Mark 5:18-20

Our testimony is HIS story!

In Romans 8:28 Paul writes, “In everything God works for the good of those who love him.” Does everything include tumors and tests and tempers and terminations? John would answer yes. John did not know that Friday’s tragedy would be Sunday’s triumph. You’d think he would have left. Who was to say that the men who crucified Christ wouldn’t come after him? To others, Jesus was a miracle worker, a master teacher, and the hope of Israel. But to John, he was all of these and more. To John, Jesus was a friend, and you don’t abandon a friend—even when that friend is dead.

When you are somewhere between yesterday’s tragedy and tomorrow’s triumph, what do you? Do you leave God, or do you linger near him? John chose to linger. And because he lingered on Saturday, he was around on Sunday to see the miracle. May you do the same. Max Lucado

Mark 5:18-20

18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. The New King James Version

This is the only episode in Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus does not attempt to conceal His identity, but He also does not tell the man to proclaim to his friends how much He, Jesus, has done for him. Instead, it seems that He is telling the man to share how much “the Lord”—likely a reference to the divine name Yahweh in this instance—has done for him.  Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus was not well received in this region. His presence had cost financial loss to some, although it meant liberation to the demoniac. Jesus could have healed and saved in that region, but He was turned away by its fearful citizens. Yet He left a solid witness behind. All the people marveled when they heard what Jesus had done for him. The NKJV Study Bible

What multitudes of fallen spirits there must be, and all enemies to God and man, when here was a legion in one poor wretched creature! Many there are that rise up against us. We are not a match for our spiritual enemies, in our own strength; but in the Lord, and in the power of his might, we shall be able to stand against them, though there are legions of them. When the vilest transgressor is delivered by the power of Jesus from the bondage of Satan, he will gladly sit at the feet of his Deliverer, and hear his word, who delivers the wretched slaves of Satan, and numbers them among his saints and servants. When the people found that their swine were lost, they had a dislike to Christ. Long-suffering and mercy may be seen, even in the corrections by which men lose their property while their lives are saved, and warning given them to seek the salvation of their souls. The man joyfully proclaimed what great things Jesus had done for him. All men marvelled, but few followed him. Many who cannot but wonder at the works of Christ, yet do not, as they ought, wonder after him. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

Psalm 66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul.

Matthew 4:25 Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Matthew 9:8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Luke 8:39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.