Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
November 17, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus' next demonstration of His "identity" was immediately after the storm as He and His disciples came into the region of the Gerasenes.
Introduction: In our last study, we saw that Mark ended the record of the storm at sea with the disciples "being made to fear a great fear" and asking the critical question: "Who, then, is this?" Mark chose their response to Jesus' command over wind and waves because he wished to bring the "Identity Question" again to the fore.
In our study this evening we are going to look into that "Question" once again.
- I. Jesus And The Man Of The Gerasenes Possessed By Many Unclean Spirits.
- A. And...
- 1. This is the smoothly flowing connector between the accounts recorded in the last paragraph of Chapter Four and this first paragraph of Chapter Five.
- 2. Because it is a continuance in the record, we are alerted to the fact that there is going to be another "disciple-making" event.
- 3. The prior record has to do with Jesus' authority over physical properties (wind and sea), and this record has to do with Jesus' authority over "unclean spirits": this is a repetition of Mark's two-pronged presentation of Jesus as "The [Essentially] Mighty One in terms of power over physical realm issues (mainly diseases up to this point), and power over spiritual realm issues (unclean spirits/demons).
- a. There is no Markan focus upon "mighty" by actual use of the term involved (the word is only used twice in the entire record); it is simply one of the three characterizations of "The Coming One" of 1:7.
- b. This declaration of "might" is, however, primarily centered upon "inherent might by reason of personal attributes". Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon references "armies" (as in the number of warriors involved) as this kind of "power". The use by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:25 is illustrative: a single "attribute" (aka "foolishness" or "weakness") of God is contrasted with the opposite "attribute" (aka "wisdom" or "strength") of men.
- c. The "Coming One" is "mightier than I" simply declares that Jesus, compared to John, is, far and away, superior in the essential "might" that arises from inherent attributes.
- B. They came...
- 1. Aorist Active Indicative; indicating "historical narrative" without emphasis: this is simply the next record of a significant "event" that testifies to Mark's thesis about Jesus. It is presented as the next experience of Jesus and His disciples (without a specific, declared "link" to the prior storm), but it is recorded; meaning that it has such a "link" as authors of history are always selective according to the point of their records. [Note John's statement in John 20:30-31 in relation to 21:25].
- 2. The basic word translated "they came" is "ercomai", a verb used by Mark 83 times.
- a. The translators of the NASB used variations of "come" (came, comes, coming) in 470 of 599 texts of the New Testament, revealing a "meaning" of "to travel to a place, arriving there".
- b. It has its first place in John's preaching of "The Coming One" (1:7).
- 1) This is a major thesis of prophetic Scripture, beginning with Genesis 3:15.
- 2) John characterized Him as...
- a) "Essentially superior in might to me".
- b) "Morally superior to me".
- c) "Functionally/Effectually superior to me".
- 3) Mark used this introduction to "Jesus" as the prelude to the immediate "coming" of Jesus on to the scene (1:9).
- a) This (1:9) is Mark's second use of the name "Jesus" (the first being in the "title" to his record in 1:1.
- b) At this point in his narrative, Mark introduces "Jesus".
- i. He was "from Nazareth in Galilee".
- ii. He was "baptized by John in the Jordan".
- iii. He had the Spirit descend upon Him from an "opened heaven".
- iv. He was identified by a voice out of those heavens as "My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased".
- b. It has its fourth place in the opening paragraph of the "extended record" (1:21-16:8) that follows the "extended introduction" (1:2-20).
- 1) In this "event", the word is used in the mouth of the "man with an unclean spirit" in its question to Jesus: "Have You come to destroy us?" This is a critical eschatalogical thesis: One is coming Who will destroy, not only the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), but the devil, himself, along with all who are aligned with him (Revelation 20:10 and, especially, Matthew 25:41).
- a. This initial record of "confrontation" by an unclean spirit is a strong parallel to the record before us in 5:1-20.
- i. There is the issue of "coming".
- ii. There is the immediate assumption by another set of unclean spirits [Legion] that Jesus had "come" to "torment" him/them.
- b. This is in direct harmony with John's "He is essentially mightier than I" in Mark's introduction (1:7).
- c. This "event", then, is a presentation of the "answer" to the disciples' question at end of the prior paragraph (4:35-41); "Who, then, is this that also the wind and the sea 'hear and put themselves under' Him?
- i. The "also" may mean "both" as in 'both the wind and the sea'.
- ii. It may mean "even" as in 'even the wind and the sea'.
- iii. It may mean "also" as in 'both the demons and "also" the wind and the sea'.
- 2) In this "event", there is another "parallel" theme: Jesus is again "beside the sea", a repetitive locational identification of Jesus as "focused" upon obtaining disciples.
- a. In this record of "unclean spirit confrontation", there is a return to Mark's two-pronged argument for the identification of Jesus as the "Coming One": healings and exorcisms.
- b. And in this case, the "sea" beside which Jesus seeks disciples, is clearly an environment of "death" as more than 2000 pigs drowned in it.
- c. And, in harmony with Mark's references to "sea", Jesus is, again, drawing men away from death to turn them into men who would draw others away from death.
- C. To the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
- 1. Clearest implication: there are those "on the other side of the sea" who are sought out to be disciples. Jesus went there for the very purpose of this record because as soon as the man was delivered from the Legion of unclean spirits, Jesus got back into the boat and went back over to the Galilean side of the sea. That this was Jesus' purpose is more evident by Mark's only other use of "Decapolis" (5:20) in 7:31 where Jesus rounded out a tour of preaching from Tyre, Sidon, and Decapolis where He had sent the "demoniac" to prepare His way.
- 2. These are not "good Jews"; they are hog farmers.
