Mark 5 – Who needs Jesus?

In Mark 5, we see two stories (and two sub-stories) of people who need Jesus. The first person is a demon possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes. He clearly needed Jesus, physically hurting himself and being cast out from the community. The second person is Talitha, the daughter of the synagogue ruler Jarius. She is has something that has made her very sick, even to the point of death. There is also a woman who has been suffering for 12 years and she needs Jesus too. And what about all the people in the town that the demoniac was in, don’t they need to hear about the grace of God as well? If you have a name (Jarius) or not (the woman who was suffering from the hemorrhaging), you need Jesus; if you have a high place in society (Talitha) or low (the demoniac), you need Jesus; regardless of your health, regardless of your geography or heritage, regardless if you have a demon or not – everyone needs Jesus. It is easy to forget that well-meaning, well-behaved, likeable, socially decent people desperately need the grace of God in their lives. Or that the grace of God can extend to the lowest rung of society.