Welcome to Week 5 of our study in the Gospel of Mark, where we are learning about the identity and mission of Jesus. The first eight weeks are on his identity. Who does Mark show Jesus to be?
This week we arrive at Mark 5, where we will see Jesus encounter three desperate people. Three individuals who are in hopeless situations. We will see that Jesus doesn’t just bring hope, but he is hope, even in the darkest, bleakest, and hopeless situations.
This week instead of model prayers there will be prayer prompts. Grab a notepad, a journal, or even just a piece of paper and keep it for the duration of the week. I find that it helps focus my mind on prayer from the distractions that seek to interrupt. This may be new, but just give it a try and let’s see what happens.
Study notes and prayer guides by Will Buschmann, Director of Student Ministries.
Index to Days 2 through 5
Day 1
A Storm Within
Observe
Jesus calmed a violent storm on the sea in the verses just before we arrive at Mark 5. In Mark 5 though, he will turn his attention to a storm that is raging inside of one of the most lamentable characters in all of Scripture.
{Mark 5:1-10 ESV} {1} They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. {2} And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. {3} He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, {4} for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. {5} Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. {6} And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. {7} And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” {8} For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” {9} And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” {10} And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
{Matthew 8:28-34 ESV} {28} And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. {29} And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” {30} Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. {31} And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” {32} And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. {33} The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. {34} And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
The description of this man Jesus encounters is just heartbreaking. The descriptive words of “bind,” “shackles,” “chains,” and “subdue” make him sound more like a ferocious animal and less like a human being. The truth is, this man is a terror to himself and to everyone else around him. The legion (which is the largest troop-unit in the Roman army, some 5,600 soldiers) of demons has utterly destroyed this man’s life, even in life he is resigned to live amongst the dead in the tombs. He is a spiritual, a social, and a religious outcast and outcast seems to not even paint a harsh enough picture of this man’s hopelessness. This is a man and a place where literally no one would want to or even go for any reason at all, yet we see Jesus enter in. The man bows down, because even the demons inside of him recognize Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. Jesus shows that when a demoniac meets the Son of God, it is a no-contest event. Jesus is the Son of God who doesn’t run from our darkness, in fact he willingly enters into it. He is a God who is not asking us to hide the storms that rage within us, but instead for us to willingly and openly allow him to do what only he can do with what goes on inside of us. Jesus has the power to bring light into the darkest situations. To bring hope into the most desperate situations. So let him.
- What storms are raging inside of you right now? Don’t think of the storms of this world, or the storms of someone close to you. Who or what is fighting for your soul today?
- What part of this story shows the beauty of who Jesus is? Do you trust that the same Jesus that met this demoniac is the same Jesus that meets you today?
Grab your journal and your pen. Write down:
- One thing that is beautiful about Jesus from this passage.
- Three things that are storms within you right now. (Think fears, anxieties, temptations, addictions)
Now take some time to fall at the feet of Jesus and give those things to him. Praise him for #1. Confess and ask him to move in the things of #2.
Our key to prayer today is to keep it simple, keep it real, and keep it up.
Day 2
One Person or Two Thousand Pigs
Observe
We see Jesus meets this man and heals him of the demonic forces that control him. At what cost does Jesus do it though?
{Mark 5:11-20 ESV} {11} Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, {12} and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” {13} So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. {14} The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. {15} And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. {16} And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. {17} And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. {18} As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. {19} And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” {20} And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
{Luke 8:26-39 ESV} {26} Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. {27} When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. {28} When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” {29} For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) {30} Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. {31} And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. {32} Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. {33} Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. {34} When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. {35} Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. {36} And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. {37} Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. {38} The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, {39} “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
Jesus takes this man’s demons that cling to him so closely, that they destroy his life and Jesus listens to them and sends them to the pigs. In the moment that follows the 2,000 pigs rush off the side of the cliff and drown in the sea. These pigs would have been the livelihood of the people of that region who raised them to sell them. This would have been a catastrophic loss to the swine herders. The good for this demoniac results in a great misfortune for them. The funny thing is Mark, nor Jesus even mentions or tries to fight back against our feeling that this seems kinda messed up. So what is Jesus teaching us about himself? In the eyes of Jesus, the rescue, redemption, and restoration of one person is far more important and valuable than any amount of capital assets.
This man now healed by Jesus begs that he may follow him. Jesus says no and instead puts this man on mission. He is the first Gentile missionary to be sent out by Jesus to his own people, the Gentiles. And the man faithfully proclaimed to whoever would listen what Jesus had done for him and the people marveled.
- Where in your life do you value the treasures of this earth above the souls of those around you?
- Where have you seen Jesus transform your own life?
- Where and to whom can you tell your story of transformation so that those around you can marvel at Jesus?
Grab your journal and your pen. Write down:
- One area of your life where you value stuff above people.
- One are of your life that Jesus has transformed
- Three people that need to hear about how Jesus has transformed your life.
Now take those things to Jesus. Confess to him #1. Praise him for #2. Ask him for courage and an opportunity for #3 to happen.
Our key to prayer today is from Jesus in Matthew 7,
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Day 3
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Prayers
Observe
We meet our second character in this chapter who is in a desperate and hopeless situation and his only hope is to fall at the feet of Jesus.
{Mark 5:21-24a ESV} {21} And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. {22} Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet {23} and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” {24} And he went with him.
{1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV} {6} Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, {7} casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Jairus finds himself in a desperate situation. His daughter is at death’s door and there seems to be no hope. So Jairus turns to the one he must have heard about that has power in times that only seem to lead to defeat. Jairus teaches us a lesson on prayer.
- Prayer finds hope at the feet of Jesus.
- Posture matters. He falls down at the feet of Jesus. His humble posture matches his humble heart.
- His prayer is simple, honest, and real.
- His prayer is expectant. He doesn’t question if Jesus can heal his daughter. He knows he can. He says come, lay hands, so that she may be made well and live.
- Jesus hears prayer and comes alongside the person who prays.
- Where would prayer find itself on the list of important things in your life? Is it the first thought in desperate times or the last resort?
- Is there something that you desperately want Jesus to heal in you physically right now? Is there someone you know who is in desperate need of healing?
Grab your journal and your pen. Write down:
- Somewhere where you need physical healing in your life.
- Three situations where someone else needs physical healing
Take those situations and names to the Lord desperately and expectantly and let him do whatever he decides to do.
Our key to prayer today comes from the Youth Alpha Course. The host says, “We used to not pray for physical healing and no one was healed. Now we pray for physical healing all the time and sometimes people are healed.”
Day 4
Just a Touch
Observe
As Mark often does, he inserts a new character right as another story begins to unfold. Our third character who comes to Jesus in a desperate situation is a woman. This woman’s situation is that she has had a discharge of blood for 12 years, suffered under physicians and has spent everything she has. With all of that she has not only not begun to get better, she has actually begun to get worse.
Here is a work of art that resides in a church in Magdala, Israel that is based on this story.
{Mark 5:24b-34 ESV} {24} And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. {25} And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, {26} and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. {27} She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. {28} For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” {29} And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. {30} And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” {31} And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?'” {32} And he looked around to see who had done it. {33} But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. {34} And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Jesus is headed towards a dying little girl, yet he stops. Jesus is the Son of God who is committed to ministering to human need. He values individual people in the midst of their individual stories and this woman will be included in that. This woman’s condition is quieter, but scarcely less urgent than the dying little girl’s ailment. She is in a desperate situation that is worsening with no hope of healing, except if Jesus intervenes. This woman’s condition was not only one that made her suffer physically, but also one that made her suffer religiously and socially. According to the Torah, a woman was unclean for seven days after menstruation. This meant that this woman remained unclean in the eyes of the religious elites and unable to enter into the Temple for the 12 years that this condition burdened her. Not only that, but if anyone came into contact with this woman they too would be banished from the Temple until the evening (Lev. 15:19-27). This woman was desperate, but she had faith. She shows her faith to be big by knowing her role in her healing to be small. She believes that Jesus has the power to heal her even if she just touches the edge of his garment. She would have had to get down on the ground to touch his garment in a posture of humility. And she does exactly that. Now how does Jesus respond to an unclean woman touching him? Is he angry? Does her uncleanliness transfer to Jesus like it would have to everyone else? No, not only does her uncleanliness not go to Jesus, his power overcomes her uncleanliness and makes her clean. It’s beautiful. This is who Jesus is. The perfect God who by his power takes unclean people and makes them clean. Who takes desperate people and gives them hope. Who takes those with little faith and meets them exactly where they are. He calls her daughter and tells her that her faith has healed her.
- How would you describe this woman’s faith?
- How would you define faith yourself?
- Where is faith hard right now for you?
Grab your journal and your pen. Write down:
- Three times in your past that the Lord has been faithful.
- One area where you need the Holy Spirit to give you faith in a situation right now.
Go to Jesus in prayer. Praise and thank him for #1. Confess and ask him for #2.
Our key to prayer today comes from Hebrews 11:1:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Day 5
No Fear Just Belief
Observe
Jesus’ detour with the woman yesterday is costly for Jairus’ daughter or so it seems.
{Mark 5:35-43 ESV} {35} While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” {36} But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” {37} And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. {38} They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. {39} And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” {40} And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. {41} Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” {42} And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. {43} And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
{John 11:1-44 ESV} {1} Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. {2} It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. {3} So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” {4} But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” {5} Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. {6} So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. {7} Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” {8} The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” {9} Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. {10} But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” {11} After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” {12} The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” {13} Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. {14} Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, {15} and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” {16} So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” {17} Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. {18} Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, {19} and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. {20} So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. {21} Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. {22} But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” {23} Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” {24} Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” {25} Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, {26} and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” {27} She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” {28} When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” {29} And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. {30} Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. {31} When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. {32} Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” {33} When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. {34} And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” {35} Jesus wept. {36} So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” {37} But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” {38} Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. {39} Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” {40} Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” {41} So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. {42} I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” {43} When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” {44} The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Hope is lost, fear rules the day, and death triumphs. We thought Jairus’ situation was as desperate as it could be, but we see that now it seems that Jesus was just a little bit too late to save her. Weeping is the only thing to be heard. Jesus though is quite firm to not fear and only believe. He walks in with a few people around him, tells the dead little girl to get up, and she does. She goes from death to life in that very moment. Jesus meets three different characters in three different desperate situations and proves that he has the power over each of them. That he is hope in the midst of crises. He has the power over the spiritual realm and demons. He has the power over disease and sickness in the body. He even has the power to bring life out of death. He is God. Amazingly, he has given us the ability to go to him in humble, courageous, and expectant prayer with anything that we face.
- Why is it difficult to fully believe this story for you?
- Where in your life does it seem like fear and death are winning right now?
- How can you bring those things to Jesus today in faith? Will you?
Grab your journal and your pen. Write down:
- Your doubts about Jesus’ power to transform things here on this earth.
- One area that is dead in your life right now.
- What you want him to do with that dead area.
Go to the feet of Jesus in prayer. Confess and admit what you wrote down in #1. Take some time to sit and lament in #2 with him. Boldly and confidently ask for whatever you wrote down for #3.
Our key to prayer today comes from Jesus in John 11:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”