Mark 5
Back to Gospel of Mark
Markings
Mark 5 by verse:
John Dominic Crossan, “Possessed by Demonic Imperialism,” The Historical Jesus, p. 313-318
Mary Gordon, “The Devils,” Incarnation, p. 17 f.
Marie Howe, “The Star Market,” The New Yorker (January 14, 2008), p. 34
“The Star Market”
The People Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday
An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout
Breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps.
Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and
Hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I couldhardly look at them:
Shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if the Star Market
Had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in
With the rest of them—sour milk, bad meat—
Looking for cereal and spring water.
Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car
In the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have
been lowered into rooms with ropes, who would have crept
out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands
and knees begging for mercy.
If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought,
could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?
Richard Lischer, “The Interrupted Sermon,” Interpretation (April 1996), p. 179
“The Interrupted Sermon”
What we see in our parishes is improvements and setbacks; he sees on our behalf what is the beginning of a whole new age. … The various stories in the Gospels are open-ended. When Jesus says, “Go and do likewise,” or “Go, tell your friends what great things God has done for you,” we do not actually see the characters perform. It is clear that the reader will interpret the story by finishing it.
15 Daniel 4:34
19 Luke 2:20
12-13 Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, p. 89
14-20 Richard Wilbur, “Matthew VII, 28 ff.,” New and Collected Poems, p. 154
“Matthew VII, 28 ff.”
Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as you call it, we obviate by means
Of planned release of aggressions.
We have deep faith in prosperity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably inessential.
It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.
We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If you cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather you shoved off.
14-17 Fulton John Sheen, “The Cross and the Double Cross,” Lend Me Your Ears, p. 451
“The Cross and the Double Cross”
That is why the hope of the world is not in those politicians who indifferent to divinity, offer Christ and Barabbas to the mob to save their tumbling suffrage. It is not in those economists who would drive Christ from their shores, like the Gerasenes because they feared loss of profit on their swine. It is not in those educators who like other Pilates sneer, “What is truth?”—then crucify it.
18-20 Wendell Berry, “Stay Home,” Collected Poems, p. 199
“Stay Home”
I will wait here in the fields
to see how well the rain
brings on the grass.
In the labor of the fields
longer than a man’s life
I am at home. Don’t come with me
You stay home too.
I will be standing in the woods
where the old trees
move only with the wind
and then with gravity.
In the stillness of the trees
I am at home. Don’t come with me
You stay home too.
1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; 12 and they begged him, “Send us to the swine, let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. 14 The herdsmen fled, and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood. 18 And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 But he refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled.
5:1 και ηλθον εις το περαν της θαλασσης εις την χωραν των γαδαρηνων 5:2 και εξελθοντι αυτω εκ του πλοιου ευθεως απηντησεν αυτω εκ των μνημειων ανθρωπος εν πνευματι ακαθαρτω 5:3 ος την κατοικησιν ειχεν εν τοις μνημασιν και ουτε αλυσεσιν ουδεις εδυνατο αυτον δησαι 5:4 δια το αυτον πολλακις πεδαις και αλυσεσιν δεδεσθαι και διεσπασθαι υπ αυτου τας αλυσεις και τας πεδας συντετριφθαι και ουδεις αυτον ισχυεν δαμασαι 5:5 και δια παντος νυκτος και ημερας εν τοις ορεσιν και εν τοις μνημασιν ην κραζων και κατακοπτων εαυτον λιθοις 5:6 ιδων δε τον ιησουν απο μακροθεν εδραμεν και προσεκυνησεν αυτω 5:7 και κραξας φωνη μεγαλη ειπεν τι εμοι και σοι ιησου υιε του θεου του υψιστου ορκιζω σε τον θεον μη με βασανισης 5:8 ελεγεν γαρ αυτω εξελθε το πνευμα το ακαθαρτον εκ του ανθρωπου 5:9 και επηρωτα αυτον τι σοι ονομα και απεκριθη λεγων λεγεων ονομα μοι οτι πολλοι εσμεν 5:10 και παρεκαλει αυτον πολλα ινα μη αυτους αποστειλη εξω της χωρας 5:11 ην δε εκει προς τω ορει αγελη χοιρων μεγαλη βοσκομενη 5:12 και παρεκαλεσαν αυτον παντες οι δαιμονες λεγοντες πεμψον ημας εις τους χοιρους ινα εις αυτους εισελθωμεν 5:13 και επετρεψεν αυτοις ευθεως ο ιησους και εξελθοντα τα πνευματα τα ακαθαρτα εισηλθον εις τους χοιρους και ωρμησεν η αγελη κατα του κρημνου εις την θαλασσαν ησαν δε ως δισχιλιοι και επνιγοντο εν τη θαλασση 5:14 οι δε βοσκοντες τους χοιρους εφυγον και ανηγγειλαν εις την πολιν και εις τους αγρους και εξηλθον ιδειν τι εστιν το γεγονος 5:15 και ερχονται προς τον ιησουν και θεωρουσιν τον δαιμονιζομενον καθημενον και ιματισμενον και σωφρονουντα τον εσχηκοτα τον λεγεωνα και εφοβηθησαν 5:16 διηγησαντο δε αυτοις οι ιδοντες πως εγενετο τω δαιμονιζομενω και περι των χοιρων 5:17 και ηρξαντο παρακαλειν αυτον απελθειν απο των οριων αυτων 5:18 και εμβαντος αυτου εις το πλοιον παρεκαλει αυτον ο δαιμονισθεις ινα η μετ αυτου 5:19 ο δε ιησους ουκ αφηκεν αυτον αλλα λεγει αυτω υπαγε εις τον οικον σου προς τους σους και αναγγειλον αυτοις οσα σοι ο κυριος πεποιηκεν και ηλεησεν σε 5:20 και απηλθεν και ηρξατο κηρυσσειν εν τη δεκαπολει οσα εποιησεν αυτω ο ιησους και παντες εθαυμαζον
Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality, p. 148
Mary Gordon, “She is Not Dead but Sleeping,” Incarnation, p. 14-15
Laura, quoted by Stephen Mitchell in The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 298
The Gospel According to Jesus
If she felt complete with her life and was ready to die and had no desire to come back, and if [Jesus] was calling her back because of the father’s grief of the needs of the family, then it wasn’t an act of love, and it wasn’t a healing either. But if she really wanted to come back and he was there helping her with his presence, then it was an act of love. (p. 298)
Stephen Mitchell in The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 197
The Gospel According to Jesus
There are many stories in rabbinic and Helenistic literature about philosophers or rabbis raising the dead. The most detailed account features the magician and healer Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of Jesus: …
In a touchingly honest postscript, Philostratus comments:
Now whether he detected some spark of life in her, which those who were nursing her hadn’t noticed, or whether life was really extinct, and he restored it by the warmth of his touch, is a mysterious problem which neither I myself nor those who were present could decide. (p. 197)
36-39 Stephen Mitchell in The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 201
The Gospel According to Jesus
43 Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted by Loren Eiseley in The Man Who Saw Through Time, p. 63
21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23 and besought him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.
25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.” 29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi”; which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
5:21 και διαπερασαντος του ιησου εν τω πλοιω παλιν εις το περαν συνηχθη οχλος πολυς επ αυτον και ην παρα την θαλασσαν 5:22 και ιδου ερχεται εις των αρχισυναγωγων ονοματι ιαειρος και ιδων αυτον πιπτει προς τους ποδας αυτου 5:23 και παρεκαλει αυτον πολλα λεγων οτι το θυγατριον μου εσχατως εχει ινα ελθων επιθης αυτη τας χειρας οπως σωθη και ζησεται 5:24 και απηλθεν μετ αυτου και ηκολουθει αυτω οχλος πολυς και συνεθλιβον αυτον
5:25 και γυνη τις ουσα εν ρυσει αιματος ετη δωδεκα 5:26 και πολλα παθουσα υπο πολλων ιατρων και δαπανησασα τα παρ αυτης παντα και μηδεν ωφεληθεισα αλλα μαλλον εις το χειρον ελθουσα 5:27 ακουσασα περι του ιησου ελθουσα εν τω οχλω οπισθεν ηψατο του ιματιου αυτου 5:28 ελεγεν γαρ οτι καν των ιματιων αυτου αψωμαι σωθησομαι 5:29 και ευθεως εξηρανθη η πηγη του αιματος αυτης και εγνω τω σωματι οτι ιαται απο της μαστιγος 5:30 και ευθεως ο ιησους επιγνους εν εαυτω την εξ αυτου δυναμιν εξελθουσαν επιστραφεις εν τω οχλω ελεγεν τις μου ηψατο των ιματιων 5:31 και ελεγον αυτω οι μαθηται αυτου βλεπεις τον οχλον συνθλιβοντα σε και λεγεις τις μου ηψατο 5:32 και περιεβλεπετο ιδειν την τουτο ποιησασαν 5:33 η δε γυνη φοβηθεισα και τρεμουσα ειδυια ο γεγονεν επ αυτη ηλθεν και προσεπεσεν αυτω και ειπεν αυτω πασαν την αληθειαν 5:34 ο δε ειπεν αυτη θυγατερ η πιστις σου σεσωκεν σε υπαγε εις ειρηνην και ισθι υγιης απο της μαστιγος σου
5:35 ετι αυτου λαλουντος ερχονται απο του αρχισυναγωγου λεγοντες οτι η θυγατηρ σου απεθανεν τι ετι σκυλλεις τον διδασκαλον 5:36 ο δε ιησους ευθεως ακουσας τον λογον λαλουμενον λεγει τω αρχισυναγωγω μη φοβου μονον πιστευε 5:37 και ουκ αφηκεν ουδενα αυτω συνακολουθησαι ει μη πετρον και ιακωβον και ιωαννην τον αδελφον ιακωβου 5:38 και ερχεται εις τον οικον του αρχισυναγωγου και θεωρει θορυβον κλαιοντας και αλαλαζοντας πολλα 5:39 και εισελθων λεγει αυτοις τι θορυβεισθε και κλαιετε το παιδιον ουκ απεθανεν αλλα καθευδει 5:40 και κατεγελων αυτου ο δε εκβαλων παντας παραλαμβανει τον πατερα του παιδιου και την μητερα και τους μετ αυτου και εισπορευεται οπου ην το παιδιον ανακειμενον 5:41 και κρατησας της χειρος του παιδιου λεγει αυτη ταλιθα κουμι ο εστιν μεθερμηνευομενον το κορασιον σοι λεγω εγειραι 5:42 και ευθεως ανεστη το κορασιον και περιεπατει ην γαρ ετων δωδεκα και εξεστησαν εκστασει μεγαλη 5:43 και διεστειλατο αυτοις πολλα ινα μηδεις γνω τουτο και ειπεν δοθηναι αυτη φαγειν
Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality, p. 148
Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace, p. 10 f.
Guerrillas of Grace
William Stafford, “Rescue,” Passwords, p. 66
“Rescue”
A fire was burning. In another room
sombody was talking. Sunlight slanted
across the foot of my bed, and a glass of water
gleamed where it waited on a chair near my hand.
I was alive and the pain in my head
was gone. Carefully I tried thinking
of those I had known. I let them walk
and then run, and then open their mouths the way
it used to cause the throbbing. It didn’t hurt
anymore. Clearer and clearer I stared
far into the glass. I was cured.
From now on in my life there would be a place
like a scene in a paperweight. One figure in the storm
would be reaching out with my hand for those
who had died. It would always be still in that scene,
no matter what happened. I could come back to it,
carefully, any time, to be saved, and go on.
John Dominic Crossan, The Essential Jesus, p. 136, 197
Madeleine L’Engle, “Poem,” The Irrational Season, p. 125 f.
Geoffrey Hill, “A Song of Degrees”, Canaan, p. 67
“A Song of Degrees”
Peter Marshall, “The Touch of Faith,” Mr. Jones Meet the Master, p. 177-188
Laura, quoted by Stephen Mitchell in The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 295-298
The Gospel According to Jesus
I feel that Jesus touched people from a place of great presence and love. He was in contact with the essence of these sick people, and they recognized that. And if they were open to him, they could receive that love and use it to heal themselves.
The people he healed were ready to let go of something. (p. 295)
It helps to have great trust in the healer and it helps even more to trust your own ability to heal. Sometimes trusting the healer can open a pathway to trusting yourself.
… He’s saying, “Don’t think that I actually did anything to you; your own trust is what healed you.” (p. 297)
[Me: If healing is a matter of opening and letting go, then the sick person must trust God—with her life—if she going to get better. The healer inspires the trust in God and the trust does the healing from within. If healing is a matter of defeating an illness from the outside, then all that really matters is the power of the healer and the faith of the healer in his own abilities. If a sick person trusts the power of the healer, that trust can then heal from the inside while appearing to come from the outside and the power of the healer. This healing is “waterish, bleak, and thin” because God is the only worthy object of our trust.]
Peter Marshall, “The Touch of Faith,” Mr. Jones Meet the Master, p. 177-188
Virginia Stem Owens, “A Bloody Shame,” Looking for Jesus, p. 35-38
Helmut Thielicke, “How Faith Begins,” How to Believe Again, p. 51-63
Christian Wiman, Zero at the Bone, p. 38, 40 f.
Zero at the Bone
She doesn’t think to herself “why not” but instead feels a compulsion in her heart that she does not understand but understands that it requires action. The scripture tells us that Jesus feels “virtue” or “power” go out of him, and maybe what this unnamed woman first felt when she heard the name of Jesus was pain going out of her–and she went to find the man who had the name that could make this miracle come to pass. (p. 38)
There is not a person reading these words … who does not have, festering somewhere, a bullet in them. Sitting down to write these thoughts was the first time I ever considered all the other people around Jesus when he healed that woman with the issue of blood. They, too, had their issues of blood. It’s a wonder Jesus didn’t shatter from the sheer pressure of all those unspeakable pains around him. But then, eventually, I guess he did. (p. 40 f.)
33 John 4:29
28 Marie Howe, “The Star Market,” The New Yorker (January 14, 2008), p. 34
“The Star Market"
The People Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday
An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout
Breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps.
Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and
Hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them:
Shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if the Star Market
Had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in
With the rest of them—sour milk, bad meat
Looking for cereal and spring water.
Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car
In the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have
been lowered into rooms with ropes, who would have crept
out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their
hands and knees begging for mercy.
If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought,
could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?
30 Wayne Muller, Sabbath, p. 18 f.
Sabbath
I had always assumed that people I loved gave energy to me, and people I disliked took it away from me. Now I see that every act, no matter how pleasant or nourishing, requires effort, consumes oxygen. Every gesture, every thought or touch, uses some life.
I am reminded of the story of Jesus walking through a crowd of people. A woman, seeking to be healed, reached out to touch the hem of his garment. Jesus asked, Who touched me? His disciples said, People are touching you all the time, what are you talking about? But Jesus said, I could feel power go out of me. Deeply mindful of the flow of his life force, Jesus could feel the expenditure of energy in every encounter.
33-34 Brenda Ueland, “Tell Me More: On the fine art of listening,” Utne Reader (November 1992), p. 109
“Tell Me More"
Try to learn tranquility, to live in the present a part of the time every day. Sometimes say to yourself, “Now. What is happening now? This friend is talking. I am quiet. There is endless time. I hear it, every word.” Then suddenly you begin to hear not only what people are saying, but what they are trying to say, and you sense the whole truth about them. And you sense existence, not piecemeal, not this object and that, but as a translucent whole.
34 Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, p. 80
25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.” 29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
5:25 και γυνη τις ουσα εν ρυσει αιματος ετη δωδεκα 5:26 και πολλα παθουσα υπο πολλων ιατρων και δαπανησασα τα παρ αυτης παντα και μηδεν ωφεληθεισα αλλα μαλλον εις το χειρον ελθουσα 5:27 ακουσασα περι του ιησου ελθουσα εν τω οχλω οπισθεν ηψατο του ιματιου αυτου 5:28 ελεγεν γαρ οτι καν των ιματιων αυτου αψωμαι σωθησομαι 5:29 και ευθεως εξηρανθη η πηγη του αιματος αυτης και εγνω τω σωματι οτι ιαται απο της μαστιγος 5:30 και ευθεως ο ιησους επιγνους εν εαυτω την εξ αυτου δυναμιν εξελθουσαν επιστραφεις εν τω οχλω ελεγεν τις μου ηψατο των ιματιων 5:31 και ελεγον αυτω οι μαθηται αυτου βλεπεις τον οχλον συνθλιβοντα σε και λεγεις τις μου ηψατο 5:32 και περιεβλεπετο ιδειν την τουτο ποιησασαν 5:33 η δε γυνη φοβηθεισα και τρεμουσα ειδυια ο γεγονεν επ αυτη ηλθεν και προσεπεσεν αυτω και ειπεν αυτω πασαν την αληθειαν 5:34 ο δε ειπεν αυτη θυγατερ η πιστις σου σεσωκεν σε υπαγε εις ειρηνην και ισθι υγιης απο της μαστιγος σου