Dear friends, in this session, we continue with the same story of Jesus calming the Storm, but let us go to the Gospel of Mark.  It is the same revelation, but the word of God to us in this session, is best understood in the co-text of the account in Mark.

Before ‘Jesus Calms the Storm’.

Mark 4:30-32

³⁰ Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. ³² Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Then we have the account of ‘Jesus calms the Storm’.

After which is the account of ‘Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man.’

After ‘Jesus Calms the Storm’.

Mark 5:1-20

¹They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.^[a] 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³ This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴ For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷ He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” ⁸ For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” ¹³ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

¹⁴ Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷ Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis^[b] how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Just before the account of ‘Jesus Calms the Storm’, we have the parables, and the last one being the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God being like a mustard seed, the smallest of seed. Yet when planted and grown, becomes the largest tree in the field, and that the birds can fly in and perch on its branches.  The symbol of the birds was earlier used in the first parable of the same chapter, the Parable of the Sower, and signifies the evil one.

On one hand Jesus tells us about the growth potential of the Kingdom of God.

On the other hand, he warns us that when this good kingdom grows and is established, the evil one will fly in to take advantage of it, and corrupt it from the inside.

This warning has played out in many nations that used to put the ways of God first in their nation. But in recent years, when people had lobbied to remove these laws and replace them with opposite laws, we see a perversion of justice, and a corruption of human values, and a great degradation of these have-been ‘empires’.

When Jesus taught these, he had come in a time of human history, to bring back the rule of God to the world.  Outwardly, the Roman Empire was the world super power, but inwardly, lies much of Satan’s devices that will destroy that kingdom.  Outwardly, the rulers had everything under their control, but inwardly, Jesus came to reveal a real and powerful, unseen dimension: the spiritual realm.

When we sailed with Jesus and his disciples, and faced the storm, it looks like a normal and natural occurrence, just an ‘unlucky’ day.

But when we understand the mission that Jesus was on, our understanding of the storm also changes.

Jesus was crossing over for spiritual warfare.

In Mark 5, we see one demon-possessed man, living among the tombs, impure and supernaturally strong.  Able to break the chains that bind him and the irons on his feet.  Through the dialogue we understand that many spirits live in him, as they are called ‘Legion’.  After Jesus cast out the evil spirits into the pigs, we can see that they could possess 2000 pigs.  Legion was much more than 2000.

Now going back to the storm, it is true that Jesus had power over the natural forces.

But here, our spiritual understanding is challenged.

Thousands of evil spirits can live in a man and animals.  Can these evil spirits also create a storm? 

Perhaps Jesus was rebuking the spirits that were causing the storm when they were crossing over for spiritual warfare.

The impure spirits knew when Jesus and his disciples arrives. They knew that Jesus was coming for them.  Could it be that they tried to stop them from coming?

A pastor friend shared with me on how they were praying for a friend’s mother, who was a medium.  Although the lady wanted to hear the good news of Jesus, and invited them to her place, she was cold and resistant during their visit there and kept scratching her neck.

After a time of fervent prayer, she later became open and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.  She then shared with them what had happened earlier.

Being a medium, she had worked with spirits.  Before they came, she could see the pastor and his friend praying.  When they were sharing with her, she wanted to accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour, but the evil spirits tried to choke her, and that was why she kept scratching her neck!  It was after her firm exercise of her will to accept Jesus, that their bond over her was broken.  They then prayed for her and commanded the evil spirits to leave her.

Friends, our spiritual journey begins when you start to see that there is a real, unseen, spiritual realm.

Accepting Jesus as your King and living your life in God’s ways, brings you into the Kingdom of God.

Breakthroughs will happen when we can break these spiritual bondage that come in the form of habits, addictions, temptations, pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, and so much more.

We start our journey by setting ourselves right, and changing all wrong mindsets, one by one.

When you see how God uses the challenges of your life to show you that He is greater, our desire to grow in our knowledge of God wells up.  When that happens, faith, hope, love, peace and joy will grow within us too.

Our faith journey is really like Jesus inviting us to a higher life.

Before Jesus, we lived according to the flesh, and are motivated by earthly things.  We think that there is only this life on earth to live, and we try to grab, hoard and hang on to as much as we can.  We may be threatened against doing what is right with the fear of losing our property, freedom, family, and lives.

But when Jesus came, he showed us that there was life after death.

That we have to live correctly, because we are accountable to God.

We cannot hide anything from God, and have to answer even to every careless word spoken.

In his invitation he shows us that there is more to life.

He shows us that we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, can do all things that he has come to show us.  Yes, our bodies are frail, but our spirit can be strong.

That the bad guy on earth never had the final say, as God is watching and is in control.  It is just that the end of our life on earth is not really the end.  There is judgement after that.

So the evil-doers will not go off scot-free.  Their great punishment awaits.

The good people who got killed, robbed or cheated, will not go unrewarded.  Their great reward awaits.

God reigns supreme, and justice and righteousness will be upheld.

Jesus had come so that we can see this.

Jesus had come so that we can lead our lives right, with complete peace and joy from God.

Jesus had come, so that we may dare to love, learn to forgive, and bring hope that people can live in harmony.

He has come to open eyes to the workings of the spiritual world, and the spiritual warfare that we fight.

That anyone can be delivered from the impure spirits that occupy him.

By the name of Jesus, they can be freed from such oppression.

Freed to see clearly and live his life in righteousness.

Who is Jesus?

Will you follow him?