Tag: Mark

Red Letter Year: 1/21

Mark 5:1-20

healing_of_the_demon-possessed5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. 3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”

9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”

And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.

11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”

13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Comments

There is so much that can be (and has been) said about this story, but I only want to point out one thing. Jesus refuses the man’s request to come along and sends him instead to share his story with his family and region. And really, that’s all he can do. He hasn’t heard Jesus teach, doesn’t know any doctrine, only knows he is “Jesus, Son of the Most High God,” because that’s what the demons called him. But he goes and he shares and he connects people to Jesus because he knows the difference in who he was before Jesus and who he became after. Sort of like when Yoda said to Luke in RotJ, “Already know you that which you need,” this man already had what he needed most. The same is true for us. Our own experience with Jesus is what matters most. These Red Letter Year readings aren’t about helping us do better at Bible-trivia and they’re not empty religious exercises. The same guy Jesus who set this man free has/is/will/can really set you free too. And when he sets you free of whatever your version of crazy is, then you will have what you need most too.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 1/18

Mark 4:35-41

35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

Comments

Such a powerful, vivid story. I really hope more than anything, the picture of this story sticks in your head today. I grew up in and around boats. Both my dad and grandpa did a lot of fishing. We would spend a good bit of time each summer at a fishing cabin in Keaton, FL, fishing the Gulf of Mexico everyday. Sometimes storms would come up, but dad and grandpa never seemed worried, just annoyed at the inconvenience.

Except this one time. There was one time when a nasty looking storm came up fast and the engine acted up. They seemed concerned then. Which was a big deal. Every year (it seemed) someone in that area would die out in the Gulf. Grandpa and dad always seemed to brush those incidents off as people who didn’t know what they were doing. But there we were getting towed into the canal by Uncle Emerson’s boat and all the men seemed concerned. No one was shouting about drowning or anything, but I remember how it felt when their usual confidence on the water blew away in the wind blowing that storm up.

But Jesus was exhausted. He had taught and healed all day, after probably getting up very early to pray and be alone with the Father. If you’re tired enough, you can sleep through almost anything (trust me, I have two teenagers and two under the age of 4). The disciples woke him up, not to do what he did, but just to help bail water and join in the general freak out. I personally imagine Jesus speaking to the storm in a you-just-woke-me-out-of-a-deep-sleep grumpy voice, so a better translation might be, “Shut up! Knock it off!” I then imagine he half-mumbled his questions to the disciples as he was laying back down and adjusting his pillow, just before going back to sleep, gently rocked by the diminishing waves left by the dissipated storm. I find it interesting (and more than a bit amusing) that he calms the storm but not their panic. They were afraid before they woke him up, after they were absolutely terrified.

Anyway, this is how I picture it. Meditate on it and come up with your own picture. Let the Spirit use that mental picture to give you assurance in the storms of your own life. He still calms storms. Even better, there’s room on his pillow to sleep through them.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.