Legion, Touch, and Talitha Cumi: Three Restorations in Mark 5

I have a piece of oak in my shop that was nearly firewood. It was charred on one end, cracked through the middle, left in the rain for years. Most people would have thrown it out. But I could see what it could become if I cut away the damage and worked the good wood.

Mark 5 is a chapter about restoration. A man possessed by a legion of devils. A woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. A twelve-year-old girl who had just died. Three people who were considered beyond help, and Jesus restores each one.

Meaning of the Legion of Devils in Mark 5

Jesus crosses the sea to the country of the Gadarenes. A man with an unclean spirit comes out of the tombs to meet him. The man lived among the tombs. No one could bind him, not even with chains. He had been bound many times but always broke the chains. Night and day he cried out and cut himself with stones.

When he sees Jesus from afar he runs and worships him and cries out with a loud voice. What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

Jesus asks his name. He says, My name is Legion, for we are many. There were about two thousand devils in that one man. They beg Jesus not to send them out of the country and ask to enter a herd of swine feeding nearby. Jesus gives them permission. The swine rush down a steep place into the sea and are choked.

The people come out to see what happened and find the man who was possessed sitting and clothed and in his right mind. They are afraid and ask Jesus to depart from their coast.

The man wants to go with Jesus but Jesus tells him to go home to his friends and tell them how great things the Lord has done for him. The man goes and publishes in Decapolis what Jesus had done. Everyone marvels.

And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Mark 5:15

I think about the man sitting. Before he was running through tombs breaking chains and cutting himself. Now he is sitting and still, clothed and in his right mind. That is what restoration looks like. Not dramatic. Quiet. Whole.

Why Did Jesus Heal the Woman With the Issue of Blood

A great multitude throngs Jesus as he walks toward the house of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue whose daughter is dying. In the crowd is a woman who has had an issue of blood for twelve years. She has spent all her money on physicians and only grown worse. She reaches through the crowd and touches his garment, believing that if she can touch even his clothes she will be made whole.

Immediately the flow of blood dries up and she feels in her body that she is healed.

Jesus perceives that virtue has gone out of him. He turns and asks who touched his clothes. The woman comes forward in fear and tells him the whole truth. He calls her daughter and says her faith has made her whole. Go in peace.

I love that he called her daughter. She had been unseen and untouchable for twelve years. Jesus gave her back her identity.

This connects to The Carpenter's Son: Rejection, Provision, and Power in Mark 6, where the same compassion drives Jesus to heal even when the people of Nazareth reject him.

What Does Talitha Cumi Mean and Its Significance

While Jesus is still speaking, messengers come from Jairus's house. Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master further? Jesus hears and tells Jairus not to be afraid, only believe.

He takes Peter, James, and John and goes to the house where there is a tumult of weeping and wailing. Jesus asks why they make such ado. The girl is not dead but sleeping. They laugh him to scorn. He puts them all out and takes the father and mother and enters where the girl is lying.

He takes her by the hand and says, Talitha cumi. Little girl, I say unto you, arise. She rises and walks. They are astonished with a great astonishment. He tells them to give her something to eat.

The chapter that began with a man in tombs ends with a girl eating in her kitchen. A man restored to his mind. A woman restored to her community. A girl restored to her parents.

How to Have Faith When a Loved One Dies

Faith in Mark 5 takes different forms. The man in the tombs had a faith that ran toward Jesus. The woman had a faith that reached out in secret. Jairus had a faith that kept walking even when the news was the worst it could be. All three were answered by the one who has power over everything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the devils ask to enter the swine?

This shows the destructive nature of the adversary. By entering the swine they caused chaos and loss, demonstrating the urgent need for the Savior's intervention.

Was the woman with the issue of blood sinning by touching Jesus?

Under the law she was considered unclean and touching a teacher would normally be forbidden. But her faith bypassed the ritual law. Jesus praised her faith and called her daughter.

Why did Jesus tell the father the girl was sleeping instead of dead?

He was shifting their perspective from finality to possibility. By calling it sleep he signaled that for him, death is a temporary state from which he can wake the soul.

What does virtue mean in the context of the woman's healing?

Virtue refers to power or strength. The healing was a tangible transfer of divine power from the Savior to the woman, triggered by her faith.

Closing

The charred oak in my shop is not firewood. It is a project waiting for the right cuts. The man in the tombs was not lost. The woman bleeding for twelve years was not forgotten. The dead girl was not finished.

Mark 5 is the chapter that proves no one is beyond the reach of the one who says arise.

— D.