Sometimes GOD will interrupt what you think is a priority in order to teach you a deeper revelation, and a greater revelation of who He is!

FAITH TO GO, GRACE TO STAY

The second of the synoptic gospels projects the humble servant of Jehovah as a messenger from God with power and authority to heal, and deliver all from the power of the enemy, and to transform lives. Mark has to choose the events of the narrative to tell a complete story of the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If all that He did and said were written down, no library in the world would contain the volumes of whole record. So in effect Mark had to choose the stories and events, and develop a narrative that would illustrate Jesus as one who had authority over all things in heaven and in the earth.

It had been a busy day in the life of the Savior. Teaching the Word, and preaching the good news of redemption had brought Jesus in contact with people from all walks of life. In today’s message we will focus in on a day that began in the previous chapter with a man named Jairus that approached the Lord with an urgent request.

The Book of Mark is all about authority! He who said, “All power is given unto Me both in Heaven and in the earth,” went about doing good healing all that were sick and oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. At His preaching, the crowd said, “Never a man spake like this man.”

At his miracles, the people proclaimed, “No man could do these things except God be with Him.” This blind eyes-opening, leper-cleansing, sea-walking, wind and wave-commanding, peace-speaking MAN of Authority!

In Mark 5:21, Jesus is returning from a trip across the Sea of Galilee and has an encounter with a terrorist in the region of the Gadarenes. The Lord has returned to Capernaum where a large multitude of people have come to hear Him teach and preach. He is approached by a man named Jairus, a very important Ruler of the Synagogue. He told Jesus of his daughter who was critically ill, and asked Jesus to come to his home and heal the little girl. Jesus without delay, started on the journey to the Ruler’s house.

He was doing the urgent, when he was suddenly halted by an act of a woman who had an issue of blood. He realized that healing virtue had flowed out of His body and a miracle had occurred. The woman now healed said to Jesus, “l am the one who touched you!” He told her that her faith had rewarded her with healing, and to go in peace.

Now, to be honest, no one really cared about this woman with an issue of blood. The crowd was on the way to Jairus’ house. He was the important one, and this woman was the unimportant one to the crowd.

They were on their way to see the miraculous, but Jesus stopped to do what the crowd thought was the unimportant. While dealing with the woman the little girl, Jairus’ daughter, dies! A messenger comes to tell Jairus and Jesus that there is no use to continue, the little girl is dead!

Mark 5:35

While He was still speaking, there came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?”

You see, sometimes GOD will interrupt what you think is a priority in order to teach you a deeper revelation, and a greater revelation of who He is! He’s not just a healer, He is also the resurrection and the life. It seems that we place importance on things because of the status and rank of the individuals, but GOD is always maturing and developing our faith and relationship with Him. He will upset your priorities to reveal His power in a new and previously unknown way.

If you have been struggling, and God is doing some things in your life that seem strange to you, and its hard to get Jesus to get on board with what you think is your priority, then it might be that God is trying to rearrange some of your priorities! That’s how you recognize the presence of God in your everyday life, He will shift your priorities. For that to happen there has to be a conflict, a collision of wills!

Jesus immediately said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” (v. 36) He immediately dismissed the crowd except for Peter, James and John. Upon arriving at the home of Jairus, they heard the wailing of the mourners. Upon entering He asked, “Why are you weeping, the damsel is not dead, but sleeping. ” At that, they began laughing him to scorn; whereupon He put them out of the house.

Taking the parents and the three disciples He entered the room where the little girl lay, and took her by the hand and said, “Little girl I say unto thee arise.” And immediately the little girl arose, and the parents and the disciples were astounded.

Mark determined that this encounter was important and needed to be in the text. True to his purpose which was to reveal authority as a theme for his gospel.

Now look at the beginning of the chapter.

Mark 5:1-9
1. And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes,
2. And when he had come to the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him.
3. And he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;
4. Because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
5. And constantly night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.
6. And seeing Jesus from a distance he ran up and bowed down before Him
7. And crying out with a loud voice he said, “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” I implore you by God, do not torment me!”
8. For he had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!“
9. And he was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to him My name is Legion; for we are many.”

In the previous chapter, while Jesus and the Disciples were in the city of Capernaum, a word which means “place of comfort”, Jesus told the disciples that he intended to go across the lake which He simple called the other side! While in this city of comfort, the Master, after days of ministry that had taken its toll upon Him physically, instructed his followers to set sail in the larger boat (pluiaron) for the eastern shore of the Lake. While Jesus slept in the stern of the ship, a horrible storm (susmos) turned the serene waters into an angry, churning, rolling situation with waves lapping over the sides of the boat, filling the vessel with water. At the time of greatest despair, the disciples awoke the Lord Jesus who simply rebuked the wind and the waves by saying, “Peace be still!” And there was a great calm. The disciples were astonished, asking, “What manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him.

You can’t go over without Conflict. Did you expect that the adversary would let you go on a mission of deliverance without a fight? Do you think that as you grow in faith and practice the devil is just gonna let you take things away from him without a fight? Why do you think you have survived storms in your life? Once again, Mark’s gospel is about Authority!

Upon arriving at the country of the Gerasenes, Jesus was met by a man who was living an out of control life .He lived out away from people, out amongst the tombs. He could be heard screaming and yelling at all hours of the night and day. All efforts to restrain him and control his awful menacing shrieks and screaming terrors were in vain. He was a hopeless case. No shackles nor chains could subdue him.

Now you must know that the region of Decapolis was a gentile area occupied by non Jewish peoples. Jesus had the habit of praying in the morning and praying in the evening. This man had the habit of terrorizing in the morning and terrorizing in the evening. While he screamed, Jesus prayed, and because of the water being a conductor of sound, and the natural amphitheater shape of the landscape around the Lake, Jesus could have heard the screams of this tormented man during His time of prayer and communion with God. No doubt the news of this terrorist was told around the Galilean basin, for any time a ship would come close to shore in the region, Legion would come out of the mountain and rush to the seashore to scare away strangers!

But on this particular day, Jesus intended to deal with the awful, tragic plight of this deranged man. He told the disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” In like manner, this may be the day that God brought you to this place of encounter so that He could deal with your bondage and your fears that have so paralyzed you and held you captive so that nothing will deliver you but the authority found in relationship with the Son of the Living God.

The spirit that was in the man was tormented by the presence of One who is greater than he is. Jesus kept saying “Come out of him.”

The demons kept saying to Jesus, “Don’t make us leave the region, but let us go into the herd of swine.” Jesus gave them permission to go into the herd of pigs. No doubt the population was not Jewish. The worth of the pigs was the equivalent of 2 million dollars in today’s economy. Pork was the chief export of the ten cities of the Decapolis.

The farmers and business people implored the Lord Jesus to depart from their shores because breaking up the devil’s strongholds is costly.

There is a price to be paid for growing up, and growing strong in God. Listen, when the population says we are more interested in our things and our money than we are about people being delivered from Satan’s bondage, Satan will always amplify the things our flesh craves and diminish the importance of things that will give us spiritual freedom and deliverance. The size of the storm indicates the magnitude of what God has planned for those who will prioritize and seek those things which are above.

When Jesus arrived at the boat to disembark, the man who had been healed and delivered was standing in the boat. He said I want to go with you and be a disciple, but Jesus said no, that is not God’s plan. It is God’s plan for you to stay and testify of the great things God has done for you.

God will give you faith to go and grace to stay!