Jesus sent out a multitude of unclean spirits from a possessed man who lived in a city on the east shore of the sea of Galilee. The man wanted to go away with Jesus right then and there, but Jesus sent him to be a witness to his people of the great things that Jesus had done and how God had mercy on him. On the other side of the sea of Galilee, a synagogue official asked Jesus to come heal his daughter, Jesus went with him and a crowd followed. A woman who had suffered a hemorrhage for twelve years, reached out and touched the outer garment that Jesus wore and she was healed because of he faith in Jesus. In the mean time, the synagogue official’s child died, but Jesus said that she is asleep and when he commanded that she get up, she immediately got up and began to walk.
While reading this text I felt the wait of it. A non-Jewish man was healed from about two thousand demons (for that was the number of swine); a Jewish synagogue official implored Jesus to come and heal his daughter; a woman considered unclean according to the law touched Jesus and was healed of her blood flow; and Jesus raised a dead girl to walk. I associate with each of these persons in this text. The man possessed by demons, the father worried about his child, the woman and the young girl. For I was dead in my trespasses and sins in which I formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience...But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved me, even when I was dead in my transgressions, made me alive with Christ. (Eph. 2:1-5) I was unclean and I reached out and touched his garment. I have not yet ascended to heaven where Christ is seated, but when I came to realize what God had done for me in Christ Jesus, I wanted to be with Jesus, but he sent me to tell my people what great things the Lord has done for me and how he had mercy on me. (Mk. 5:18-19) Like the synagogue official, I am worried about the life of my children but I know that the Lord can save them.
