Mark 5: The Caring Christ

If you could time travel to see Jesus as He ministered in Galilee, what is the one personal need you would ask Him to meet? Let's see how Jesus met the differing needs of three people in this passage.

Split into three groups, giving each group one of the following scenes to act out for everyone:

1. MAN: Verses 1-20 require these actors: man, people chaining him, Jesus, pigs, locals.
2. WOMAN: Verses 24-34 require these actors: crowd, woman, doctors, Jesus, disciples.
3. CHILD: Verses 21-24, 35-43 require these actors: crowd, Jesus, Jairus, men from his house, Peter, James, John, mourners, child, her mom and dad.
   If you don't have enough people in your group for this, then have the whole group mime each scene as it is read. Divvy up roles by putting multiple name tags on each person with the roles you want them to mime.

After each act, stop and ask: What can we learn from this encounter with Jesus?

1. MAN: Expelling demons from the man and into the pigs demonstrated: Christ's power, the man's freedom, the destructive nature of demons, the value of people.
2. WOMAN: Jesus cares for emotional as well as physical needs. He is tenderhearted toward the hurting, seeking them out.
3. CHILD: Instead of looking at our situations and being fearful, we should look to Jesus and trust Him to help us.

What different kinds of needs did Jesus meet in these encounters with people? (spiritual, emotional, physical)

What emotion is expressed often in this chapter? (fear)

How is faith expressed in each encounter? (The man obeyed Christ's instruction to be a witness. The woman reached out and touched Jesus, believing in His power to heal her. The child's father asked Jesus to heal her, and did not give up when he heard that she had already died.)

What character traits of Jesus are revealed in all three scenes? (Christ's authority and compassion. Jesus took on demons, sickness and death as He cared for a man, a woman, and a child.)

Let's spend a couple minutes in silent prayer, meditating on Christ's authority and compassion that can calm our fears and strengthen our faith.