An Honest Sermon about the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5

More episodes of pious superstition to boost holy hero Jesus

It would seem that one of the primary goals of the author of Mark was to promote the idea that Jesus was a superior being from the spiritual realm. Indeed the Christian church would eventually claim that Jesus is a part of god himself, that is, he is one of the persons in the Holy Trinity. And Mark told stories to make this seem vividly real—stories that are clearly rooted in ancient superstitions. 
 
For people with the least grasp of how the world works—even devout Christians—Mark 5:1-20 has to be an embarrassment. It is a patch of scripture they can do without, because it’s just too deeply rooted in beliefs that can no longer be defended.
 
 
We read that a severely mentally ill man confronted Jesus:
 
“…immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain, for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.” (Mark 5:2-5)
 
Any mental health professional today would recognize that his fellow was suffering from severe mental illnesses. But at the time Mark wrote, the naïve, uninformed conclusion was that the man was possessed by demons. As Robert Conner has stated so well: “In an era of near absolute ignorance about the brain and its functions, it comes as no surprise that altered mental states were explained as symptoms of possession.” (Was Paul Insane? Substack, 10 May 2025)  
Moreover, this meant that the deranged man was part of the spiritual realm, hence he was privileged to know who Jesus was—he was in on the secret that Jesus was divine: “…he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’” (Mark 5:7) In fact, the man was possessed by many demons: “My name is Legion, for we are many.” (Mark 5:9) He begged Jesus not to banish his demons to another region, but have them transferred instead into nearby pigs. 
 
“Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.” (Mark 5:11-13)
 
So he gave them permission. Yet more proof that Jesus had superior power in the spiritual realm. We wonder just what the author of Mark had in mind with gave them permission. Something Jesus thought, something he said? In either case, it seems that Jesus cast a magic spell to achieve the transfer of demons. This was a catastrophe—financial ruin—for the people who owned the pigs, and once word spread quickly what Jesus had done, he was asked to leave the region.  
 
The man restored to mental health wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to go home to his family, so that they could see the wonders of god’s mercy. “And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.” (Mark 5:20) That sums up Mark’s goal: he wanted people to be amazed by the stories he told.
 
Unfortunately, this story has had high impact on Christian superstitions. The Catholic church still trains exorcists because it wants folks to believe that demons are real—just as angels are real. As one Catholic woman said following a school shooting in which twenty kids were murdered, “God must have wanted more angels!” When I heard that I was almost tempted to believe in demons, and if a priest has been present, he would have performed an exorcism to remove the demon from her catechism-damaged brain. All her life she had been attending churches with splendid works of art featuring angels—so of course they’re real—saints, and the ubiquitous Virgin Mary. The Catholic church has pushed belief in a large number of saints who reside in the heavenly realm, who answer prayers and offer guidance. The Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, still makes personal appearances around the globe. 
 
In other words, this church thrives by maintaining among its followers strong belief in ancient myths and tiresome superstitions. The same goes for other Christian brands, of course, but the Catholic church appears to be the champion.
 
What Bible study means. Devout readers: Please make a careful comparison of Mark 5:1-20 and Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39. Both Matthew and Luke, who plagiarized major portions of Mark, altered the story of the crazy man in the tombs. Matthew shortened it significantly, and Luke changed the wording here and there. It is hard to accept divine inspiration of scripture when different authors made such changes. The author of John’s gospel ignored the story altogether.  
 
In Mark 5:25-34 we find Mark’s full embrace of magical thinking—to further enhance the divine nature of Jesus. This is the famous story of the woman “…who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse.” (Mark 5:25-26) She was confident that she would be healed if she managed to touch Jesus’ cloak. And so it was: “Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.” (Mark 25:29) So the Jesus-magic flows even through his cloak, and just getting ahold of it—however briefly—does the trick. Moreover, Jesus felt that “power had gone forth from him” (v.30), and the woman was terrified by what she had done. But he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (v.34)
 
Commanding demons to move from a man to pigs—presumably by words Jesus had uttered—is one level of magic, but here we find magical power transmitted by fabric. Jesus was aware of it only after it had happened. And he congratulated the woman on her faith. This is another key virtue for those who had signed up the Jesus cult: please believe that our theology qualifies as the one true faith. Faith also does the trick.
 
This story of woman cured instantly actually interrupts another episode designed to evoke awe among the faithful. The beginning of this story is found in Mark 5:21-24. Jairus, who is identified as a leader of the synagogue, begs Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter, who is near death. On the way, the woman with the flow of blood benefits from the Jesus-magic. When they resume the journey to go visit the ailing daughter, bad news arrives: “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35) Once again, Mark makes his point about the importance of belief: “Jesus said to the synagogue leader, ‘Do not be afraid; only believe.’” (v. 36) When they arrived at Jairus’ house, there was a distressing scene, “people weeping and wailing loudly.” (v. 38) Jesus ignores the commotion, goes to her bedside and takes the 12-year-old girl by the hand, and she got up and walked around. 
 
Strangely, Jesus “strictly ordered them that no one should know this.” (v. 43). Earlier, in the case of the man possessed by demons, he recommends the guy tell everyone what the Lord has done for him. Nor does he make any suggestion to the woman he healed to keep silent about the miracle. Mark’s primary message was that the Kingdom of God was near: that was Jesus’ enthusiastic proclamation. Why would he ask people to keep quiet about his amazing achievements? Mark’s cult-twisted thinking resulted in Jesus-script that doesn’t make sense, a primary example being Mark 4:11-12, in which Jesus tells his disciples that he teaches in parables to prevent people from repenting and being forgiven: only those in the cult have privileged knowledge (which I discussed in my honest sermon on that chapter).
 
The stress on faith and belief is a basic cult obsession—and so it continues to this day. At Pope Leo XIV’s first mass at the Vatican, this was his message:
 
“…the new Pope said there were many settings where the Christian faith was considered ‘absurd’ - with power, wealth, and technology dominating - but it was precisely there that missionary outreach was needed… ‘A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society…’”
 
Oh the irony—and blatant hypocrisy! Pious pronouncements by the new leader of a church whose reputation has been so severely damaged worldwide by the priests-raping-children scandal. 
 
But by all means, keep promoting the faith, despite the reality that, on so many levels, Christian beliefs are absurd, as secular thinkers have been pointing out for a very long time. The gospels themselves, including Mark, the first one written, provide abundant evidence of the absurdities that the devout continue to embrace. For more on this, see Richard Carrier’s brilliant essay, All the Fantastical Things in the Gospel according to Mark. 
 
 
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
·      Guessing About God (2023),
·   Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
·    Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.