Setting the scene
Who wrote it
Traditionally John Mark
Who it was for
Followers of Jesus, likely mostly Gentiles
What was happening
Crossing to the Gentile side of the lake, then a girl and a woman made well
Read the full background in the book overview

What’s happening

Jesus and his disciples cross the lake to the country of the Gerasenes. A man with an unclean spirit meets him from the tombs, where he lives. No one can bind him, even with chains; he cries out night and day and cuts himself with stones. He runs and bows down, shouting, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? Don't torment me." Jesus asks his name: "My name is Legion, for we are many." They beg not to be sent out of the country, and ask to go into a great herd of pigs feeding nearby, about two thousand of them. Jesus allows it, and the herd rushes down the cliff into the sea and drowns. The herdsmen run to tell it in the town and the countryside. People come and see the man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they are afraid, and they begin to beg Jesus to leave. The healed man asks to go with him, but Jesus says, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you." He goes and proclaims it in the Decapolis, and everyone marvels. Back on the other shore, Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, falls at Jesus' feet: his little daughter is at the point of death. On the way, a crowd presses around, and a woman who has bled for twelve years, and spent all she had on physicians without being better, touches his cloak from behind, thinking, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well." She feels in her body that she is healed, and Jesus feels that power has gone out of him. "Who touched my clothes?" She comes trembling and tells him the whole truth. "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace." Then people come from Jairus' house: "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any more?" Jesus says, "Don't be afraid, only believe," and lets only Peter, James, and John follow. At the house he puts the mourners out, takes the child's hand, and says, "Talitha cumi," "Little girl, I tell you, get up." She gets up and walks, she is twelve years old, and he tells them to give her something to eat and to tell no one.

Why the setting matters

The east side of the lake is Gentile country, and the pigs are the clue: Jews counted pigs as unclean, so a herd that size suggests a mostly non-Jewish area, and Mark has just brought Jesus across into it. The man lives among tombs, which were themselves unclean for Jews. Where this happened is uncertain: manuscripts read Gerasenes, Gadarenes, or Gergesenes, and Gerasa itself was about thirty miles from the lake, so the name probably covers a wider district or a town nearer the shore. "Legion" was a unit of several thousand Roman soldiers, so the name carries the sound of the occupying army. A synagogue leader like Jairus was a respected local figure who arranged the services. Under the purity laws a woman with a flow of blood was ritually unclean and anything she touched could be made unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27), so her touch is a bold act, and Jesus does not rebuke her. Mark gives the girl's words in Aramaic, "Talitha cumi," which is probably what Jesus actually said. Mark often records the original sound. Jesus' command to silence is part of what scholars call the messianic secret.

Read Mark 5 (World English Bible)

Who’s in this chapter

Jesus

Crosses into Gentile territory, then restores a girl and a woman.

The man from the tombs

Freed from the unclean spirits, and sent home to tell it.

Jairus

A synagogue leader who begs Jesus to come for his daughter.

Jairus' daughter

Twelve years old; Jesus takes her hand and she rises.

The woman with the flow of blood

Ill for twelve years; touches his cloak and is healed.

Simon Peter

One of the three allowed into the house.

James

The second of the three.

John

The third of the three.

Talk it through

  1. The people of the region were afraid and asked Jesus to leave, while the healed man asked to go with him. What is Jesus doing in sending him home instead?
  2. The woman is healed but Jesus still stops and searches for her. What is he giving her that the healing alone did not?
  3. Jairus is told not to trouble the Teacher any more, and Jesus says, "Only believe." What would that have been like to hear?
  4. Both stories come with the number twelve and with uncleanness. What might Mark be pointing at by pairing them?

Read Mark 5

World English Bible

1They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. 3He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, 4because 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. 5Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, 7and 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.” 8For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

9He asked him, “What is your name?”

He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding. 12All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”

13At 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. 14Those 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. 15They 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. 16Those who saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs. 17They began to beg him to depart from their region.

18As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 19He 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.”

20He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.

21When 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. 22Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23and 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.”

24He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides. 25A certain woman, who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse, 27having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. 28For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

30Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”

35While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”

36But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing. 39When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”

40They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying. 41Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!” 42Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.

Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources