Mark 4:35–5:20: Who Then Is This?

Note: Translated by Gemini

Peace be with you, brothers and sisters. Today, our scripture reading is from Mark 4:35–5:20, and my sermon title is "Who Then Is This?"

If you were asked to describe how you came to know Jesus, would you have an answer in mind? We can find answers in the Bible and in books, but have we truly found an answer through our own personal life experiences?

I remember when I first came to faith as a young child in elementary school. It was popular in our church for everyone to share and write down their testimonies. Back then, I didn't have much personal experience to speak of. My mother wrote about how she shared the Gospel with my grandfather and how he came to faith at the very end of his life. Since I didn't know much about God, I also wrote about my grandfather’s testimony. But I wasn't really the eyewitness—my mother was. It wasn't until high school, when my life was radically transformed by the Lord, that I realized Jesus is my savior and the One who transforms my life.

Yet in the blink of an eye, over ten years have passed. My testimony seems to have stayed frozen at that moment, and my experiential understanding of Christ seems to have stalled there as well. I wonder if any of you share the same struggle: you once had a profound experience of God in your life, but that was a long time ago. It feels like it's been a while since you last came to know this God, this Lord, anew through fresh encounters and experiences.

But don't be discouraged! Your state might actually be a bit better than that of the disciples. Mark 1:1 tells us right away who Jesus is: [Mark 1:1] "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Yet the disciples could never seem to grasp this correct answer. Even though they continually followed Him and experienced His power—and even though Peter once declared in Mark 8:29, "You are the Christ"—right up to the end of Mark in 16:8, the disciples still didn't truly understand in their hearts.

Praise the Lord, however, that our Lord has endless patience! Through one event after another, He leads the disciples step by step to recognize who He really is. In today’s story, Jesus will demonstrate two aspects of His transcendent authority—His authority over nature and His authority over the spiritual realm—so that the disciples and we can come to know "who this really is." Let’s look at today’s scripture.

4:35–41 Calming the Storm

[Mark 4:35–36] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.

Mark notes that it was "when evening had come." None of the Synoptic Gospels tell us the exact day, but the time is clearly evening. Jesus' decision to set sail at night was somewhat unusual, as people normally preferred to sail during the day. The Sea of Galilee (also called the Lake of Gennesaret) isn't very large—only slightly bigger than Miyun Reservoir—with a crossing distance of about 15 kilometers. Although it was night, it wasn't a major problem for the disciples because many of them were seasoned fishermen accustomed to night fishing.

These two verses also show us an important narrative detail: the disciples set sail at Jesus' explicit command. Understanding this background helps us make sense of why the disciples later woke Jesus up in such frustration.

[Mark 4:37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

We see a sudden storm sweep over the Sea of Galilee. Modern analyses show that cold air flowing through the Jordan Valley collides with rising warm air over the lake, causing violent, sudden storms. Others speculate that this storm was primarily the work of the devil, aiming to prevent Jesus from reaching the other side to cast out demons. Regardless, the scripture doesn't explicitly state the cause of the storm, but it vividly records its severity. In the original text, waves relentlessly battered the small boat, and water poured in. Even with several veteran fishermen on board, they were utterly helpless. They couldn't control the situation, and the boat appeared about to sink.

[Mark 4:38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Yet the scripture records Jesus peacefully sleeping in the stern. Do you know which part of a boat rocks the most? The bow is the rockiest, followed by the stern. Jesus slept because He was genuinely exhausted from a full day of teaching and healing. I remember an experience I had after going without sleep for two days and one night—I fell asleep at the bow of a small boat in the late afternoon, though thankfully there were no violent waves! Jesus, however, slept right in the middle of a raging storm. His body was exhausted, but His heart was in complete peace.

That was when the disciples woke Him! They cried out, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Let’s pause to consider: why did the disciples wake Jesus up? How many fishermen were among them? At least four. And what was Jesus’ former trade? A carpenter. Logically, they wouldn't need a carpenter to reinforce the boat’s structure right then, would they? So why wake Him? Let me give you four options to think about—which one do you think is closest to reality?

• A. The disciples believed Jesus had the power to calm the storm, so they woke Him to perform a miracle;
• B. The disciples felt they were caught in the storm because they obeyed Jesus' command to cross over, so they woke Him to vent their complaints;
• C. The disciples wanted Jesus to help out—even if He couldn't row, He could scoop water out, or pray to God for help (much like Jonah’s story, where the sailors wanted him to wake up and pray);
• D. The disciples were working themselves to death while Jesus was sleeping comfortably, ignoring them, and they felt deeply resentful.

I believe the answer includes every factor except A. The disciples clearly didn't call out to Jesus because they believed He could calm the storm; otherwise, they wouldn't have been in such a panic.

Their outcry contained genuine frustration. They had obeyed Jesus, followed His instructions, and ended up in a life-threatening storm. As a Teacher, shouldn't following His word lead to smooth sailing? I wonder if you see shades of yourself in these disciples. Perhaps our own complaints to God follow a similar pattern: we feel that because we follow Jesus, obey Him, attend church every week, join small groups, give tithes faithfully, and serve in ministry, our lives ought to be smooth sailing.

The disciples' experience shows us that this is not the case—following Jesus also means encountering storms. Earlier in Mark, the Parable of the Sower describes seeds on rocky ground that sprout quickly but have no depth; as soon as trouble comes, they fall away. I recall accompanying rural preachers to share the Gospel, and they would often say, "Just believe in Jesus, and everything will go smoothly!" How much of our faith is built on a similar Prosperity Gospel? Like the disciples, we must move past this mindset and learn to face life's storms and challenges alongside Jesus.

Besides complaining, the disciples likely hoped Jesus might render some assistance. Perhaps He could speak kind words of comfort like a gentle teacher, or organize the panicked crew efficiently like a capable leader, or pray to God to give them emotional relief. But Jesus did none of these things.

[Mark 4:39] 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.

In the original Greek, Jesus speaks just two commands—one active, one passive: "Quiet! Be muzzled!" In an instant, the storm settled into absolute calm. Jesus didn't do what the disciples anticipated; He solved the problem in the most direct, miraculous way possible.

[Mark 4:40–41] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Jesus pointed straight to the core issue: Have you still no faith? After experiencing so many miracles and hearing so much teaching, do you still lack faith? Why did they lack faith? Because they had not yet truly recognized who Jesus was. They asked each other, "Who then is this?"

When the disciples drew close to the truth without fully grasping it, their reaction was natural: they were filled with great awe and fear. Jesus calmed the storm on the sea, but He did not calm the fear inside the disciples. Their fear simply shifted from one object to another. They had feared nature because they knew human destiny is often at the mercy of natural forces, and normally they could only strive with all their might until a storm passed. Yet right now, their Teacher silenced everything with a single command. Who then is this?!

As the disciples grew up studying the Scriptures, they knew that only God has absolute authority over nature—God split the Red Sea, held back the Jordan River, sent down hail, and commanded violent winds. Creation belongs to God, so He alone commands it. Yet Jesus didn't pray to God; He directly commanded nature, and nature obeyed Him. Is He God? Is He the Son of God? Isn't there only one God? What is His relationship with God?

The opening of John’s Gospel gives us the answer:

[John 1:1–3, 14] "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

God created the world through the Word, and the Word became flesh to dwell among us—the Word is Jesus Christ, the Father's only begotten Son. Jesus did not need to pray to God for power; He possessed the inherent authority to command the wind and sea to be still.

In the first century AD when Mark was written, early Christians loved to craft mosaic artwork on church walls depicting Jesus calming the storm. They viewed the storm-tossed boat as a symbol of the Church enduring persecution under the Roman Empire, where believers were losing their lives. This imagery served as a constant reminder: Jesus is in our boat; do not be afraid. Throughout church history, believers facing trial and martyrdom went willingly to the execution grounds because they knew who Jesus was. For two thousand years, this fragile boat of the Church has drifted through storms, yet Jesus remains in absolute control.

Today, reading the story of Jesus calming the storm is not meant merely to teach us how to find personal peace amidst life's troubles—just as God didn't bring the disciples through the storm merely to make them comfortable again. God allows us to go through storms so that we will ask the crucial question: "Who then is this?"

We must ask ourselves: When hardship strikes, do you wake Jesus up in anger, saying, "Jesus, wake up! Why are You sleeping?!" Do you expect Jesus to play the role of an encouraging friend who offers gentle words during rough patches? Or is He merely your life coach, spiritual counselor, or a wise teacher whose advice you enjoy hearing, but whom you refuse to let govern your life?

The opening line of Mark gives us the ultimate answer: [Mark 1:1] "The Son of God, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ." He is the divine Son who rules over all. In the storm, He governs nature; in the storms of our personal lives, He reigns over our destiny. He is the sovereign Lord.

5:1–20 The Gerasene Demoniac

Next, let's look at Mark 5:1–20. Having seen the Christ who rules over nature, we now encounter the Christ who commands all spiritual authority.

[Mark 5:1] They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

Most scholars view Gerasenes as a Gentile region, evidenced by the presence of a pig herd—pigs being unclean in Jewish tradition. (Though some records suggest parts of it were once Jewish territory where people raised pigs for profit). For today’s narrative, we can treat this as a Gentile region and its inhabitants as Gentiles.

[Mark 5:2] And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

Here appears a demon-possessed man. Imagine viewing this man through the eyes of a Jewish disciple accompanying Jesus. Let's count how many "unclean" factors surround him—remembering how strictly Jews viewed ceremonial purity:

1. He is a Gentile (viewed as second-class citizens outside God’s chosen people).
2. He lives among the tombs (contact with dead bodies caused ritual defilement under Jewish law).
3. He is possessed by a demon (the law mandated death for mediums; whether caused by occult practices or not, it was deeply unclean).
4. He lives among pigs (swine were the ultimate taboo animal in Jewish culture).

To a Jewish community, this man was completely, utterly unclean. No Jew would willingly go near him. Yet Jesus endured a fierce storm at sea specifically to seek him out.

[Mark 5:3–5] He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

What stands out about this demon-possessed man? First, his superhuman strength. When I shared this story with my children, my child remarked that he sounded like Samson—except Samson’s strength came from God, whereas his came from the devil. Demonic strength inevitably produces harm, which is why people tried binding him with handcuffs and foot shackles. But nothing worked; the demon drove him to snap chains and shatter irons. Unsubdued, he wandered the tombs screaming and cutting himself with sharp stones.

We know relatively little about demonic possession, and I have never encountered a demon-possessed person myself. Scripture doesn't provide exhaustive technical details, but we can draw reasonable conclusions.

Was this man entirely consumed by the demon, completely devoid of consciousness or self-control? I don't believe so. If the devil held 100% control 24/7 without interruption, the man wouldn't feel personal agony; without conscious awareness, he might have suffered less distress than many of us. It seems the devil did not control him every single second. Remnants of his human awareness and willpower remained. Perhaps during brief moments of clarity, he attempted to return home to his loved ones, only for his family and villagers to reject him and drag him back to the cemetery.

The demonic forces tormented him by making him inflict self-harm. His agonizing cries likely stemmed from moments of lucid pain and his inner conflict against the evil spirits. He was a profoundly hopeless man—perhaps few in history have been more desperate.

Scripture contains limited details about evil spirits because God does not want us obsessed with demons. However, neither does Scripture want us to ignore the reality of spiritual warfare so much that we fall into paranoia. God wants us to know Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. When you truly know Christ, you don't need an elaborate fascination with demons, because evil forces are completely subject to Jesus' sovereign authority.

Despite this man's terrible suffering, do you see God's grace still resting upon him? God placed a clear boundary on the demonic forces: they were not permitted to take his life. We see that the demons possessed immense destructive power—they easily drove 2,000 pigs over a cliff to their deaths (a task I couldn't manage with even a single pig!). The ultimate goal of the enemy was total destruction. Yet despite all the torture he endured, the man remained alive. Satan is powerful, but God set a boundary he could not cross, just as He did in the story of Job.

Our world today is full of hurting, desperate people. If we look around society, we meet individuals living lives of quiet misery and torment. Yet mercifully, they are still alive. Jesus Christ possesses transcendent authority to turn around the most tragic human circumstances. He willingly endured hardship to reach the lowliest outcasts. He took the night boat across the stormy sea just to find one man abandoned by human society.

[Mark 5:6–7] And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

Do you remember the disciples' question from earlier? "Who then is this?" Here, this man—or rather, the demon inside him—gives a perfect score answer: Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. ("Most High God" was the title Gentiles used for the God of Israel).

Was this cry uttered by the man or the demon? To the man, Jesus might have seemed like a long-awaited savior. In moments of clarity, he may have heard rumors of Jesus healing and casting out demons across the lake, longing for the day Jesus might cross over into his broken world. However, the statement was more likely blurted out by the evil spirits, pleading not to be tormented or punished prematurely. While we know that at the final judgment Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, we don't know the exact nature of the immediate punishment they feared. But one thing is crystal clear: the demons knew Jesus held absolute authority over them.

This is why we need not fear evil powers when we belong to Christ. Fixating on the demonic often plays right into the enemy's hands.

[Mark 5:8] For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

The English translation sounds gentle, but in the original language, Jesus issued a direct, authoritative command: "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"

[Mark 5:9–10] And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

Jesus surprisingly asked for his name. The demon answered that his name was "Legion" because they were many. How many demons were there? Based on the 2,000 pigs that drowned shortly after, we might guess around 2,000. But it could have been even more—in the Roman military, a "Legion" consisted of 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers.

Jesus' question reveals the depth of the man's agony. A single demon is enough to cause immense suffering; Scripture notes that Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene. Yet the number of spirits inside this man exceeded almost anything else recorded in Scripture. It is impossible to fathom the horror he endured.

[Mark 5:11–12] Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”

We don't fully understand why the demons requested to stay in that region—perhaps because it was Gentile territory, their comfort zone.

[Mark 5:13] So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

The bizarre death of 2,000 pigs illustrates the destructive nature of evil forces. Yet despite this terrifying display, the demons could operate only within the boundaries God permitted. Beneath the gruesome scene of swine leaping off the cliff lies a deeper truth: Jesus reigns supreme. A tormented man was set free, and a brand-new life was born.

[Mark 5:14] The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.

Two thousand pigs represented a massive financial loss. At modern values (roughly $150 to $200 per pig), 2,000 pigs would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Panicked by the loss, the herdsmen summoned the entire local community to address the situation.

[Mark 5:15] And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Notice how the text still refers to him as "the demon-possessed man" and "the one who had the legion." The Bible never records his personal name; his suffering had become his identity in the eyes of others. Yet now, he sat peacefully, fully clothed, and restored in mind. "In his right mind" means possessing clear, sound thinking. His mental restoration signaled a complete transformation.

He was at peace, yet the onlookers grew terrified! Human nature is strange: people feared him when he was insane, but they feared even more when he was made whole.

Both stories end with a striking irony:

• The disciples feared the storm, but after Jesus calmed it, they feared Him even more for His power.
• The Gerasenes feared the violent demoniac, but after Jesus healed him, they feared Jesus for His divine authority.

Both groups realized Jesus wielded transcendent authority over both nature and the realm of spirits.

[Mark 5:16–17] And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

Tragically, despite witnessing Jesus' supreme authority, they begged Him to leave. Perhaps His miracle hit their wallets too hard—maybe they held shares in the livestock operation and were counting on end-of-year profits, all vanished in a single afternoon. They cared far more about their financial interests than the soul of a restored human being. It didn't matter to them who Jesus was, whether He had miraculous power, or if He was the Son of God. To them, preserving their comfortable lifestyle was all that mattered.

This may well have been the devil's scheme all along: knowing he could not resist Jesus directly, he destroyed the swine to incite the villagers into driving Jesus away, leaving the region open for spiritual oppression. Sadly, the Gerasenes missed their moment to know Jesus and welcome the Gospel into their community. And so, Jesus prepared to leave.

[Mark 5:18–19] As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Jesus agreed to leave at the villagers' request, yet He denied the healed man’s request to follow Him in the boat. Jesus didn't leave Gerasenes out of apathy; He loved those people deeply. By leaving the former demoniac behind, He planted a living seed of the Gospel in that land. He sent him home to testify about what the Lord had done.

Though nameless in Scripture, the man's former titles—"the demoniac" and "Legion"—shifted from marks of deep tragedy into monuments of God's transforming grace. His mission was to proclaim how Jesus redeemed his shattered life and set him free from the power of darkness.

[Mark 5:20] And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

The man went throughout the Decapolis—a region meaning "Ten Cities." He didn't just share his story at home; he traveled across ten surrounding cities sharing the Good News.

Remember the Parable of the Sower, where seed falling on good soil produced a crop thirty, sixty, or a hundred times what was sown? This man was the hundredfold harvest! He had known Jesus for only a brief moment—his initial awareness of Christ came from a demon calling Him "Son of the Most High God"—and his instruction time was limited to the brief window while the herdsmen ran off to report the incident. He never had the chance to travel with the disciples or attend seminary. Yet he became Jesus' very first commissioned missionary to the Gentiles, proclaiming Christ in places where Jesus could not minister directly. In a land steeped in idolatry, he declared what Jesus had done for him and testified that Jesus is the sovereign Lord over all spiritual power.

Reflecting on this man's deliverance brings to mind my own journey of salvation. Growing up, I was a mischievous child. Though short in stature, I was placed in the back row of the classroom from elementary through high school. My parents received more calls from teachers than almost anyone else, and I was widely disliked by my peers. Yet God rescued me. Right when my parents and teachers were at their wits' end, God transformed my life in a way I could never have imagined. He enabled me to know Him, walk with Him, trust Him, and ultimately serve Him.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus does far more than set people free from demonic bondage—His power directly touches your life today! While we were still far off, He rescued us from the slavery of sin. Even if your life before faith seemed smooth and comfortable, never forget the deep peril of spiritual death. Being saved by Christ through life's violent storms is infinitely better than coasting smoothly toward destruction.

Jesus walked the path to the Cross for you, taking upon Himself the painful judgment we deserved. He rose again, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to move your heart to cry out, "I believe!" He awakened us from spiritual numbness so that we might know Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. He invites us to experience the same deliverance as the storm-tossed disciples and the redeemed man of Gerasenes. This is the work Christ has accomplished in us.

Conclusion

Our world today remains full of unrest; violent storms still rage across the sea of life, and our daily lives reflect that turmoil. In our prayer groups, we naturally pray for practical needs—restored health, job security, better relationships with supervisors, or finding a spouse. Praying for these things is good and proper, but we must also reflect on how we come to know and experience Christ within our life's storms.

The purpose of Jesus calming the storm was not merely to give the disciples a comfortable journey, but to reveal Himself as the transcendent Lord who abides with them. Likewise, casting out the legion of spirits was not simply to restore quietness to a village, but to reveal Christ as the Savior of human souls.

The Church today faces its own share of trials and crises globally. In the United States, the recent assassination of evangelical political activist Charlie Kirk sent shockwaves through Christian leaders, as churches there navigate intense cultural and political pressures. Here in China, the Church continues to press forward through uncertain and turbulent waters. In times like these, as you sit in the boat, do you feel overwhelmed by panic? Have you fixed your eyes on Jesus standing beside you?

[Philippians 2:6–11] "...who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"Who then is this?" My prayer for every brother and sister is that through the Scriptures and within your own life experience, you will find your answer to the most vital question you will ever face.