Marcos 5:20

The Decapolis was a league of 10 Greek cities all but one of which stood on the east side of the lake. One of these towns was Gergesa. The others were Damascus, Kanatha, Scythopolis, Hippos, Raphana, Pella, Dion, Philadelphia, and Gadara. [Note: J. McKee Adams, Biblical Backgrounds, pp. 150-160.]

People marveled at the man’s testimony. That was good as far as it went, but it should have led them to seek Jesus out. Perhaps some of them did.

Mark’s account of this miracle stressed Jesus’ divine power and authority that was a greater revelation of His person to the disciples than they had previously witnessed. It also provides a model of how disciples can express their gratitude to God for His saving work in their lives.

"Furthermore, in the flow of Mark’s narrative, this story must be read against the backdrop of the dispute between Jesus and the scribes over his exorcisms in Mark 3:22-27. It vividly describes Jesus as the one in whom ’the Most High God’s’ sovereign rule was being established through the binding of the ’strong man’ (Mark 3:27) who through Legion had so powerfully controlled a man that no one else could successfully bind with human fetters (Mark 5:3-5)." [Note: Guelich, p. 289.]

The raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of a woman with a hemorrhage 5:21-43 (cf. Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56)

This is one of the sections of Mark’s Gospel that has a chiastic structure (cf. Mark 3:22-30; Mark 6:14-29; Mark 11:15-19).

A The appeal of Jairus for his daughter Mark 5:21-24

B The healing of the woman with the hemorrhage Mark 5:25-34

A’ The raising of Jairus’ daughter to life Mark 5:35-43

In this case the delay caused by the healing of the woman created a greater problem that Jesus overcame easily. This account of a double miracle further revealed Jesus’ identity to His disciples.

"The healing of Jairus’s daughter shows that Jesus is the Lord of life, and the healing of the woman with the problem of persistent bleeding shows that He is the Lord of health." [Note: Bailey, p. 76.]

Some commentators believed that Mark did not follow a chronological order of events but rearranged them to make his theological points. [Note: E.g., Hugh Anderson, The Gospel of Mark, p. 151; Lane, p. 189; and Wessel, p. 660.] However all three synoptic evangelists recorded the events in the same order, so perhaps they occurred in this sequence. [Note: Cf. Cranfield, p. 182; Taylor, p. 289; and Hiebert, p. 125.] Mark’s account is the fullest of the three.

"The stilling of the storm and the healing of the demonized were manifestations of the absolute power inherent in Christ; the recovery of the woman and the raising of Jairus’ daughter, evidence of the absolute efficacy of faith." [Note: Edersheim, 1:616.]