Mark 5:1-20 – Learn to read the Bible #18

I’ve just published the next part of the Learn to read the Bible series on Mark’s Gospel. This week we are looking at Mark 5:1-20, where Jesus heals a demon-possessed man.

For those who are coming to this new, the idea behind this series is not for me to simply explain everything to you, but rather to give you things to think about yourself. This is about training you to read the Bible for yourself, rather than just giving you all the answers!

See this page if you’d like a few pointers for how to use these videos. Don’t forget to pray!

You can read the passage online here (although I’d suggest it’s better in a physical Bible). You may also want to have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes and things you want to look into more.

Key points from Mark 5:1-20

  • Jesus goes into a region of the Gerasenes. Sometimes it’s helpful to have a bit of geographical background – it might be helpful to look up some information on this area to explain a bit about what happens in the story.
  • The Spirit is called an ‘Impure’ Spirit, which we saw before in Mark 3:20-35. Being pure and impure involved being different to other nations – one of the differences being, not eating meat of pigs.
  • Being demon-possessed wasn’t good for this man – it goes to show what being under the power of evil does for someone.
  • The demons beg Jesus not to send them out of the area. Why do you think the demons ask this? Is it because the people in this area in some sense welcomed them and didn’t want God / Jesus? Think about areas local to you – can you think of anything like this, and pray for them?
  • The demons are sent into the pigs. Was Jesus making the point that the people were wrong and shouldn’t have had the pigs? Is this why the people react so strongly against Jesus? Spend some time thinking about times when you have seen this reaction to you or others who are trying to do what God wants.
  • Jesus tells the man to tell what the Lord had done for him, and people are amazed. Think about how God can use the testimony even of one person for good. Isn’t that an encouragement for us to tell people what God has done for us!

Take a few moments to re-read the passage, think, and pray.

Looking for more?

You can see the rest of the videos in this series on the this page. If you’d like a more focussed series teaching the Christian faith, check out the teaching programme.

You might also want to see the previous episode in the series on Mark 4:35-41.

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