Mark 5 begins immediately after Jesus calms the storm with the disciples, and as soon as they pull up to shore they encounter a dangerous demon-possessed man, whom Jesus heals (of course). I think if I was a Disciple, at that point there would be no doubt in my mind that Jesus really is the Messiah. What can He not control? He further proves His power with the healings recorded in Mark 5.
As I read the story of Jesus raising Jairus's daughter from the dead, I noticed a contrasting feature between miraculous healings by Christ's versus miraculous healings involving the Disciples. Whenever the Disciple's heal someone, they pray and/or command "in Jesus's Name," but Jesus simply commanded her to get up. Hence, this is another proof that Jesus is deity - He Is God!
I think this is a great passage of scripture to meditate on during Passion week:
2 Corinthians 5:11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. ... 14 ... Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Christ to pay for my debt that I could not pay - a debt that He did not owe. Teach me to understand my fearful responsibility to You, as you have taken away my old life and made me a new creation in Christ Jesus. Help me be an ambassador for Christ - to share the Good News with everyone around me. I pray in Jesus's Name. Amen.
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