard ringing out from the tombs and over the mountains where he roamed. He had repeatedly attempted self-harm by cutting himself with stones. On that day, as he raced toward Jesus and the disciples, the demoniac must have been a terrifying sight with his ratty hair and beard, his naked body filled with scars and maybe bleeding from new wounds while the sounds of his bloodcurdling screams filled the air.
The people of the area must have been terrified whenever they passed by the vicinity of the tombs where agonized screams echoed from caverns and across the land. There would have been chilling tales of sightings of the possessed man crashing around among the tombs. Maybe, he made a habit of charging towards people and attacking them in order to scare them off. Sometimes, demon-possession is an attack on an individual person, but there may have been another purpose in the demons’ possession of this man. The demons may have been attempting to terrorize the locals so much that they reacted in ways that diminished the image of God within themselves. When people fear, they become selfish and self-centered. History shows us that panicked people are willing to commit horrible actions, and terrible beliefs have originated as a response to terror. Frightened people justify actions that they would have abhorred were they not so afraid. Thus, Satan may have been using this man to inspire terror in the population so that they would respond with fear instead of trust. We can see these forces at work when instead of being happy about the possessed man’s restoration, the local population reacted with dread and begged Jesus to leave. They did not approach Jesus in anger because they were outraged over the death of their pigs. Instead, they acted as penitents addressing a powerful being and begging to be ignored. Terror was a habit now with them. They needed time to forget their fear and learn to trust again. Jesus gave them that time. He was not offended when they asked Him to leave. Instead, He provided them with a witness that they could not ignore or deny.
The formerly possessed man begged to accompany Jesus in the same way that the local people had begged Jesus to leave. The man may have worried that he would be possessed again and wanted the security of being with someone who could protect him from demons. Jesus knew that the best situation for the man would be to be separated from Jesus while being given a mission from his Savior. The man took his duty seriously and told his story not just in his hometown but in other places around the Decapolis. In a way, this man was the first apostle sent out by Jesus. Because of the man’s testimony, the people were excited to see the miracle-working Exorcist when Jesus returned to the Decapolis. The witness of one man had turned the whole area around. Jesus transformed the same being who had caused the people to tremble in dread into the messenger who would teach them to trust in God’s mercy and salvation. In the same way, Jesus can transform our fears into faith, our nemesis into our supporter, and our persecutor into our friend. This story sends us a message of Jesus’ patience with our crippled emotions. He understands that this sinful world injures us and causes us psychological damage, and He is willing to give us the time and the message of redemption that we need in order to heal us and transform us into His selfless image.
DAY 6–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 5:21-23 Criss-crossing the Lake
When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea. Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.”
It had been an eventful couple of days, and Jesus and the disciples must have been emotionally and physically exhausted. Jesus had been on one side of the lake and made a quick getaway from the crowd there about evening time. Then a violent storm had developed while He was sleeping, and He had calmed it. The storm may have thrown the little boat off-course, causing them to land in the country of the Gesarenes where Jesus healed the demoniac and was begged to leave by the residents of the area. Now, Jesus and the disciples were back at their home base of Capernaum, where a crowd immediately gathered around them.
As usual, the patient Rabbi reacted with compassion for the crowd of people surrounding Him. No matter how tired or drained Jesus was, He responded with charity when faced with those in need. In John 14:9, Jesus told His disciples that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father. In other words, Jesus’ actions when faced with the crowd at Capernaum provide us with lessons about God. We need never fear that God will grow tired and irritated with our petitions. Instead, we can come with confidence before our patient Father and lay our needs at His feet. He will always have time for us.
It must have been difficult for the leader of the local synagogue to come to Jesus with his request. He would have wondered if Jesus would listen to him since most of his fellow religious leaders were actively opposing this young Rabbi. That may have been the reason why Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged. Jairus probably believed that Jesus would be inclined to reject him and felt that demonstrating broken pride would move Jesus. However, God does not glory in our groveling. It is true that we are frequently broken and ashamed when we approach God, but our brokenness and humiliation are either the results of living in a sinful world or necessities that allow us to be remade into the image of God’s righteousness. These negative feelings are never God’s long-term desire for us. His desire is that we live free loving lives. However, the path to that freedom may pass through life-altering catastrophes that lead to painful self-reflection and humble repentance. In falling at Jesus’ feet, Jairus has provided us with an example of humility and faith that we would do well to emulate, not because God wants it, but because we need it.
Even though Jairus may have been trying to manipulate Jesus’ attitude with his deference, this religious leader was truly sincere in desiring Jesus’ help, which was the real reason that Jesus aided him, not because Jairus had abased himself enough to placate Jesus’ ego. Jairus’ daughter was healed for the same reason that everyone else was healed by Jesus. Jairus had faith, and Jesus has compassion. The leader of the synagogue displayed his total faith in Jesus’ identity and power when he stated that if Jesus would come and lay His hands on Jairus’ daughter, she would be healed. His groveling was not necessary, but his faith was.
There are good reasons to bow at Jesus’ feet, but groveling and manipulation are not one of them. The Bible has other examples of appropriate situations where believers have prostrated themselves before the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:17). Falling at Jesus’ feet is a natural human reaction to being in proximity to pure holiness, but bowing is not a necessary reaction for obtaining Jesus’ help. We kneel at our Savior’s feet because we realize how unworthy we are, not to manipulate Him into doing what we want.
Some believers have thought that repentance requires groveling, showing God how terrible they feel about their sins. They think that if they wallow in their guilt long enough, somehow, they will earn forgiveness. In the past, there were even those who physically punished themselves in order to earn God’s favor. Instead, they were demonstrating how little they understood the God that they claimed to serve. God honors our choice to flee sin whether we have strong emotions attached to that choice or not. Just as Jesus freely gave healing to Jairus’ daughter, He requires nothing more from us than our faith in Him to work miracles in our lives, including freeing us from sin.
DAY 7–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 5:24-34 If I just touch Him . . .
He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides. A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse, having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”
Jesus and the disciples had landed once again on the Galilee side of the lake. The crowds gathered quickly. Among those who flocked to Jesus’ side was the synagogue leader Jairus and a woman who had had continuous menstruation for twelve years. They represented the enormous diversity of the people who gathered around Jesus. Both a respected religious authority and an outcast woman felt the need for Jesus’ attention.
The woman’s condition had harmed her in ways that went beyond the physical. First, she had been damaged spiritually. She would have been considered unclean and would not have been allowed to enter a religious institution because of her condition. In addition, she had been crippled socially. She would not have been able to marry or even interact with others in any daily activities that required close contact. In fact, just to be around most people, she would have had to hide her condition and live a lie. These limitations meant that she was ineligible for both physical and spiritual relationships with others. After living with these restrictions for twelve years, it would have been inevitable that she would develop poor self-esteem. These constraints on her ability to come into close contact with others explain her reluctance to approach Jesus directly to ask for healing in front of the crowd. Just touching a religious man would have made him unclean for a certain time, and that would have been a poor way to repay the man that she hoped would heal her.
At first glance, it would seem strange that she knew immediately that she was healed. After all, even when the blood flow stopped, the rags she used to catch the blood would have still felt wet. However, most menstruation is accompanied by cramping. For years, she had to have suffered pain, from periods of severe cramping to constant low-level discomfort, but when she touched Jesus’ clothing, the pain would have instantly stopped and been replaced by a wonderful feeling of relief. In addition, the tiredness associated with the blood loss would have been gone. Energy that she had not felt since childhood would have flooded through her system.
The woman’s experience with Jesus gives us insight into our own interactions with God. When the Holy Spirit prompts us to act, we may make the first tentative steps towards accomplishing that action, but then we lose courage. However, the Spirit does not give up on us. He finds another avenue that we are capable of traveling with our limited abilities. When the woman who had come so close to Jesus could not make herself push forward to ask for help directly, the Holy Spirit convicted her that simply getting near enough to reach out and touch Jesus’ clothes was enough. She listened to that conviction and was healed. Just like the woman, if we follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance as far as we can, He will find a way to complete our healing.
Another lesson about God can be learned from the woman. Sometimes, we think that we are insignificant and hidden just as the woman did. We believe that we are lost in the crowd around Jesus. We think that we are not important enough to be part of His inner circle. We tell ourselves that it is enough to touch His robes. We do not realize that Jesus is aware of us and drawing us to Him even when we do not have the courage or confidence to approach openly. Jesus refuses to allow us to simply touch His outer garments. He gives us attention and acknowledges us. He heals us. He gets us to respond to Him and start a dialogue. He does not allow us to be isolated from His love and care.
Finally, the contrast in attitude between Jairus and the woman demonstrate how God deals with each of us according to our needs. Jairus was bold in approaching Jesus. True, he fell at Jesus’ feet and begged urgently, but his only fear was for his daughter. He never doubted his right to be where he was. On the other hand, when the woman fell at Jesus’ feet in fear, she was trembling because she expected condemnation for her actions. She believed that she had intruded where she did not belong. Jesus gave both believers the response that they needed. The woman did not only need healing for her body; she also needed the healing of her mind. By forcing a confrontation and then calling her daughter and affirming her faith and right to healing, Jesus demonstrated to her that she was not a thief who had stolen crumbs from the Master’s table. Instead, she was His child who had a right to sit at the table with the other sons and daughters. He returned her confidence in her position in life. Jairus needed something different. He needed to see that no matter what others said—whether they were mourners for his daughter or other religious leaders—there was only one person whose opinion mattered. Jairus needed to have his faith in Jesus stretched because he would soon be faced with scorn from his peers for his approach to Jesus; he needed to have assurance that his trust in Jesus was justified even when people that he had always respected derided his belief. Two different people with two different needs. Jesus interacted uniquely with each one to fill those needs. He does the same with each of us also.