Mark 5:1-43
Christ is confronted with three people who face "life consuming" challenges in this passage. Hopelessness is their constant companion. Each of them face very different difficulties but each of them find their solution in the same person, Jesus. It is a comfort to know that no matter what we face or how unique we believe our problems to be, Christ has the power to resolve them according to His will.
CHRIST CONQUERED DEMONS: This poor man was relegated to a life of wondering through the tombs tormented by a legion of demons. The people lived in fear of him and tried in vain to constrain him. He broke the shackles and chains with which they sought to tie him. He was viewed as a lunatic and had no hope of being able to lead a normal life. Then Jesus came on the scene and the demons immediately (Mark seems to like that word) know that He is the Son of God and implore that He not condemn them before the date determined by God. Isn't that amazing that the demons clearly knew and openly declared Jesus to be the Son of God? Yet the Pharisees constantly reject Him. Christ relieves the man by removing the demons and his heart is suddenly free and filled with hope and worship. This lunatic is now longing to follow Christ, but Jesus tells him to return home and testify of all that the Lord did in his life, and that is just what he did. Christ takes a mad man and makes him into a messenger of Good News. This is what God has done in the life of each person who has trusted Christ. The chains of sin in which each of us were bound by Satan are no less real than the chains on this mans arms. The transformation in our hearts is no less real than the freedom this man experienced. The opportunity to testify of His grace is no less of a privilege for us. We have been freed from the shackles of sin and transformed from slaves of Satan to servants of the most high God.
CHRIST CONQUERED DISEASE: This poor woman had suffered for twelve years with a non- stop flow of blood. I can only imagine the agony that this caused her in both pain and shame. As a Jew, she would be considered constantly unclean and prohibited from entering the temple or even her own home in order to keep from "contaminating" them with her uncleanness. We don't know her family situation, but we do know that she was desperate, had spent all of her money on doctors, but to no avail. It just kept getting worse. Hope was gone until she heard of Jesus. She was too embarrassed to ask for healing so she just touched Him in faith that His touch would make her whole. She was right, immediately (there's that word again) the flow of blood stops. For the first time in twelve years she was free, whole and clean. The disease of sin has infected the heart of every man. No matter how hard we try or how much money we spend, there is no way that we can be cleansed apart from Christ. There was a huge crowd around Jesus that day. Many of them touched Christ as they jostled along the dusty road, but only this woman was cured because of her faith. There are crowds of people who may gather around Christ for a wide variety of reasons, but apart from faith in His work they remain infected by sin. Only Christ can make us clean through Faith in Him.
CHRIST CONQUERED DEATH: Jairus came to Christ in search of healing for his daughter, but while he was waiting his daughter died. I cannot imagine the panic that gripped the heart of this man and his entire family. The daughter he loved was dead. As long as she was sick there was hope. Now, all hope was gone until Jesus comes. He calls her back to life and immediately (Mark's word) she got up and walked. I think that it is interesting that this girl was born in the same year as the woman in the previous passage started having her problem. Like this little girl, all of us were dead in our sin without hope of eternal life until Jesus came and paid the price for our sins that we might live. Our hope is in Him for our life comes from Him.
CHRIST CONQUERED DEMONS: This poor man was relegated to a life of wondering through the tombs tormented by a legion of demons. The people lived in fear of him and tried in vain to constrain him. He broke the shackles and chains with which they sought to tie him. He was viewed as a lunatic and had no hope of being able to lead a normal life. Then Jesus came on the scene and the demons immediately (Mark seems to like that word) know that He is the Son of God and implore that He not condemn them before the date determined by God. Isn't that amazing that the demons clearly knew and openly declared Jesus to be the Son of God? Yet the Pharisees constantly reject Him. Christ relieves the man by removing the demons and his heart is suddenly free and filled with hope and worship. This lunatic is now longing to follow Christ, but Jesus tells him to return home and testify of all that the Lord did in his life, and that is just what he did. Christ takes a mad man and makes him into a messenger of Good News. This is what God has done in the life of each person who has trusted Christ. The chains of sin in which each of us were bound by Satan are no less real than the chains on this mans arms. The transformation in our hearts is no less real than the freedom this man experienced. The opportunity to testify of His grace is no less of a privilege for us. We have been freed from the shackles of sin and transformed from slaves of Satan to servants of the most high God.
CHRIST CONQUERED DISEASE: This poor woman had suffered for twelve years with a non- stop flow of blood. I can only imagine the agony that this caused her in both pain and shame. As a Jew, she would be considered constantly unclean and prohibited from entering the temple or even her own home in order to keep from "contaminating" them with her uncleanness. We don't know her family situation, but we do know that she was desperate, had spent all of her money on doctors, but to no avail. It just kept getting worse. Hope was gone until she heard of Jesus. She was too embarrassed to ask for healing so she just touched Him in faith that His touch would make her whole. She was right, immediately (there's that word again) the flow of blood stops. For the first time in twelve years she was free, whole and clean. The disease of sin has infected the heart of every man. No matter how hard we try or how much money we spend, there is no way that we can be cleansed apart from Christ. There was a huge crowd around Jesus that day. Many of them touched Christ as they jostled along the dusty road, but only this woman was cured because of her faith. There are crowds of people who may gather around Christ for a wide variety of reasons, but apart from faith in His work they remain infected by sin. Only Christ can make us clean through Faith in Him.
CHRIST CONQUERED DEATH: Jairus came to Christ in search of healing for his daughter, but while he was waiting his daughter died. I cannot imagine the panic that gripped the heart of this man and his entire family. The daughter he loved was dead. As long as she was sick there was hope. Now, all hope was gone until Jesus comes. He calls her back to life and immediately (Mark's word) she got up and walked. I think that it is interesting that this girl was born in the same year as the woman in the previous passage started having her problem. Like this little girl, all of us were dead in our sin without hope of eternal life until Jesus came and paid the price for our sins that we might live. Our hope is in Him for our life comes from Him.
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