Mark 4:35 And on that day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, even as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him. 37 And a big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. 38 And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke Him up, and told Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are dying?” 39 And He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace. Be still.” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” NHEB
We have been in a parable section and are now moving into a miracle section. Mark has selected a group of miracles that show Jesus as a mighty man – in other words, not your average guy. The goal is to establish through these miracles that Jesus is the Son of God. Although there are many more miracles than just those described in the text, the number of miracles specifically described is modest for the writings of the time. This isn’t particularly surprising as Christ’s ministry entailed far more than performing signs proving who He was.
For Romans, “Son of God” could be the emperor or it could be heroes such as Hercules who possessed superhuman strength. Mark’s miracles will demonstrate Jesus’ authority over nature, demons, illness and death. The the climax of the story is Resurrection and the triumph by Christ over death. This victory is important as the Greeks and Romans feared death. Most miracles in the synoptic Gospels were driven by compassion while those in John are more revelatory in nature. All validate who Jesus is.
Verse 35 begins with a time reference. It is evening and Jesus decides that they should go to the other side. To the Jewish way of thinking, the sea represents chaos. It is the anti-God forces that are constantly working against them and is certainly no place to be at night. The sea also represents a boundary as the region on the other side is a Gentile area. It is this area (Decapolis) that the Christians of Jerusalem flee to in 70AD when the Romans invade.
Some see this as Jesus turning to the Gentiles and away from the synagogue as a result of their rejection of Him but there is little evidence in the Bible of Christ expending much effort on the Gentiles during His earthly ministry. It may be no more complicated than after a long day of preaching, there were two directions He could go – either through the crowd or across the sea. Note that there are other boats with Jesus and the disciples which is a detail not included in Luke or Matthew. This is the type of detail you find in an eyewitness account. The storm that kicks up is a threat to life for all of the boats.
Great storms are not uncommon on the Sea of Galilee. There are bluffs and ravines around it which allows the wind from the desert to whip through the ravines and cause storms. Jesus is asleep on a cushion as He has been teaching all day long and is likely tired (another characteristic of humanity). Once again, another eyewitness type detail which is uncharacteristic of Mark.
The disciples address Him as “Teacher”. The apostles have an advantage over everyone else with their access to truth yet they still don’t have a clue as to who He is. We see them today as fearless with Peter being crucified upside down but here we see that they are scared. Earlier, Jesus has been talking about bad responses to the Word in the seed and soil parables and now we see a bad response coming from the disciples. We see fear and faith bouncing back and forth among them (otherwise they wouldn’t be concerned about the weather). This is certainly comforting as while we have access to Truth today through the Bible, we also waver at times.
Rebuke is a personal term that would be more commonly used in connection to other people (such as rebuking a child for bad behavior). Jesus then asks about fear and faith. He ultimately rebukes the wind, the waves and the disciples.
In this first story, Jesus shows authority over nature. A faithful Jew of the day would say that God has authority over the sea having parted it for Moses (also see Psalm 74:13, Job 26:12 for two other references to God’s power over the sea). The fear they experienced after witnessing these events was a little different than what they experienced during the storm. We see that word and should think of them as being awestruck or filled with reverence. An even better term is simply fear of the Lord.
Mark 5:1 And they came to the other side of the sea, into the territory of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. 3He lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. No one had the strength to tame him. 5 And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.” 9 And then he asked him, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” NHEB
There are a great many proposals about what town where this took place as Gerasenes is the name of the district not a particular city. The main thing to know is that most of this area is Gentile country. In terms of ritual uncleanliness, this guy is the clear winner as he lives in the tombs amongst the dead. His violent disposition and superhuman strength make him unbindable. The term “Most High God” is generally the language of a polytheistic people.
As a divine name “the Most High God” belonged to the earliest stage of the patriarchal worship of the one Supreme Deity. Melchizedek appears as the priest of “the Most High God” (Genesis 14:18). It is used by Balaam as the prophet of the wider Semitic monotheism (Numbers 24:16), by Moses in the great psalm of Deuteronomy 32:8. In the Prophets and the Psalms it mingles with the other names of God (Isaiah 14:14; Lamentations 3:35; Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:24; Daniel 4:32; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 7:18; Daniel 7:22; Daniel 7:25; Psalm 7:17; Psalm 9:2; Psalm 18:13; Psalm 46:4, and elsewhere). In many of these passages it will be seen that it was used where there was some point of contact in fact or feeling with nations which, though acknowledging one Supreme God, were not of the stock of Abraham. From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers.
The demon or evil presence is speaking for the man. To this day, exorcisms always get the name of the spirit that they are dealing with. The word legion is a Roman army term describing a group of roughly 4,000 to 6,000 soldiers (depending upon the time period you are talking about). We see the word and think of the many demons in this man. A Roman of this time period hearing the name might immediately think of the oppression of the Roman army. Combining these two thoughts creates an interesting juxtaposition as in our lives we have things fighting against us that are both seen and unseen.