mark 5

Read Mark 5 at Bible Gateway.

Mar 5 outline:

Mar 5:1-20, A man with a legion of unclean spirits healed
Mar 5:21-34, A woman with an incurable flow of blood healed
Mar 5:35-43, A girl who had died raised to life

In the last chapter, the disciples asked themselves a question concerning Jesus:

And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” Mar 4:41

And now the things that they were witnessing, were answering their question for them:

Mar 4:35-41, The wind and the sea obeyed Jesus;
Mar 5:1-20, The legion of unclean spirits obeyed Jesus;
Mar 5:21-34, The incurable flow of blood obeyed Jesus;
Mar 5:35-43, Life and death obeyed Jesus.

The answer is, “This is the Son of God,” which is the thematic focus of Mark’s gospel.

Mar 5:22-43 chiastic structure:

1a) Mar 5:22-23 , The ruler of the synagogue begged Jesus to come lay His hands on his daughter at death’s door;

1b) Mar 5:24a, So Jesus went with him;

1c) Mar 5:24b, A great multitude followed Him and thronged Him;

1d) Mar 5:25-26, The affliction of the woman with the incurable flow of blood;

1e) Mar 5:27-28, What the woman believed;

1f) Mar 5:29, She touched His clothes, and the fountain of her blood was dried up;

1g) Mar 5:30, He immediately knew that power had gone out of Him, and asked, Who touched My clothes?;

central axis) Mar 5:31, You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, “Who touched Me?”;

2g) Mar 5:32, He looked around to see who had done this thing;

2f) Mar 5:33, The woman fell down before Him and told Him what she had done;

2e) Mar 5:34a, Your faith has made you well;

2d) Mar 5:34b, Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction;

2c) Mar 5:35-37, He permitted no one to follow Him but Peter, James, and John;

2b) Mar 5:38-39, He came to the house;

2a) Mar 5:40-43, He raised up the little girl from death and returned her to her parents.

The central axis puzzled me at first. It seems an insignificant detail of the story, and that it would be THE central point of the whole structure? But then I realized, God has a throng following Him. But in the middle of that throng, His attention is on the individual, the single person, who reaches out to Him in faith, and touches Him.