Mark
They arrived on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gerasenes.
When Jesus stepped out of the boat immediately a man with an evil spirit
came from the graveyard toward him.
This man lived in the tombs, and
nobody had been able to tie him up, even with a chain.
He had often been
tied with shackles and chains, but he tore the chains apart and broke the
shackles into pieces. Nobody was strong enough to control him.
He used to scream all day and all night among the tombs and in the hills, cutting himself with sharp stones.
When he saw Jesus at a distance, he ran over and
bowed down before him. He shouted out, “What do we have to do with each
other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you by God, do not torture
me!”
He said this because Jesus had been saying to him, “You evil spirit,
come out of the man.”
Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, because we are many.”
He pleaded with Jesus not to send them out of the region.
Nearby a large herd of pigs was feeding on
the hillside.
The evil spirits pleaded with him, “Send us into the pigs so we
can enter them.”
Jesus gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
The ones looking after the pigs ran away and reported what had
happened in the town and the surrounding countryside, so people came to see
for themselves.
They came to Jesus and saw the man who had had the
“legion” sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-influenced man and the pigs.
They began pleading with Jesus to leave their region.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had had the demons
was begging to go with him.
But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home
to your people, and tell them the great things the Lord has done for you and
how He showed you mercy.”
So the man went off and began to proclaim to
the people of Decapolis everything Jesus had done for him, and they were all
amazed.
Jesus returned again by boat to the other side of the lake. A large crowd
gathered around him, so he stayed by the shore.
A synagogue leader named
Jairus came up. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet
and pleaded earnestly,
“My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands
on her so that she may be healed and live.”
Jesus went with him, and a large
crowd followed, pushing up against him.
A woman was there who had been ill from bleeding for twelve years.
She had suffered at the hands of many doctors, and had spent all she had,
but she had not been helped at all — in fact she had become worse.
She had
heard about Jesus, so she came through the crowd behind him and touched
his clothes.
She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be
healed.”
The bleeding stopped immediately, and she felt in her body that
she had been healed from her suffering.
Jesus realized immediately that
power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who
touched my clothes?”
The disciples replied, “Look at the crowd jostling
you. Why are you asking, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Jesus continued looking
to see who had touched him.
Knowing what had happened to her, the
woman, afraid and trembling, came and fell down before him and told him
the whole truth.
Jesus said to her, “My daughter, your faith has healed you.
Go in peace, completely healed from the disease that made you suffer.”
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s
home. “Your daughter has died,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any
more?”
Jesus overheard what they said, and said to the synagogue leader,
“Do not be afraid; just continue believing.”
He did not let anyone follow
him except Peter, James, and James’ brother John.
When they got to the
synagogue leader’s house, Jesus saw all the commotion, with people loudly
crying and wailing.
He went in and asked them, “Why all this commotion
and weeping? The little girl is not dead; she is sleeping.”
They laughed at him. But Jesus made everybody leave. Then he went into the room where the
little girl was, taking along the child’s father and mother and his three
disciples.
He took the little girl by the hand and said, “Talitha koum!” which translated means, “Little girl, I tell you, get up!”
Immediately the little
girl got up and began to walk. She was twelve years old. Immediately they
were completely astounded.
Jesus gave them strict instructions not to let
anyone know about this, and he told them to give her something to eat.
Mark