Jesus speaks in parables, but it isn’t to hide the truth from His followers.
Nothing Secret
Mk 4:21–29
Mk 4:23 is often quoted, “If anyone has ears to hear” and Jesus also says “Take care what you hear”. In God’s Kingdom we are, as it says in 2 Cor 3:18 “transformed into the same image from glory into glory”.
Revelation comes by Gods Spirit as it says in Eph 1:17-18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,* may give you a spirit of wisdom* and revelation in the knowledge of him 18 (the eyes of your hearts having been enlightened), so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints. However, we don’t always know how the Spirit of God will do it, as Mk 4:27 says, “he does not know how” (the seed sprouts and grows). But it does grow!
The Smallest of Seeds
Mk 4:30–34
Reading further in the gospel of Mark, we find the parable of the mustard seed. And, we often wonder how we can expect anything to come from the little we have to offer. We can only be sure because God is in the mix so as it says in 1 Cor 3:7 So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who is causing it to grow. It is God who gives the increase!
The Wind and Seas Obey
Mk 4:35–41
Jesus said, let us cross over. And the boat was filling with water, they were sinking. They asked Jesus “is it not a concern”? But it wasn’t a concern because the water in the boat was just a symptom.
Where was their faith in what Jesus had already said? “Let us cross over”. After he rebuked the storm in Mk 4:40 Jesus questioned their fear and asked if the had faith. Do we believe what God has already said?
What Have I to do With You?
Mk 5:1–8
Next, we find Jesus going across the Sea of Galilee and instead of being greeted by crowds wanting to hear him, a man with unclean spirits came to him. Why would an unclean spirit come to him? Wouldn’t the spirit avoid a confrontation? But no, they, the legion of spirits in the man, came to ask permission to stay in the region.
Can you see the effect of an unclean spirit? This man roamed day and night. He cut himself. He overpowered everyone and no one could subdue him. But when Jesus spoke, the legion could not stay. And, with them gone, we see a man at peace. Is there turmoil happening around you that you just can’t seem to get rid of? Take your authority and command that evil influence to leave. It has nothing to do with you.
Legion
Mk 5:9–20
Don’t send us out of the region.
Here we see a different response to Jesus as in Mk 5:17 they “urge him to depart from their region”. Earlier the gospel of Mark, we see them bringing their sick and demon possessed to him so they can be healed and set free.
This man who had lived his life in the tombs, now went to the city, to Decapolis, and proclaimed what Jesus had done. And this was not just one city but a region described as:
Decapolis. Group of city-states where Greeks settled following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the area in the fourth century BC. They were located to the southeast of the Sea of Galilee, with the exception of Scythopolis, which was west of the Jordan River. About AD 77 Pliny gave what is the earliest known list of the cities: Canatha, Damascus, Dion, Gadara, Gerasa, Hippos, Pella, Philadelphia, Rephana, and Scythopolis.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Decapolis. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 607). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
And, this regions seems to have been important as:
The Decapolis is mentioned three times in the NT. The first is in Matthew 4:25, where great crowds (mostly Greeks and Canaanites) followed Jesus during his early ministry. In Mark 5:20 the demoniac who was healed by Jesus went and proclaimed Jesus throughout the Decapolis region. Finally, in Mark 7:31 Jesus passed through the Decapolis region on his way from Tyre and Sidon to the Sea of Galilee.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Decapolis. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 607). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Study Verses
- Mark 4:21-29
- Mark 4:30-34
- Mark 5:1-8
Daily Reading
- Mark 4:21-41
- Mark 5:1-20
