Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Online Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!

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Kendra Graham notes from Mark 5:6-7

Mark 5:6-7

 “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him” (Mark 5:6, NASB)  “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!’” (Mark 5:7, NKJV)

 What Does it Say?      

Seeing Jesus from distance, he ran up, bowed before Him.

Crying out with loud voice: “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me.”

What Does it Mean?

Here, Jesus and the disciples are on “the other side.”  As we discussed at length last week, the disciples—the talmidin—would have never gone to the other side, ever.  Focused on obeying God and staying out of the world, the disciples had no room for the mess that was Rome.

This man who lives among the tombs, naked and crazed, is a very good example of why they stay away from the other side. This man is a Gentile (unclean), naked (unclean), has all sorts of wounds oozing blood (unclean), and doesn’t just touch dead things, but LIVES with the dead (SUPER DUPER UNCLEAN).

Yet Jesus is driven to this man… a man who is an absolute mess. Jesus sees beyond the physical, beyond what is obvious, beyond the persona that is put out for everyone to see and to fear. In Roman society that places high value on beauty and accomplishment, there is no one worth less than this man—yet Jesus sees him as worthy—so much so that He has crossed the angry sea to get to him.

Overcome by demons, the man is driven by the demons that reside within him. Yet verse 5 says, “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up to Him.” Isn’t that something? The demons know that they are in submission to Jesus! They know they must bow down in the presence of the Son of the Most High God; BUT the demons think they have a plan to beat God at His own game.

That is the arrogance of the enemy.

 “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” The demons here are claiming that they have legally and legitimately stolen this “other side,” and, specifically, this man. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10); that is their plan, and has always been their plan.

“This side”—this Roman side—sees Caesar as god. “This side” has no room for Jesus! “Go back to Your other side, Jesus!” The demons understand the power of the name of Jesus, so they are literally saying here, “GO!  In the name of Jesus, leave me and everyone over here alone!”  Casting out Jesus in the name of Jesus?  That is #BOLD.  The demons understand who Jesus is. Oh, that we would!

Notice what the demons do not say in this passage: They do not say, “In the power of Neptune,” nor do they call on the name of Zeus, Apollo or Mars. The demons know that every single god that is worshipped on this other side is powerless. It’s only the name of Jesus.

Only the name of Jesus offends. Our world and today’s culture are no different. The world and its culture actually legitimize the name of Jesus by running so hard from it. “There is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Now Jesus binds the demons by His Word, sending them to the bottom of the sea and healing the mind of this man.

How many of us have been here, where this man is?

Maybe we are not streaking through the streets, cutting ourselves with sharp stones or living in a graveyard, but we are no better off. We hurt. We suffer. We shriek out in response to the pain in our souls night and day… but the nights… oh the nights are so long. We have been kept from our purpose.  Our lives have been stolen from us, and life has destroyed our fire. Some of us feel that we deserve the lot we have, because of the choices and decisions we have made. We continue to hurt ourselves, because we believe this is as good as it gets for us. I have been here. I have, in my anger, hurt and despair felt lost and forgotten by God and driven by bitterness and anger.

BUT! Praise God! Jesus has come “to seek and to save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10) God Himself has come to that “other side” where we’ve been hiding. Where we have been hoping on one hand God would just leave us alone to die, but on the other hand praying that someone would see and care. See here, God cares! God cares so much that He came Himself—not trusting you to another—to free you, to #deliver you. We often come at Jesus just like Legion did in this story, with fists flying and speech reeling. But GOD sees beyond our pain, beyond the legions of deep, deep hurt, and He speaks HIS Word.

The very name of God is the only name that saves (Acts 4:12); yet so often we prefer to use that name against Him, just like Legion did here. BUT Jesus comes anyway, to speak the power of Truth over us, the power of Truth found in the Word of God.

You were meant for more than this. Are you tired of being bound?  Are you willing to be set free?  He came to preach the GOOD NEWS! “To release the captives and set free those who are oppressed” (Isaiah 61:1-2).  Come… come to Jesus in your pain, mess and hurt.  The choice is yours.

What Does it Mean to me?

What legion of emotions and circumstances have you bound?

When did you come to Jesus and how were you #delivered?

Everyone follows someone or something. Who or what are you following? What visceral response do you have at the name of Jesus?

LIVE IT OUT

In humility, not arrogance, I bend my knee to Jesus. I will get into the Word of God and determine to believe Truth.

P.S. Ladies, our in-person Winter Women’s Bible Study at The Cove is now underway, and it’s not too late to join us!  Let’s get together Tuesday evenings in January and February and dig into the Word of God.  Register online today.

Can’t make it in person?  We’ll be streaming LIVE each Tuesday evening on Periscope, via Twitter, where you can watch from the comfort of your own home.