Being with Jesus and hearing his word

Enter the story

People come from many places. Some want to be healed, and the crowd presses in. Notice both what Jesus does and what he will not accept.

Commentary

After this confrontation with the Pharisees and the Herodians who were planning to kill him, Jesus withdrew from the town with his disciples. Even so, a large crowd from all over Galilee follows him to the lake. Indeed, many people come to him from the south (Judea and Idumea), the east (the land beyond the Jordan) and the northwest (Tyre and Sidon). They come because they have heard about everything he had done.

The crowd presses in so tightly that Jesus asks his disciples to prepare a boat in which he can escape. Everyone in the crowd reached out to touch him, believing that touching him would heal their afflictions. The word for afflictions here is rather unusual, since it is also translated as “a whip or a lash.” Some thought that illnesses were lashes from God, but Jesus rejects that idea by making them well.

Several of the people crowding around him were clearly afflicted by unclean spirits. The words unclean spirits, evil spirits and demons are really synonyms. When these people touched Jesus, the unclean spirits fell down and affirmed that Jesus was the Son of God. Here we have another example of Jesus commanding the demons to be silent, but only after they have confessed who he is.

This passage in Mark simply gives a summary of Jesus' ministry. Mark teaches us about Jesus' authority, power and popularity. It is curious that although Jesus does not want testimony from evil spirits, Mark still chooses to include this event in his Gospel as another way of revealing Jesus' power and authority, particularly through the title Son of God. But Jesus does not want testimony from someone who does not follow him. It is not accepted. Those who say “Lord, Lord” but do not follow are not received by Jesus, either in his ministry or in his congregation, in Mark's time or in ours.

Look closely

Where do the people come from, and why do they come? What do the unclean spirits say, and how does Jesus respond?

Reflect

What am I seeking from Jesus? What does it mean for my faith to find expression in following him?

Together

How can we help people come to Jesus and get to know him?

Live it out

Pray for someone who needs help, and give that person time and care.

Enter the story

Jesus calls to himself those he wants. Before we read about what they are to do, we hear why they are to be with him.

Commentary

Jesus withdraws even further from the towns and the crowds following him by going up into the hills around the lake. There he calls to himself those he wants. He calls twelve men, whom he also names “apostles” or “those sent out.” Jesus had two reasons for choosing these twelve men:

[1] “that they should be with him,” and [2] “that he should send them out [a] to proclaim good news, the gospel, and [b] to have authority to drive out evil spirits

It is worth noticing that the verb send out is the same word as the noun apostle. A modern synonym is envoy. The first purpose for those sent out was to be with Jesus. Having been with Jesus is necessary for those sent out to fulfil the second purpose: to proclaim the gospel and drive out evil spirits. These envoys proclaim the good news both during Jesus' ministry and after his death, burial and resurrection. The first message was: “God's kingdom is near”; the later one was: “We enter God's kingdom by trusting the gospel that Jesus was crucified for our sins and rose again on the third day so that we could have eternal life.” The ministry of those sent out was also to include authority to drive out evil spirits. The authority to drive out demons was a sign that the new kingdom was stronger than the demons and that the new kingdom had truly come in the person of Jesus and through the authority of those he had sent out.

The title the Twelve is used on its own as the name of the group Jesus chose from among his followers. The names of the Twelve are listed with some interesting additions. Simon is given the name “Peter.” James and John are called “the sons of thunder” or “the fiery sons” (see Mark 9:38 and Luke 9:54). Another Simon is called “the Cananaean,” which in Aramaic means “the zealous one” and is usually translated as “the Zealot” in the Norwegian Bible 2011. This is a name for the fervent group hostile to Rome that readily resorted to violence. Mark places Judas Iscariot last on the list, with an ominous description that shows early in the story that Judas is the one who will eventually hand Jesus over to the authorities.

This passage gives a good picture of the different groups who followed Jesus. The large crowds come because they have heard about Jesus, and many want to be healed. Then Jesus chooses the Twelve to be with him. Yet the description of the Twelve reveals an inner circle of three. The innermost three (Peter, James and John) were the first three Jesus chose.

Look closely

Find the two purposes of the call. How is being with Jesus connected with being sent by him?

Reflect

Is spending time with Jesus the very foundation of my ministry?

Together

How can we help one another be with Jesus and take part in his mission?

Live it out

Set aside time to be with Jesus without first making a list of what you must achieve. Read, listen and pray.

Enter the story

Read the whole passage before pausing at the warning about blasphemy against the Spirit. The story about the family surrounds the encounter with the teachers of the law. The three parts help us understand one another.

Commentary

In Mark 3:20–35, Mark uses a literary device in which he inserts one event between two stages of another. Jesus' rejection by his family begins in verses 20 and 21, followed by the account of his rejection by the teachers of the law from Jerusalem (verses 22–30). The completion of his family's rejection comes last, in verses 31–35. Mark uses this literary device several times. He uses events within events that interpret one another, as we shall see in this passage.

Jesus returns from the lake and the hills to his home. This refers to the place where he usually stayed in Capernaum. Mark continues to show Jesus' popularity among the people by saying that the crowd in and around the house was so large that he and his disciples could not even eat.

The next sentence is strange. His own people came to seize him because they thought he was out of his mind. Who were those called “his own”? They were obviously not his disciples or the great crowds causing difficulties. The teachers of the law would certainly have liked to seize him, but they would never be described as his own. Many Bible scholars believe that Mark is referring here to Jesus' family. John's Gospel shows that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him (John 7:3–5). The family was concerned because Jesus' behaviour attracted such large crowds that, according to this verse, he could not even attend to his own needs. The family sets out to seize Jesus. The word seize is used later in Mark 6:17 for what Herod does when he sends men to “arrest” John the Baptist. Jesus' family clearly thinks he is mad, literally “outside himself.” They feel they must seize him for his own sake and take him home.

The teachers of the law from Jerusalem are the legal authorities, or experts in the law, who have come from the capital to the countryside to investigate this popular person and the extraordinary claims being made about him. It is highly unusual for such legal experts from the city to come here. Mark immediately mentions the two accusations against Jesus. Notice that earlier (in Mark 3:2), some of Jesus' opponents tried to bring legal charges against him. The first accusation is that Beelzebul has possessed him. The name means “Baal, the prince.”

The second accusation is that he drives out evil spirits with the help of the prince of demons. The expressions prince of demons and Baal the prince mean the same thing. Notice that his opponents say Jesus has an unclean spirit. Jesus was widely known for driving out demons.

Jesus answers the two accusations in two ways. First he calls the teachers of the law to him and asks them a rhetorical question. Jesus answers the question with three statements. Notice that Jesus equates Beelzebul, the prince of demons, with Satan. The rhetorical question can be answered in only one way: Satan cannot drive out Satan. Just as a kingdom or a household divided against itself cannot stand, Satan could not stand if he fought against himself. If he fought against himself, it would be a sure sign that his end was approaching. Then Jesus tells a short parable that the teachers of the law cannot dismiss. You must be stronger than the strong man to enter his house and plunder his possessions.

Jesus' answer can be summarised in two sentences. Since Satan cannot drive out Satan, and Jesus drives out evil spirits, Jesus clearly cannot be Satan or an evil spirit. And since the one driving out must be stronger than the one being driven out, and Jesus drives out demons, Jesus must be stronger than the demons he drives out.

Driving out evil spirits was a sign of God's power. In Luke 11:20, Jesus says: “If I drive out evil spirits by the finger of God, then God's kingdom has come to you.” In Matthew 12:28, the expression God's Spirit is used instead of God's finger, but the meaning is the same. The coming of God's kingdom is demonstrated through God's power to overcome evil. Good triumphs over evil. Driving out demons was a sign that God's kingdom and power were breaking in, particularly as revealed in the work of Jesus, who drives out the demons. The accusations of the teachers of the law against Jesus are an attempt to call God's kingdom Satan's kingdom. This is a distortion of the good news of the gospel. It describes good as evil. It calls light darkness. Mark is probably also drawing his readers' attention to the strange fact that the very people who should show the way, the legally trained interpreters of the law of Moses, are those who completely turn against and reject the one who fulfils the law of Moses.

In connection with this kind of distortion, Mark raises the question of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To blaspheme means to speak against or to mock, particularly with reference to God. All other sins can be forgiven, but mocking the Holy Spirit is an eternal sin. The Jews had other irreconcilable sins, such as profaning God's name, for then God took vengeance immediately. Likewise, anyone who gave false testimony in a capital case was considered guilty of an unforgivable sin. Mark shows how seriously Jesus takes this question by placing the “amen” expression “Truly I tell you” at the beginning of his statement. The question that arises in this passage is why Jesus singles out the Spirit. The Spirit is God's power. To reject or mock the Spirit is to cut off the power. Remember that Matthew records Jesus' words: “If I drive out demons by God's Spirit …” (Matthew 12:28). Mark's own comment confirms this connection, for the teachers of the law accused Jesus of having an unclean spirit, whereas the Spirit was in fact the Holy Spirit, not an unclean spirit. Fundamentally, this means that anyone who rejects the Holy Spirit as the power in Jesus and in Christianity rejects God, and since all forgiveness comes from God, this sin has eternal consequences.

The text in Mark 3:28–30 does not say that anyone there has committed such blasphemy, but Jesus gives a very serious warning that applies to the teachers of the law, Mark's readers and us. Here lies the real distortion: the one who comes and drives out Satan by God's Holy Spirit so that people may have eternal life is himself called Satan. Anyone who does this has no hope, for he is so distorted that he says white is black and darkness is light, that God's work is Satan's work, that good is evil and evil is good.

The rejection by the teachers of the law contrasts with the crowds' welcome of Jesus. In Mark 3:31–35, his mother, brothers and sisters have come to take him home. They ask him to come out and go with them. Jesus is told that his mother and family are asking for him. Then Jesus makes an astonishing statement identifying his true family. Jesus' true family are those who do what God wills. The parallel passage in Luke says: “Those who hear God's word and do it” (Luke 8:21). That Jesus' true family are those who do God's will, or what God “desires,” shows that people have a choice. Some who have listened to him have chosen to do what God wills. Others, the teachers of the law and Jesus' own family, have chosen to do what they themselves want. You must do what Jesus wants to belong to his true family. Jesus' earthly family and the interpreters of the law, who should have welcomed him, have actually rejected him. The crowd gathering around Jesus is his true family, those who hear and do God's word.

This text is a serious warning against rejecting Jesus. But it is also an assurance that if we choose to do what God desires, when we hear and act on God's word, we will be part of God's true family.

Look closely

What do the teachers of the law accuse Jesus of? How does he answer? What explanation does Mark give in verse 30, and whom does Jesus call his family?

Reflect

What does doing God's will mean in the situation I am in?

Together

How can our community live as Jesus' family and welcome people who want to follow him?

Live it out

Take a practical step in something you know God has called you to do. You may like to share the decision with someone who can pray with you.

Enter the story

Jesus sits in the boat and teaches the people through a story from everyday life. Read the parable first and then the explanation. Notice how often hearing is mentioned.

Commentary

Mark's fourth chapter concerns the responsibility of Jesus' followers, his true family. In other words, it concerns those who hear the Word and do God's will, those who are “inside.” The scene is set in Mark 4:1–2, where a great crowd presses so close to Jesus that he must sit in a boat to teach them from a suitable distance.

Jesus teaches them by telling parables. These are everyday stories with a spiritual meaning. Jesus' use of parables also includes what are called comparisons and metaphors. This chapter contains all three kinds of parables, so it is important to discuss whom the parables were intended for. We are given the parable of the sower and the seed in verses 3–8, and its explanation in verses 14–20. In between, Jesus speaks about the mystery of the parable and understanding it.

The parable is not really about the sower; otherwise we could ask why he sowed seed on the path, on rocky ground or among thorns. Nor is the parable really about the seed being sown. The seed is the Word, the Word about the kingdom, or, in other words, God's word. In this passage, the seed means Jesus' teaching. The point of the parable concerns how people respond to Jesus' message. The different responses are connected with how people hear. Notice that Jesus begins the parable with the command “Listen!” and ends with the refrain: “Anyone who has ears to hear, let them hear!” Notice also that in all four cases, everyone hears, but after they have heard, something happens.

Notice that what they hear is the Word. The absence of the Word makes the difference between growth in the good soil and the lack of growth in the other soils. Satan takes away the Word from what falls on the path. Trouble or persecution because of the Word causes people to fall away in the rocky area. Worries, deceit and desires choke the Word in the thorny area so that it bears no fruit. The Word grows only in the good soil, because there people not only hear the Word but receive it. Opposition to the Word does not come only from Satan. In the rocky area, the Word is heard and received, but when trouble or persecution comes, people take offence and abandon the Word. The cares, anxieties, fears or worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things entering the lives of those who hear the Word create difficulties in the thorny area. All these worries and desires choke the Word so that this person's life becomes fruitless.

The purpose of all seed is to bear fruit. Some seed does not bear fruit because of the shape of the life of the person in whom it is sown. That person hears the Word but is unwilling to do it. Remember that Jesus' true family are not those who merely hear, but those who do God's will. Jesus tells his listeners, and us, that simply listening to the Word is not enough. The Word, which is Jesus' teaching, must be heard, received and allowed to bear fruit in us.

In this parable, the sower scatters the seed. The parable shows us that we do not know beforehand how people will receive the gospel when it is proclaimed. But we must proclaim it to all kinds of people and sow the word in every setting.

The Word is interpreted as Jesus' teaching. We often hear or read his teaching. What matters is not whether we hear the teaching, but whether we do something with it. We know that fruit comes from actions such as planting, watering, fertilising and pruning. As James, the brother of Jesus, said: “Be … doers of the Word, not merely hearers” (James 1:22).

The point of the parable is that we should hear God's word and then put what we have heard into action.

Look closely

What happens to the word in the four kinds of soil? What characterises the good soil?

Reflect

What worries, desires or opposition can choke the word in my life?

Together

How can we help one another receive the word and hold on to it when things become difficult?

Live it out

Choose one word from Jesus that you want to live by this week. Make room for it by putting aside something that occupies your attention.

Enter the story

Those who are with Jesus ask about what they do not understand. He takes time to explain. Read these verses together with the parable of the sower.

Commentary

These two passages give insight into how the parables were understood by those listening to Jesus. The first passage gives Jesus' own words about the parables, and the second gives Mark's understanding of how Jesus used parables. More than the Twelve were present when Jesus was asked what the parables meant. Those who were with him remind us of those around Jesus when his mother and brothers came looking for him. Notice that they also ask about parables (in the plural), not just the one parable Mark has just told. Jesus tells those with him that they have been given the mysteries of God's kingdom. Mystery translates the Greek word mysterion and is a better word to use here than “secret.” The word mystery is used in the letters of the New Testament, but it is a mystery God wants to make known: that the Gentiles are to be welcomed. As in the letters, the mystery is made known, but only to those who hear and do. The mystery is only a mystery to those who are unwilling. As John 7:17 says: “If anyone wants to do his will, they will understand.”

Those who are “outside” are those who have heard but do not understand or act. The expression outside is used twice at the end of chapter 3 about Jesus' earthly family, in contrast to those gathered inside listening to Jesus. The reference to parables here is not only to the parallel stories Jesus tells, but probably means riddles or mysteries, a wider meaning than we usually give the word.

When Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9, he shows the same thing as the parable of the sower: only those who act truly understand. Isaiah 6 tells of God's call to Isaiah to speak on God's behalf. In that context, God told Isaiah how stubborn Judah would be. Judah would see but not comprehend, hear but not understand, for if they really saw and heard, they would turn and be forgiven. This is a picture of God's experience with Israel throughout history. God leads the Israelites out of Egypt, but in the wilderness they complain about a lack of food. God gives them a land flowing with milk and honey, yet they worship other gods who have given them nothing. Again and again, God sends prophets to tell them God's word.

Israel hears and sometimes understands, but far more often ignores the Word. Isaiah can expect that kind of reception. The Christian preacher can also expect a similar reception. This is also the message of the parable of the sower. What is intended to give light becomes a mystery. People may hear the parables, but only those who hear and receive the Word will understand and then bear fruit. The same is true of the proclamation of the gospel. People may hear it too, but it is good news only for those who hear and receive it.

We can all hear the parables, but we must not be like Israel, hard of hearing and slow to understand. We must hear and then act.

Jesus knows that his followers do not fully understand the parables, so he follows the story with an explanation. Mark explains that Jesus spoke the Word to the crowds in many parables, but only as far as they were able to understand. In private, however, Jesus explained the parables more thoroughly to his disciples. Even Jesus' closest disciples did not always clearly understand his explanations.

We who read Mark have the advantage of knowing the end of the story, so many of the parables are clear to us. We are believers, and the parables and the word about the kingdom become clear to us who have heard and obeyed. We have not only the parables but also Jesus' own explanations. Yet Christianity remains a mystery to those who are “outside.” Many hear the words but do not understand what they mean or where they lead. Our task is to keep proclaiming the gospel, sowing the seed of the Word so that some may fall on good soil and bear fruit.

Look closely

Who asks Jesus, and what do they receive? What do verses 33–34 tell us about how he teaches the people and the disciples?

Reflect

What do I need to ask about rather than moving on without understanding? Am I willing to do what God shows me?

Together

Share a question about the Bible text. Read the context together and explore how it helps you understand.

Live it out

Write down one question from your Bible reading and take it to someone you can read and pray with.

Enter the story

Jesus speaks about a lamp and the measure we use. Hear his call to pay attention to what we hear.

Commentary

In this passage, Mark has brought together two statements resembling proverbs, each with an explanation. Between them stands the encouraging refrain: “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear!” This whole passage is also about hearing, just as the parable of the sower was about hearing.

When they bring the lamp is undoubtedly a reference to Jesus as the lamp or the light. Jesus' coming and his teaching are to be seen, not hidden. He is to be received, not rejected. The only right place for a lamp is on a lampstand, and the only right place for the light of the world is where it can be seen. Jesus may have been partly hidden during his ministry, but through what he endured on the cross, Jesus' true nature and mission have come to light. We should listen to his words even more carefully precisely because this is true. Remember again that simply hearing the Word is not enough; we must also do what the Word says.

Pay close attention to what you hear from me is Jesus' encouragement to be very careful and attentive in how we hear, because the more we hear and do, the more we will receive and continue to hear and do. If you have begun to hear and do, you will receive even more. If you do not hear, you will lose even what you may have had.

This passage calls us to hear responsibly. If we let the Word go “in one ear and out the other,” we have neither understood the purpose of a lamp nor been careful enough about how we listen.

Look closely

Where should the lamp stand? What does Jesus say about hearing and receiving more?

Reflect

What happens to what I hear from Jesus when I return to everyday life?

Together

Share something you have learned from Jesus and begun to live out. What have you discovered by doing it?

Live it out

Return to a word from Jesus you read recently. Give it practical expression in an action today.

Enter the story

The farmer sows, sleeps and gets up. The seed grows without his knowing how. Notice both what the farmer does and what he cannot control.

Commentary

God's kingdom is like a seed. Our mission is to sow the seed of God's kingdom in our neighbourhood, at work and in society. The message of this parable is very encouraging. It explains what happens when we sow the word, the gospel of God's kingdom. We have already seen that the soil in which the seed is sown matters for the outcome. This parable has a different focus. Clearly, Jesus wants to convey an important point.

The expression all by itself, or automatically, is the key to understanding the point Jesus wants to convey. God's kingdom includes the whole process: sowing, the seed, the soil, the stalk, the head, the full grain in the head and the harvest. Once the seed of God's kingdom has been sown, it will grow all by itself. I find this wonderfully reassuring to know. The word about God's kingdom has the power to sprout within it. We simply need to sow the gospel of God's kingdom, and it will automatically sprout, grow and bear fruit. But we do not see it immediately. In fact, we have no control or overview of the growth. The seed grows all by itself while the farmer sleeps or does other things.

All by itself, the word about God's kingdom sprouts in human hearts. We do not know how or when it happens; it is in God's hands. But we can rest in the fact that God's word bears fruit and never returns empty. All by itself, the soil produces a crop when the gospel of God's kingdom has been sown.

Look closely

What stages of growth does Jesus mention? What does the expression all by itself mean in this story?

Reflect

Where do I need to rest in the fact that God is at work even though I cannot yet see results?

Together

How can we keep sowing the word without trying to control people or the growth?

Live it out

Share a word about Jesus with someone in a natural way. Pray for that person and leave the growth to God.

Enter the story

Jesus compares God's kingdom to a small seed. Read about the beginning and what grows from it.

Commentary

Jesus seems to be searching for something to compare God's kingdom with. Then he thinks of the mustard seed. It is very small, indeed the smallest of all seeds, but it has great power to sprout. It shoots up and becomes larger than all the garden plants. I like the expression shoots up because it suggests something with power and speed. Once again, Jesus wants to emphasise that God's kingdom begins as a small seed, but it has great power to sprout and leads to great growth.

The mustard bush is not a large tree, of course, but it can become a large garden shrub with big branches producing very many new seeds. These become many new bushes that produce seeds and many new bushes, continually spreading over a larger and larger area. Once a mustard seed has taken root, it soon becomes many bushes and can spread uncontrollably like a weed.

God's kingdom begins as something very small, but it will grow to become the largest, the most widespread. This parable encourages me and gives me faith to share the gospel of God's kingdom with all kinds of people, anytime and anywhere.

It began about two thousand years ago with Jesus giving the missionary commission to his twelve disciples. Now it has reached us and is advancing throughout the world.

Look closely

What is the difference between the seed that is sown and the plant that grows up? What space do the birds find in its branches?

Reflect

What small beginning am I inclined to overlook or despise?

Together

What small steps can we take in our neighbourhood in faith that God's kingdom is growing?

Live it out

Do one small thing that shares Jesus' love or message with someone. Ask God to let it bear fruit.

Enter the story

After the teaching, Jesus and his disciples get into the boat. A storm arises. Read the questions they ask Jesus and the questions he asks them.

Commentary

As evening approached, Jesus said: Let us cross to the other side of the lake. The teaching was over, and now Jesus wanted to go to the other side. He must have been tired, for he fell asleep and slept deeply. A powerful wind arose, a whirlwind, and the waves rose high and broke into the boat. The disciples were terrified, but Jesus slept on a cushion in the stern.

This picture of Jesus brings to mind the Psalms, which say: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you, Lord, let me rest safely” (Psalm 4:8). Jesus was completely dependent on God. He showed his trust by being able to sleep deeply, even in the midst of a violent storm.

The disciples simply do not know what to do; they are afraid. So they wake Jesus and ask: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Although they are afraid of dying, they question his care for them. Jesus first takes control of the storm before dealing with the storm of emotions inside his disciples. Jesus rebukes the wind. “Be silent, be still!” The wind died down and everything became perfectly calm.

Jesus then asks two questions about the disciples' faith and trust. This is the first of several occasions in Mark when the disciples are sharply rebuked for their lack of trust. Jesus first asks why they are afraid. After all, he had said, “Let us cross over!” Why, then, were they afraid of going under? The word Jesus uses here for being afraid is translated in 2 Timothy 1:7 as timid, as something negative and the opposite of power, love and self-control. It is translated as cowardly in Revelation 21:8, in a list alongside murderers, the sexually immoral and unbelievers, who end their lives in the lake of fire, the second death. The disciples are afraid and discouraged, but they take no responsibility for themselves and do nothing except accuse Jesus of not caring. They did not rest in the fact that God would care for them, as Jesus did when he slept in the midst of the storm.

The second question Jesus asks is: “Do you still not believe?” Jesus was amazed at their lack of trust. These men have been with him for some time; they have seen him heal and perform other miracles, but where are their faith and trust? Or perhaps I need to ask myself this question: Where are my faith and trust?

The last question in this story is asked by the disciples, and they ask one another, not Jesus. “Who is this? Even the wind and the lake obey him?” Everyone knows that neither the winds nor the lake are controlled by human beings, yet Jesus speaks to them and controls them. The disciples' unease comes from not really knowing who Jesus is. Is he God? How can he be? They are continually surprised by his power.

We too experience troubled seas, and sometimes we act just like the disciples. Family conflict, accidents, divorce, children's problems, serious illnesses and deaths happen, and our first reaction is often: “Where is God? Why me? Do you not care about me, God?” Sometimes we fear for our lives or our sanity. Why do we have troubled seas, these problems? When problems arise, the first thing we want is a miracle. Is our trust in calm seas or in Jesus? Do we have faith and trust in him when he sleeps, or only when he is awake? Although we grow through unexpected events in life, we would still prefer to avoid them. How can we show our trust in God in troubled times?

Who is this person whom even the wind and the lake obey? He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Look closely

What does Jesus do before and after they wake him? How does the disciples' question change throughout the story?

Reflect

What do I do with my fear? Can I bring it to Jesus and learn to trust his care?

Together

How can we support one another in anxiety and adversity, with prayer and practical help?

Live it out

Tell Jesus about something that worries you. You may like to share it with someone you trust and pray together.

Enter the story

Look at the man before and after his encounter with Jesus. Pay particular attention to what he wants afterwards and what Jesus asks him to do.

Commentary

I have read this story many times, and it is rarely the pigs or the demons that hold my attention. It is three little things said about the man afterwards: he is sitting, he is clothed, he is in his right mind.

Before that, he had been running. People had tried to bind him, again and again, and eventually they gave up and left him out among the tombs. There he cried out night and day and cut himself with stones. The pain had nowhere else to go but inward.

When Jesus asks his name, he does not answer with his own name. Legion, for we are many. I recognise something of that. There are times when I no longer know what is me and what is voices I have taken in: fear, shame, old words from others. It does me good to think that Jesus asks for the name beneath all the noise.

Afterwards, the man sits quietly. I think this is often what grace looks like up close. Not something great and dazzling, but a body finally allowed to rest.

The people of the village become afraid. Not of the madness; they had grown used to that. They are afraid because he is well. I understand them better than I like. There is something in me too that would rather cling to the evil I know than receive the good I cannot control.

Then the man wants to come along in the boat. And Jesus says no. Go home to your own people.

For me, that is the hardest part of the whole story. Travelling on with Jesus to people who did not know him would have been easier. Instead, he is sent home, to those who had chained him. There he is to tell what the Lord has done.

I have felt that longing myself: to get away, to begin again somewhere no one remembers who I was. But perhaps it is precisely at home that our testimony matters most. Not as a sermon, but as a person sitting quietly, clothed and clear-minded, among those who once gave up on you.

Look closely

How does Mark describe the man after he has been set free? What is he to tell at home, and what does he do?

Reflect

What has the Lord done for me that I can tell simply and truthfully?

Together

How can our testimony find expression both in words and in a changed life?

Live it out

Tell someone you know about a particular help or mercy you have received from God.

Enter the story

Read the two stories woven together in Mark 5. A woman has waited a long time, and a father has little time to spare. Jesus meets them both.

Commentary

Two people are waiting in this story, and I recognise myself in both.

Jairus is waiting on the road. His daughter is dying, and he has persuaded Jesus to come with him. Then Jesus stops in the middle of the crowd and asks who touched him. I can hardly read it without feeling the anxiety in my body. Why now? Every minute counts. I know what it means to pray and then watch God apparently take time for something else.

The woman has waited for twelve years. She has spent everything she owned on doctors and only grown worse. According to the law, she is unclean and must keep away. So she comes from behind. She does not want to be seen, only to be well. I understand that. There are things we would rather have healed quietly, without anyone knowing there was something to heal.

But Jesus does not let her go. He turns and searches. Not to expose her, I think, but because a person is more than a body to be made well again. She comes trembling and tells him everything. And he calls her daughter. Perhaps it is the first time in twelve years that anyone has said something like that to her. The bleeding stopped when she touched his clothes. But she became whole when he saw her.

While this is happening, the message arrives: Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher any more.

Then Jesus says the words I have carried with me for a long time: Do not be afraid, only believe. I do not read them as a demand to stop being afraid. Jairus is probably afraid all the way home. But he goes on nevertheless, with Jesus, past those who weep and those who laugh.

Inside the room, Jesus takes the girl by the hand. Talitha koum. Little girl, get up. Mark has preserved the Aramaic words, as though someone never forgot how they sounded.

And then the last thing, which I am glad he included: Give her something to eat. In the midst of something so great, Jesus remembers that a twelve-year-old girl is hungry. Grace is not only powerful. It is practical.

When I am waiting and God seems to stop for someone else, I try to remember Jairus on the road. His waiting time was not wasted. It became the place where another daughter heard that she belonged.

Look closely

What does Jesus say to the woman and to Jairus? What does he do for them, and what practical care does he ask for at the end?

Reflect

Where do I need to keep walking with Jesus while I wait? Has familiarity made me less open to what God wants to do?

Together

How can we support those waiting for help while also being open to God speaking through people we know well?

Live it out

Give practical care to someone waiting through a difficult time. Also listen with fresh attention to someone you easily take for granted.

Enter the story

Jesus comes to his hometown and teaches. The people are amazed, but they also take offence at him. Read what they say and how Jesus responds.

Commentary

The carpenter

There is something particular about coming home. The roads are the same, the houses are the same, and people look at you with eyes that remember who you were. I have felt it myself: you can have lived a long time and travelled far, yet still be met as the person you used to be.

Jesus comes home to Nazareth and speaks in the synagogue. People are struck by what he says. But their wonder quickly changes. Is this not the carpenter, Mary's son? They know his brothers. His sisters live in the village. They have seen him carrying planks and planing doorframes. How can wisdom come from such ordinary hands?

I understand them better than I want to. It is easier to believe that God speaks through someone from outside, with a name and a story we do not know. The everyday makes us blind. We think we know who people are because we know where they come from.

Then there is a sentence I never quite finish wrestling with: He could not do any mighty work there. He only laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. It is as though his love would not force itself on anyone. He could have done more. But he would not do it without being welcomed.

Mark also writes that Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. We rarely read that Jesus is amazed. I think it must have hurt, right here, among those who had watched him grow up.

Perhaps this is a question for me. Where have I forgotten to expect anything? Whom have I decided I know so well that they can no longer surprise me? A spouse, a child, an old friend. Or God himself, in ordinary days, in the texts I have read so many times that I no longer hear them.

The final sentence in the passage is quiet but important: He went around the villages teaching the people. He did not stay in Nazareth grieving. He moved on. Rejection did not have the final word.

That comforts me. Both when I am not welcomed myself and when I realise I have closed the door to him. He does not go away for good. He simply moves on and comes back.

Look closely

What do the people think they know about Jesus? What amazes Jesus, and what does he do at the end?

Reflect

Whom have I stopped listening to because I think I know them so well?

Together

How can we be open to what God wants to do through people in our own community?

Live it out

Listen with fresh attention to someone you easily take for granted. Be open to God reminding you of something through that person.