Jesus goes there

The Gerasenes on the other side of the lake take Jesus and his disciples to new territory, gentile territory.  This is the first time Jesus intentionally crosses a boundary.  He has healed in synagogues and among the Jews, but now he extends his healing ministry beyond the borders.  He breaks Jewish holiness laws to do it.  He is found among the pig farmers, among the dead, with a demon-possessed outcast.  This scene would have turned the stomachs of the Jewish leaders in his day.  They would've been horrified that he, a rabbi, would enter this place.  Are there such places in our world?  Unsafe, unclean, dangerous, deadly places?  Places where you wouldn't take your children?  Jesus goes there.
He goes there with a singular mission:  To meet and heal this man.  One man.  Demon-possessed by 'legion'.  Everyone knew what a legion was---about 5,000 Roman soldiers.  As a people experiencing a powerful military occupation, the implications of this healing are more than personal.  It is political, too.  Driving a legion of demons out of the man is to drive a Roman legion out of Israel.  Its as if Mark is calling a legion of Roman soldiers "a bunch of pigs that we wish would fall into the sea and drown!"  Imagine how Roman soldiers would have taken this story!   Jesus' ministry has broader implications.  It calls into question the systems and structures that prevent people from thriving, that kill our bodies and souls.  This reveals that the confrontation Jesus brings goes from the bottom to the top of the food chain!  He's setting individuals free as a sign of God's intention to set all people free.
In our world, healing has become scientific and individual.  And yet, we see communities rally behind causes like breast cancer awareness.  People come together to find a cure, to support people who are suffering, and to encourage health.  Fundraising walks for Lupus, heart disease, cancer, and ALS bring communities together to fight illness.  The Race against Racism fights the disease of prejudice. This is what Jesus is doing when he brings his disciples to Gerasa.  He is exposing them to the dehumanizing effect of illness, mental and physical, and invites them to become part of the healing. 
Jesus is anti-incarceration! Because he sees that it does not work.  When the man is set free, he begins to tell others about Jesus.  A man others gave up on is a changed man because of Jesus.   He is the first evangelist, telling the public about Jesus.  Notice that Jesus encourages him to tell others what God has done for him and he tells others about Jesus?  This man experiences the power and presence of God in Jesus!  For people of faith, the work of Jesus is the activity of God in the world.

The next scene is a Markan sandwich, a writing method Mark employs to tell two stories at once.  The story of the daughter of Jairus and the bleeding woman are connected and must be interpreted together.  After all, the woman has been bleeding for 12 years and the girl is 12 years old. 
This story conjures up concern for sexual abuse of women and girls, human trafficking, child marriage, inadequate women's health care, and the unequal treatment of women.  Neither of these two people were afforded adequate and effective health care.  Doctors couldn't help them.  Rather than provide help, a community gathers to mourn.  Even before the child dies! 
There is empowerment in this story, too!  The woman approaches Jesus and touches him.  Her action immediately draws Jesus' power to heal, without his consent or choice.  He says that her faith has healed or saved her.  Salvation and healing are the same word in Greek! And she initiates it!  Go to Jesus and be healed/saved. Salvation is both physical and spiritual. 
The crowds laugh at Jesus when he suggests that Jairus' daughter, presumed dead, is sleeping.  Laughing mourners?  He is exposing their falseHe encourages Jairus to not doubt but believe.  When Jesus commands the girl to get up, she does!  He does not help her up.  She sits up and Jesus commands them to give her something to eat.  Eating is a sign of life! 
Jesus confronts the enemy, death.  It takes many forms.  Illness, isolation, imprisonment, misogyny, abuse, neglect, suffering, bleeding, dying.  Jesus confronts gender inequality.  In our world, 1 in 4 women experiences sexual abuse in their lifetime.  Jesus brings healing to them.  In so doing, he breaks cultural taboos.  He is touched and touches a woman and a girl---property of another man or household.  This was unlawful and exposes Jesus to public shame. 
In this chapter, Jesus joins a dirty, sick, dying, sinful world by becoming one of us.  He becomes a sinner by breaking cultural taboos, by breaking cleanliness laws, and by defying death itself.  He rejects the Roman military occupation, viewing it like demonic possession.  He goes where he is not supposed to go to bring God's goodness, mercy, and healing.
Notice how little the disciples do at this point.  They are learning by exposure, and likely shocked by his actions. 
If church follows this Jesus, where and to whom would we go?  What message would we send?  Anti-military occupation; pro-women's health, pro-girl; joining those who suffer with mental illness in isolation; anti-incarceration; defying death by providing people access to what they need to free them from their suffering.  He goes where others won't go.  And his disciples go with him.