Mark 5

Does anyone else see a common thread in chapter 5?

First Jesus encounters a man with an unclean spirit.

Mar 5:8 For He said to him,
Come out of the man, unclean spirit!

Then the spirit moves into a herd of swine, also unclean.

Mar 5:11 And a great herd of pigs was feeding near the mountains.
Mar 5:12 And all the demons begged Him, saying,
Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.

Then,

Mar 5:25 A certain woman,
who had an issue of blood for twelve years,
Mar 5:27 having heard the things concerning Jesus,
came up behind him in the crowd,
and touched his clothes.

This woman was certainly considered unclean by law,
not fit for the company of others,
not allowed in the temple.
an outcast.

She was healed.
Jesus was talking to her, and

Mar 5:35 While he was still speaking,
they came from the synagogue ruler's house saying,
"Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?"

and he heals even her, another unclean.

What was the common thread?

unclean.
unclean.
unclean.
unclean.

Chapter 5 must be "The chapter of the unclean", huh?


Don't know what it means,
unless it is to show how Jesus had compassion for every single person
no matter how wretched,
no matter how far gone they seemed to be.
Touching lepers.

Crossing and recrossing the borders
between polite society and the dimmest corners of humanity.

...not quite ready for that, myself!

I can't even step out into an unfamiliar neighborhood without feeling out of place
and fearful.

Boy, sometimes I think I have a long way to go.

-=-=-=-

Funny, I just noticed something after I wrote
"crossing and re-crossing the borders"

I didn't notice it before,
(and maybe this is a stretch of the imagination),
but it looks like Jesus specifically crossed over
to rescue the man from Legion

Mar 5:1 And they came over to the other side of the sea,
to the country of the Gadarenes.

Then he frees the man from "many" (5:9),

Mar 5:12 All the demons begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them."

He is freed from "all the demons" (5:12)

and then:

Mar 5:21 When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat
to the other side,
a great multitude was gathered to him;
and he was by the sea.

Now to me that seems like a little summary of the gospel:
"Christ crossed over into this world
to free us from many sins,
then he crossed back over.

I hope I'm in that great multitude gathered to him on the other side!

(so why do I feel so...
so unclean?)

-=-=-=-

Well, I am now almost two weeks behind.

I finished reading chapter 6
but I don't have anything to say about it,
so I'm movin' on to next week.

seeya there?