Jump Start # 766

Mark 5:5 “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gnashing himself with stones.”

The congregation I am with are in a plan to read through the New Testament this year. This is a wonderful idea. This week we are reading in Mark. I thought I would share a few thoughts that connect our reading and Jump Starts together.

Mark 5 is a favorite of mine. It is saturated with action and drama. What a great chapter. It begins with Jesus and the apostles coming to shore. They had just crossed the sea in the chapter before. There, Jesus calmed a violent storm. As soon as they reach land, a naked, bloody and loud demon possessed man charges them. What follows is a great encounter between the Lord and the demons.

There are three impossibles in this chapter. First, the casting out of the demon. Second, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. Third, the raising of Jairus’ dead daughter. Impossibles. There are layers and layers of great lessons to be found here. Don’t miss them. Lessons such as Jesus calling the demon possessed man to go share the story. This is the first person Jesus told to tell. Or, the lesson about Jesus allowing Himself to be interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood. She had that problem for 18 years. Jesus was on a 911 call to save Jairus’ dying daughter. You’d think that Jesus would tell the woman to hold on and wait and come back to her after he saved the sick daughter. He didn’t do it that way. He took time with the woman. He allowed her to tell her story. By the time He was ready to go to Jairus’ house, the little girl was dead. There lies another lesson. The messengers from the house report that it’s too late the little girl had died. That statement reveals that they believed Jesus could have cured her, but once she was dead, even Jesus couldn’t do anything. Another lesson, when Jesus reaches the house, He states that the girl is asleep. Those who have gathered laugh. They laugh at Jesus.

The verse that I have picked out shows how irritable everyone would have been in the village because of the demons. He was screaming night and day. He was screaming from the tombs. He was screaming from the mountains. His screams would have scared small children. Parents would have tried to calm crying children who were frightened by his screams. Adults would lose sleep, night after night. His screams would have made them irritable, cranky and desperate to do something. Anything!

Often the problems of one person affects many others. This is true of grown children who choose to do wrong and dumb things. They may proclaim that it’s their life and they have that right, but what they fail to realize is how it affects others. Often it’s the innocent who must clean up the messes, pay the bills, and try to set wrongs right.

The change of this demon possessed man would have an impact on many others. Quiet nights. Fear gone. Life back to normal. Amazing. Jesus did what the village could not. Their solution was to chain him up and isolate him. That didn’t work. Jesus removed the demon. Often the solutions that society offers, don’t work. They are temporary, shallow and removes the problem from our sight without dealing with it properly.

There are some things that only Jesus can fix. First and foremost, is our problem with sin. Jesus forgives us. Jesus can fix a marriage like no counselor can. Jesus can fix an addiction like no rehab house can. Jesus can change our past and give us hope for the future. It’s wonderful what Jesus can do.

Don’t give up on Jesus. When all seems gone, Jesus is still there. He can do what no one else can. He can turn a grump into a sweet and kind person. He can turn a selfish person into a generous and sharing person. He can turn a cold heart into a good and honest heart

Jesus can. That will help us through those dark and scary nights. Jesus can.

Roger