ONLINE BIBLE STUDY: "Interrupted on the Way." MARK, CHAPTER 5, verses 11-34.

After Jesus had healed the daemon-possessed man in the land of the Gerasenes, he returned by boat to the more familiar Galilean side of the Sea of Galilee, where he was soon surrounded by a great crowd.  There a man named Jairus "repeatedly" begged Jesus to come to his house and "lay hands" on his desperately sick daughter, so that she might be made well and live.  Jairus was a "leader in the synagogue," and although the exact nature of Jairus' office is difficult to determine, it was evidently a position of some status.  As Jesus followed Jairus toward his house, large crowds followed Jesus and pressed upon him.  Mark's narrative indicates that Jesus' journey to Jairus' house was interrupted by a woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, despite the efforts of many physicians.

According to Mark, the woman had "endured much," at the hands of the physicians, and had spent "all she had" on their unsuccessful efforts to cure her.  Have you known people who have spent almost everything they had on medical care?  It is easy to imagine the frustration and desperation that such efforts could have generated, especially where the treatments had failed to produce any benefit.

In the woman's case, the problems would have been compounded by the fact that chronic bleeding may have left her in a continuous condition of ritual impurity.  See Leviticus 12:1-8 and Leviticus 15:19-30.  Not only was the woman apparently "unclean," but everyone who touched her might also be considered unclean.  According to Leviticus 15:19, anyone who touches a woman during her "regular discharge" is also unclean "until evening."  Leviticus 15:25 indicates that "If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness; as in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean." 

This ritual uncleanness also presented a special problem for the woman who now hoped to be healed by Jesus.  She presumably knew that Jesus was on his way to "lay hands" on the daughter of Jairus, in order to heal the girl of her sickness.  Jesus might be able to heal the woman's bleeding condition on the way, but if he "laid hands" on the bleeding woman, he would make himself "unclean" until evening.  In that case, Jesus might not be able to attend to Jairus' daughter in time to save her.  On the other hand, if the woman did not reach out for Jesus' help now, she might never see him again.  Have you ever been in a situation in which the apparent solution of your own problem would apparently cause a problem for someone else?  In which an affirmative answer to your prayers meant a denial of someone else's prayer request?   How would you decide what to do or pray for?

 The unnamed woman in Mark's account evidently decided upon a plan that would attempt to obtain a cure without making Jesus "unclean."  She seems to have rationalized that if she touched only the fringe or hem of Jesus' garment, Jesus would not have consciously "touched her," and he would still remain ritually pure.  Perhaps that minimal, indirect contact would still be enough to provide her some relief from the bleeding condition.  Managing to touch the hem of his garment in the midst of a large and pressing crowd, though, would be difficult and perhaps even dangerous.  She would have hurry her way through the crowd (without angering people by touching them), and she would have to kneel down, reaching out toward his feet, probably from behind.  It would have been humiliating, and she could have been accidentally trampled in the process.  Have you ever known anyone who was willing to do something totally humiliating or dangerous, to gain some great reward? 

In the midst of the raucous crowd, Jesus surprised his followers by asking who had touched him.  Was he kidding?  There were whole masses of people touching him--why would he ask that?  He said he felt his power being used.  The woman came forward "in fear and trembling" and confessed her whole plan.  Had she been secretly trying to "take advantage" of Jesus' power?  Have you ever been caught out, in the midst of a secret plan, worried about how your efforts would be received?  Why did Jesus then address the woman as "daughter"? 

If Jesus knew she was there, why did he not simply turn and heal the woman?  Amazingly, the woman was already healed, apparently without Jesus' having to do anything.  According to Jesus, her faith had resulted in her healing.  Yet he had earlier indicated feeling "power" going forth from him.  Is faith alone ever enough to result in healing?  It is interesting to note that the word translated "healed" also means "saved" or "rescued" or "restored."  Is the story really more about a physical cure, or restoration to social and spiritual wholeness?  Or both? 

According to Mark, Chapter 5, verse 6, before Jesus could continue his journey to Jairus' house, messengers arrived to declare that Jairus' daughter had died.  How would the woman have felt, upon hearing this news?  How should we respond, when it appears that we have been recipients of some great blessing, while others still suffer loss and sorrow?

ONLINE BIBLE STUDY: "Crazy Man in a Creepy Place." MARK, CHAPTER 5, verses 1-20.

Chapter 5 of the Gospel According to Mark contains accounts of three separate healings by Jesus, and it makes sense to examine each of these individually, before considering them in their relationship to each other.  Verses 1-20 describes a mysterious episode in which Jesus acts as an exorcist.  "Daemons" in the ancient world were considered to be whatever mysterious forces caused diseases, ailments and troubles, and especially, whatever caused mental and behavioral abnormalities.  Then as now, psychotic behavior was frightening to people whose behavior seemed more "normal," and disruptive people who seemed captive to such "daemons" were forced to live apart from regular society.

The episode described in this lesson began in a way guaranteed to make the disciples feel ill at ease.  Jesus and the disciples emerged from the storm at sea, only to arrive on the "other side of the sea" at the land of the "Gerasenes," a foreign people who have not otherwise been clearly identified.  They were clearly not Israelites, though, because much of their economy seemed to involve the herding of pigs, animals with which the Israelites were forbidden to have any contact.  The disciples, then, must have felt not only uneasy in the unfamiliar environment, but also "grossed out" by the presence of thousands of "unclean" animals.  (Can you recall times when unfamiliar circumstances made you feel not only uncomfortable, but even revolted?)  I suppose it must have felt like arriving in a country where people kept huge quantities of rats for food.  Worse yet, the group came upon a man who lived in a graveyard (more "uncleanness"), whose "howling" behavior was so frightening that people had tried (unsuccessfully!) to restrain him with chains.  He had broken out of his chains, and no one had had the strength to restrain him.  He shouted out to Jesus at the top of his voice, and the disciples must have been terrified.  Jesus, though, seemed unafraid, as he demanded that the "daemons" come out of the man.  He then asked the man's name.  The man replied, "Legion, for we are many."  (Can you recall a time when you felt beset by too many troubles to name?)  Then, very interestingly, the man
begged him (Jesus) "not to send them out of the country."  This sounds to me like Shakespeare's Hamlet declaring that sometimes people "would rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of."  There was once a country song that proclaimed, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."  Can you recall any time when you were reluctant to abandon old habits and embark upon a new way of doing things, even though you knew that the new way would offer better health or better self-esteem?

The unclean spirits (tacitly admitting Jesus' authority over them) begged Jesus to let them go into the nearby herd of swine.  Jesus granted the request, and the daemons, rather than killing the man, entered into the swine, who promptly ran down a steep bank into the sea, where they drowned.  At this point in the story, I always find myself feeling sorry for the poor pigs--what had they done wrong?  But in feeling that way, I think I am forgetting that the pigs were destined for the market and dinner table, not happy, long lives in the country.  The drowning of the pigs is really intended to show the visible destruction of the daemons.  Like the witches in stories like Snow White, The Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel, these daemons would not be returning to torture anyone after Jesus left.  Jesus' dominion over evil was complete and permanent.

Moreover, Jesus was placing the health and social restoration of the man above the economic interests of the wealthier people of the city.  When the swineherds ran into the city to tell everyone what had happened, they came out to investigate for themselves.  They saw the demoniac (still unnamed) "sitting there, clothed and in his right mind."  Instead of rejoicing, they were "afraid," and they ran and reported what they had seen.  The people then came out and begged Jesus to leave the area.  The man whom Jesus had healed begged to be able to go with Jesus, but Jesus ordered him to "go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you."  He then began to tell what Jesus had done for him "in the Decapolis," that is, in all of the ten large, Greek-speaking cities east of the Jordan river.

Why would the people of the city be afraid of Jesus?  After they had seen the "demoniac" restored to his health and right mind, why would they ask Jesus to leave?  Do you know of anyone who has become frightened or angry when his or her personal financial security has been disadvantaged, so that someone worse off could be helped?  Have you ever felt that way?

Why didn't Jesus invite the demoniac to join his group of disciples?  How would you have felt, if you had been told to remain where you are and tell your friends about what God had done for you?  

How many "friends" could a naked, chained, howling, crazy man have had?  However many "friends," he started out with, what is the significance of Mark's claim that the man began to talk about Jesus all over the whole region?