Opening Question
Who is more in need of immediate care: a person with a cold, or someone suffering a heart stroke?
Introduction
Several “boat scenes” in Mark’s gospel reveal misunderstandings of the disciples and give Jesus ample opportunity to teach and rebuke. The first is found at the end of Mark 4. Chapter 5 continues the exorcism stories, and concludes with another Markan “sandwich story” about two daughters healed by Jesus’ touch and another Messianic secret “hushing.” Chapter 6 includes yet another “sandwich story,” explaining the death of John the Baptist.
Mark 4:35-41
When the storm on the sea arises, Jesus is sleeping. The disciples believe themselves about to die, but Jesus rebukes both them and the wind/waves.
What misunderstanding drives the disciples to cry out to Jesus? Why is His rebuke so direct? Is it not right to be scared when it appears your life is about to end?
Has it seemed at times in your life when you needed Him most that God was asleep or absent? How did you manage through those times? Did you exercise faith or doubt?
Mark 5:1-20
Without question, this is the most significant exorcism story in all of the gospels, both for drama and length. The region on the other side of the sea of Galilee borders the Greco-Roman Decapolis, that is, the region of the 10 Cities. It was largely gentile, and its influence could be felt even in Jewish villages and regions such as Jesus and the disciples enter. When the man comes out of the tomb toward Jesus, we are struck by the incongruence. The man both runs forward but the voice(s?) coming from his mouth seem to want nothing to do with Jesus. Such is the reality of the split-personality of demon possession. Personal autonomy is taken captive by the unclean spirit.
Why does Jesus, after casting out the demons from the man, prevent him from following? Why would Jesus turn away a prospective disciple? On what mission does He send him?
Why do the townspeople implore Jesus to leave? How might their reaction to Jesus play into His request of the healed man to stay behind?
Mark 5:21-23
Verses 21-43 form yet another sandwich story. The first segment (or bread) pictures Jairus coming to Jesus to ask for help for his little “daughter,” who is nearing death. Her condition is acute and critical. She needs immediate attention. Jesus wastes no time in coming with the man.
Why does this synagogue official ask Jesus to “lay his hands on” his little daughter? Did he know that Jesus’ touch was powerful?
If you are a parent, have you ever prayed for your children in some meaningful way? What did you ask for? Did God answer in a similar way as Jesus does here, providing his presence, as they journey back?
Mark 4:24-34
The story of Jairus’ sick daughter is interrupted by a woman who touches Jesus’ garment. She has suffered vaginal bleeding for 12 years straight. This would have rendered her unclean, nearly like leprosy, and made life miserably inconvenient on the best of days, and exhaustingly painful at the worst. She may have been cut off from her husband, if she had one, over this condition, as intimacy would have been prohibited by Jewish law. Verse 26 says she had “suffered many things at the hands of many physicians” suggesting some abusive treatment, and at the same time spent everything she had, but only got worse. But her touch called power from Jesus! She is healed and gets to tell her story.
Why does Jesus stop the crowd hurrying to Jairus’ house for this woman? What does Jesus call her after He commends her faith, and how does this term compare to the outer story? Jesus tells her that her faith has “saved her,” but doesn’t that imply more than simply physical healing?
Mark 4:35-43
Jairus receives the sad news while Jesus is talking with the chronic case patient that his daughter had died. But Jesus reminds him to have faith. Jesus says she’s only asleep!
How old is this little girl, the “daughter” of Jairus? How are the two parts of this sandwich story related, and what words or ideas or themes tie them together?
Does the story of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter give you hope for the future, that death is not permanent for those who believe? Here, Jairus is asked to have faith in Jesus for the raising of His daughter; if you have children, do you trust God with them?
Could you have kept this event secret?
Jesus cares about both the chronic and the acute cases from which we suffer. And should the acute case end in death, He can fix that also. That is reason to rejoice!
Mark 6:1-6
We read that people in Jesus’ hometown could not be healed (6:5).
From what did their unbelief arise? What role does faith actually play in spiritual and physical healing? Is it right to assume that if we are not healed, that lack of faith is always the reason?
Mark 6:7-33
We have yet another sandwich story placing the sending out of the 12 disciples and their return outside of the death of John the Immerser. The middle story is really a flashback, as the John’s death had already happened in the story-time of Mark’s gospel, but Mark waits to tell it until now when it appears John has risen from the dead.
An oft-asked question about John is why didn’t Jesus do something about his condition in prison, and prevent John’s death? But a deeper look at this story forces some more significant questions: how is John’s death a warning and encouragement to disciples of Jesus in their own mission to the world? How is John a forerunner of Jesus Himself and His own death for similar reasons?
Mark 6:34-52
Two more miracles close out this lesson: the feeding of the 5,000+ and another boat misunderstanding. As Jesus returns to the boat walking on the water, the disciples think they see a ghost. But Jesus is real, just above physics. He does not need to violate natural laws; He is also God and able to use them for his own purposes. Even if Jesus is not using His divinity, He is allowing His Father to do so, and the result is the same!
Closing Comments
The miracles around the lake lead to greater faith in Jesus as the wonder-working Son of God, but there are more foreshadowings of rejection and maybe even death, like John.
