Walking with Jesus to the Decapolis
Notes
Transcript
Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, “The other side”
Mark
Jesus takes us here twice, to show us the substantial change that occurs when a new convert tells his story of meeting the Lord.
First Story:
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.
He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,
for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,
and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”
So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.
And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.
And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.
And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Jesus doesn’t flee, doesn’t condemn, doesn’t use him as an object lesson. He has compassion.
The people are more afraid of Jesus whom they do not know, than they are of the demons they had known.
He does not allow the man to come with him. Wants him to stay and share the message.
Second story:
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.
And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,
“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.
And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”
And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”
And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.
And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.
And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.
And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
The pigs that once filled the hillside are gone and replaced by crowds of people wanting to be with Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
1. What does it say about Jesus that he made the effort to leave the familiarity of Jewish territories to visit the Decapolis, which was decidedly Gentile?
2. The demon possession Dr. Beck describes from is horrible. The man in the story was so dangerous that he had been put in chains and forced to live in a graveyard. When Jesus and the disciples arrived by boat from Galilee, the man siad, “What do you want with me, Jesus?” Why did he respond that was instead of asking for help?
3. Are you surprised that the people of this region would ask Jesus to leave immediately after he healed the demon-possessed man? Imagine someone showing up in your area and within minutes destroying your livelyhood —that it seemed was what Jesus did when he sent the demons into these people’s pigs. How reasonable is the residents reaction?
4. Why was the healed man’s request to follow Jesus back to Galilee declined? How do we know that the man did what Jesus told him to do?
5. Dr. Beck asks, “Why didn’t Jesus allow the man to get in the boat and go back with him to a side of the lake that would allow him to grow more in his faith?” What can we learn about spiritual growth from this man’s obedience?
6. Consider Dr. Becks final observation: Jesus treated Gentiles who were hungry the same way he treated observant Jews who were hungry. He fed them both. What does that say about how we should treat people who might be other side of some political or religious or cultural line we have drawn?
