Today's main idea: Jesus has authority over the storm and over evil spirits. He uses his power to rescue people, and he invites us to trust him and tell others about his mercy.
Read Slowly
Main reading: Mark 4:35–5:20
Alongside Mark:
- The storm: Matthew 8:23–27 and Luke 8:22–25.
- The deliverance: Matthew 8:28–34 and Luke 8:26–39.
Start with Mark. Then read the parallel accounts as you reach each scene. Matthew and Luke help us notice details that Mark does not include.
Read the two scenes together. First, the disciples face a storm they cannot control. Then Jesus meets a suffering man whom no one has been able to restrain. Notice what frightens people, what Jesus does, and how people respond afterward.
In Day 11, we saw Jesus free a man from evil and challenge people to hear God's word. This reading brings us back to his power over evil, while showing the personal mercy of the one who holds that power.
Trouble Does Not Mean Jesus Has Stopped Caring
Jesus tells the disciples to cross to the other side of the sea. While they are traveling, a strong storm rises. Waves break into the boat, and it begins to fill with water. Jesus is asleep in the back.
The disciples wake him. Their question goes beyond asking for help. They ask whether he cares that they are about to die.
Matthew records the disciples asking Jesus to save them in Matthew 8:23–27. Mark brings their question about his care into view. Reading both accounts helps us recognize how a frightened person can reach toward Jesus for help while also struggling to trust him.
Their danger is real. But they read Jesus' sleep as a sign that their danger does not matter to him. They have moved from being afraid of the storm to questioning his care.
We can make that same move when help seems slow. A hard conversation goes badly, a problem continues, or a prayer seems unanswered. We begin to think that if Jesus cared, things would already be different.
Notice that the disciples entered this storm while doing what Jesus told them to do. Following him has brought them into a frightening situation, and he is still with them in the boat.
The disciples' fear has become a conclusion about Jesus' care. His presence in the boat and his coming response give them reason to reconsider that conclusion. They need his help with both the danger and their understanding of him.
When a problem continues, I can name what is happening without deciding that it tells me everything about Jesus. I can bring the fear itself to him and listen again to what Scripture reveals about his character.
Remember: My fear is something to bring to Jesus, not a final verdict on his care.
Jesus Gives Them a Deeper Question
Jesus wakes, commands the wind and sea, and the storm stops. The great storm becomes a great calm.
Then he asks why the disciples are so afraid and why they still have no faith. His questions turn their attention toward their trust in him. They have been looking at the danger without understanding who is with them.
Luke records Jesus asking, “Where is your faith?” in Luke 8:22–25. That question invites us to consider what we are relying on when danger comes. Matthew places Jesus' words about their little faith before he calms the storm; Mark and Luke place his question after it.
The disciples are still filled with fear, but now their attention is on Jesus. They ask who he is, since even the wind and sea obey him.
Notice the movement: a great storm, a great calm, and then great fear. The danger has passed, yet the disciples are shaken by the authority of the person in their boat. They have received help, and they are beginning to face the larger question of who has helped them.1
That question becomes even richer alongside Psalm 107:23–32. Sailors in a storm cry to the Lord, and he stills the waves. In Mark, Jesus speaks and the sea becomes calm. The action Scripture attributes to the Lord is now seen in Jesus.1
This gives weight to the disciples' question. They are encountering God's authority through the teacher they have been following. Knowing who Jesus is gives us a reason to trust him with what we cannot control.
The calm leads the disciples to ask who is in their boat. Mark directs our attention through the rescue toward Jesus' identity. Knowing the one who speaks to the sea changes the meaning of being with him.
When I read about his help, I can pause beyond the outcome and name what I have learned about him. Trust gains substance as his authority and mercy become clearer to me.
Remember: The deepest gift in seeing Jesus' help is coming to know the one who helps.
Jesus Meets a Man in Terrible Suffering
When Jesus steps out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit meets him. An unclean spirit is an evil spirit. The man lives among tombs, cries out night and day, and injures himself with stones.
People have tried to bind him with chains and shackles, but he breaks them. Mark repeats that no one can subdue him. Human strength has not solved his condition.
Luke adds that the man had gone without clothes for a long time and was no longer living in a house in Luke 8:26–39. Those details help us see how much ordinary life he had lost.
Matthew describes two men coming from the tombs, so fierce that people could not pass that way, in Matthew 8:28–34. Mark and Luke follow one man's story closely.
Before we think about the man's unusual strength, we need to notice his suffering. He is living among the dead, hurting himself, and separated from ordinary life with others. This is a person in deep distress.
Jesus does not turn back to the boat. He addresses the evil spirit and brings the help this man cannot provide for himself.
Mark describes both the man's frightening behavior and the suffering beneath it. Jesus addresses the evil tormenting him and restores the person. His action gives us a reason to look beyond the effect someone's distress has on us.
I can notice when a person's difficulty has become the only thing I see. Remembering that person as someone needing care can change how I speak about them and seek appropriate help.
Remember: A difficult person's suffering deserves attention beyond the difficulty they cause me.
Evil Spirits Must Answer to Jesus
The man runs to Jesus and falls before him. The voice addressing Jesus identifies him as the Son of the Most High God and begs not to be tormented. Jesus has been commanding the unclean spirit to come out.
When Jesus asks for a name, the answer is Legion, because there are many. Many evil spirits have been tormenting this man.
Matthew adds that the demons ask whether Jesus has come to torment them “before the time” in Matthew 8:28–34. Their question points toward an expected time of judgment. Luke records their plea not to be sent into the abyss in Luke 8:26–39. Together, these details show their fear of punishment and their recognition that Jesus has authority over their fate. They are not meeting an equal opponent.
Even so, they must ask Jesus for permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs. When he permits it, they leave the man and enter the pigs. The herd rushes into the sea and drowns.
The spirits bring destruction to the herd, but they have no authority to resist Jesus. The man is free from their control.
The spirits know Jesus' title and must yield to his command, but their recognition is not loving trust. Mark shows an authority greater than the power tormenting this man. The reader is invited to respond differently from the spirits.
I can ask what it means to trust the Son of God I name in prayer. His authority calls for a willing response in the decisions and habits I bring before him.
Remember: Knowing Jesus' name invites me to trust the person it names.
People Can See Mercy and Still Want Jesus to Leave
The herdsmen report what happened, and people come to see. They find the man sitting, clothed, and in his right mind.
Luke places the restored man at Jesus' feet in Luke 8:26–39. He is not simply calmer or easier for others to manage. He is sitting near the one who has freed him.
The contrast is striking. The man who could not be restrained is now sitting peacefully. His life is no longer being ruled by the spirits that tormented him.
But the people are afraid. After hearing about the man and the pigs, they beg Jesus to leave their region.
Their response is sobering. Seeing what Jesus has done does not automatically make someone welcome him. His authority can frighten people even when his mercy is visible in front of them.
The restored man is visible before the people who ask Jesus to leave. His mercy is real, yet they still resist his presence. The scene shows how an encounter with Jesus can require more than amazement.
I can notice where I welcome the idea of his help but resist a command that changes my priorities. Trust means making room for the authority of the one whose mercy I value.
Remember: Welcoming Jesus' mercy also means making room for his authority.
Following Jesus Begins Where He Sends You
As Jesus gets into the boat, the restored man begs to go with him. After everything that has happened, he wants to be near the one who freed him.
Jesus does not allow him to come. Instead, he sends him home to tell his friends what the Lord has done for him and how he has received mercy. Mercy here is the compassionate help Jesus has given him in his suffering.
The man obeys. He goes through the Decapolis telling what Jesus has done, and people marvel. Notice the connection: Jesus tells him to speak of the Lord's work, and Mark describes him telling of Jesus' work. God's mercy has reached this man through Jesus.
Luke makes that connection even more direct in Luke 8:26–39. Jesus tells the man to declare what God has done for him, and the man tells what Jesus has done for him. Luke presents Jesus' rescue as God's work in this man's life.
Earlier, Jesus appointed the Twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach in Mark 3:14. Now this restored man wants to be with him, and Jesus sends him to speak about mercy. His assignment begins among his own people.2
The repeated requests in this scene are striking. The spirits beg Jesus for permission. The people beg him to leave. The restored man begs to stay with him. Jesus grants the first two requests but gives the man a different assignment. His answer sends a willing follower into service.2
The people have asked Jesus to leave, but his mercy will still be spoken of among them. The man they knew in terrible suffering now carries the story of his rescue home.2
Following Jesus may include an assignment different from the one we wanted. This man's obedience begins with going home and telling the truth about the mercy he has received.
Jesus gives the man a place to serve among people who know his past. The request to go with him receives a different assignment, and the man follows that direction. Going home becomes his way of obeying Jesus.
I can consider the people already within reach. An honest account of Jesus' mercy may help them more than an impressive story about myself. Faithfulness can begin in the setting I was ready to leave.
Remember: The place I hoped to leave may be a place Jesus gives me to serve.
What We Learn About Jesus
Jesus has authority that human strength cannot match. The wind and sea obey him. The evil spirits must ask his permission.
He uses that authority to help people. He rescues frightened disciples and frees a man living in terrible suffering. His power and his care belong together.
He also calls for a response. He questions the disciples' lack of faith and gives the restored man a clear instruction. Knowing Jesus includes learning to trust him and do what he says.
How the Reading Fits Together
Both scenes begin with a situation people cannot control. Jesus speaks, and what they could not overcome yields to him. Both scenes also include fear after the rescue. People are beginning to see how great his authority is.
Their responses differ. The disciples ask who he is. The local people ask him to leave. The restored man wants to be with him and then obeys his instruction to go home.
Matthew helps us hear the plea for rescue and the fear of coming judgment. Luke helps us see the restored man at Jesus' feet and recognize God's work through Jesus. These details deepen Mark's main picture: Jesus has authority over what people cannot control, and he uses it to show mercy.
As we read, the question becomes personal: how will I respond to the Jesus these scenes reveal?
Take a Moment with Jesus
- What conclusion about Jesus' care have I drawn mainly from my fear?
- Who have I begun to see only through the difficulty they cause, and what suffering needs my attention?
- Where could an honest account of Jesus' mercy help someone in the setting I already occupy?
Prayer
Jesus, when I am afraid, help me remember who you are. Forgive me for deciding that you do not care when I cannot see what you are doing. Help me notice people in pain and respond with compassion. Teach me to follow your direction and speak honestly about your mercy. Amen.
One Thing to Do
Write two or three honest sentences about one way Jesus has shown you mercy. Keep the attention on what he has done, without exaggerating your experience. Share those sentences with one trusted friend or family member today.
Carry This with You
Jesus' power is joined to his mercy. I can bring him my fear, follow his direction, and tell others what he has done for me.
Sources Consulted
Source citations
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Matt Skinner, Working Preacher commentary on the storm, on the repeated descriptions of greatness and the connection to God's authority over the waters. ↩ ↩2
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C. Clifton Black, Working Preacher commentary on the restored man, on the repeated requests, being with Jesus, and being sent to proclaim his mercy. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
What is one thing you want to remember?
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