Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.

Mark 5:19

The fifth chapter of Mark’s gospel (Mark 5) presents us with three healing miracles that could not be more different from one another. We have, first, the healing of the demon-possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes, a Gentile region on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Next, we have the healing of the daughter of a respected leader of the synagogue, Jairus. Finally, on the way to raise Jairus’ daughter, we have the healing of an unnamed woman who had been ritually unclean for twelve years.

What do these people have in common? If you were to put them in a room together, what would they talk about? A demon-possessed man living in a cemetery outside a Gentile town, a prominent and respected leader of a…