“To Be With Jesus” – MARK 5:18-24

Often, Jesus discouraged those who were blessed by His wondrous miracles from telling others. In this Gentile region of Gadara and the Decapolis (“ten cities”), Jesus commanded the healed man to go and tell others. When his countrymen tried to send Jesus away, this man wanted Him to stay so that he could be with Jesus. There are some implications here worth exploring a little further.

Jesus was teaching this man (and His disciples) that even though He was not physically present, believers could still “be with Him”.

That message rings out clearly in the church age in which we live. Relationship with Jesus is not relaxing at His feet, it is going and telling what He has done for you. For this man, there was no greater way to be with Jesus than to simply proclaim truth in his house and to his friends. Notice Jesus called Himself “the Lord” (5:19) and reveals His works as “merciful”. If we could ever clear our cluttered lives to the point where we were “with Jesus” every day by living in His lordship and telling of His mercies upon us we would fulfill the great commission in it’s fullest measure as we lived our lives.

Discipleship is active, not passive.

The Lord went on to encounter Jairus, a ruler in the local synagogue. The crowd that greeted Him was a result of both His wonders and the word-of-mouth proclamations made by believers. The sea that separated the healed man in Gadara and the Jews awaiting Jesus on the other side did not excuse the man from “being with Jesus” even while He was away. In the same way, the word of Jesus spread in the Judean countryside, even while he was away in Gadara. Whether Jairus had seen Jesus before or had heard others talking, his faith is real. The true power of Christ transcends time and space when the church stands up and speaks out.

The gospel does not grow old or become outdated.

We never have to recreate the message of mercy or alter the reality of His Lordship. All we have to do is truly be with Him in our daily lives. He is Risen and He is in us, even though He is away for a time. Now is not the time to relax … it is the time to live the gospel.