Mark 4:35-5:20

Following the section on Jesus' parables, the Gospel of Mark now begins a section on Jesus' miracles, and it starts off with two particularly vivid stories.

Jesus now uses the boat (which had been for preaching to the crowds on the shore) to cross the lake to the other side. The other (east) side of the lake is Gentile territory, so this is a very significant trip for a Jewish prophet! As Jesus and his disciples cross the lake (the "sea" of Galilee is about seven miles wide) a storm threatens to sink the boat. Amazingly, Jesus is asleep. The story has many parallels to the story of Jonah--another Jewish prophet who got in a boat to go to a Gentile land, and who went to sleep while a storm threatened to sink the ship. But the difference is that Jesus isn't running away from God; he is boldly going where God presumably wants him to go. And he is asleep, not because he is in some sort of depressed stupor, but because his trust in God is so complete that nothing makes him anxious--not even a terrible storm on the sea.

The disciples wake up Jesus and accuse him of not caring about their wellbeing. Jesus rebukes the wind--the same way he rebukes the demons--and calls for stillness. The storm ceases. Throughout the Bible, the sea is often a symbol of chaos, un-creation, the very epitome of evil. In Genesis, God creates the world by bringing order to an original watery chaos. So now, Jesus brings order out of watery chaos.

For modern readers, this is a "nature miracle," which we may be inclined to put in a different class from healing stories (which could easily have a psychological component). But for Mark and his first readers, there is probably no essential difference between, say, an exorcism and a stilling of the storm. Both miracles are signs of God's kingdom overcoming the forces of evil. The difference is in the magnitude of the miracle--how often does a representative of God still a storm? Not surprisingly, the disciples wonder what kind of person is this. We, the readers, already know. But the disciples do not. Only Easter will reveal the full implications of who Jesus is.

Jesus criticizes the disciples for their lack of faith. Their lack of faith is not that they didn't think Jesus could save them, but that they weren't sure Jesus would save them. For Mark and his church, this story must have reminded them of their own situation. The boat is like the church--with Jesus and his disciples. But there are terrible storms of persecution going on, and many in the boat/church are afraid Jesus will not save them. But this story assures them that whatever happens--whether the persecution results in sinking and earthly death or not--Jesus is master of the storm, and his disciples are ultimately safe with him. We should emulate his nonanxious restfulness, even in the storms.

Jesus arrives in Gentile territory and performs his most spectacular exorcism. Jesus' first miracle was an exorcism in a Jewish synagogue--a holy place; his first miracle in Gentile territory is an exorcism in a graveyard--an unholy place. The strength and number of the demons possessing the man are revealed by their collective name: Legion. A legion is a Roman army of 6000 soldiers. What could be more frightening for Jews (and Mark's readers) than demons with the strength of a Roman army--the same Roman army that in Mark's day would utterly destroy Galilee, Jerusalem, and the Temple.

The demons recognize that in Jesus they are confronted with a higher authority and strength. They beg not to have to leave the country--presumably Gentile country. Jesus sends them into a herd of two thousand pigs that then go crazy and commit mass suicide by drowning in the sea. The modern reader is often troubled by Jesus allowing so many innocent animals die. But ancient Jewish readers would have found this story humorous and wonderful. Pigs are unclean animals. By casting the demons into the pigs, and the pigs then dying in the sea (the place of chaos/evil), Jesus is ridding this Gentile land of uncleanness. He has, in effect, tricked the demons and disposed of them with poetic justice. Jesus has brought the dawning of the kingdom of God even into the land of Gentiles. (There may also be a subtle protest against the Roman army and Roman Empire in this story--Jesus' power has rid the Gentile lands of unclean Roman power.)

Interestingly, the people want Jesus to leave. They are more afraid of the healing change Jesus brings than they were of the demon-possessed man. They prefer a sick status quo to the radical reorientation and healing of the kingdom of God.

But the man who is now healed wants to come with Jesus. Instead, Jesus makes him into a kind of missionary for that Gentile country. It may be that this story originated as a story explaining how the first churches in that area got started.