Two Zombies And A Dead Girl

Scripture: Mark 5 (entire chapter)

Title: Two Zombies and a Dead Girl

Proposition: In this wonderful chapter, our Gospel writer reveals to us three amazing truths 1. No One is out of the Reach of Jesus 2. The transformative power of Jesus' holiness and 3. The power of faith, belief and obedience

INTRO:

You may not realize it, but you and I live in what could be called The Age of the Zombie. Zombies are all around us and you may not ever be aware of their presence. For example, they star on several TV shows (The Walking Dead, Z Nation and iZombie), they are on the big screen ( World War Z, Resident Evil and Walking Dead), they are featured in video games (Plants verses Zombies, Walking Dead and Z Nation) and in local reality game venues.

Zombies have been around for a very long time. Michael Jackson's song, Thriller, featured zombies and made them cool. Our government has even gotten into the zombie craze. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has used the metaphor of zombies as a way to teach about food preparedness in the time of a national disaster. Some serious astrologists and scientists have conjectured that there has been some type of zombie encounter on so-called dead planets.1 They conjectured that at one time, there was some type of life, but it was wiped out by zombie virus. It appears that we have gone zombie crazy in our modern age.

Now, for those who do not know who or what zombies are, here is a quick definition. Zombies are undead creatures who have by some means come back to life. Typically, zombies are depicted as mindless, reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh; especially human brains. The term, Zombie comes from Haitian folklore (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole:zonbi) where a zombie is a dead body animated by magic. Today, movies no longer use the idea of magic as a way zombies are created. Contemporary zombies are the result of an outbreak of a mutated virus that affects humans ( and in some movies other creatures) transforming them into zombies.

Actually, the whole idea of zombies just grosses me out. I really not into the zombie genre. I generate more to shows like Old Westerns, Police Shows or Mystery Movies. I'd much rather watch an old episode of Gunsmoke, Adam-12 or a CSI show. TV shows like, Murder She Wrote, Inspector Lewis and Poirot are more to my liking. I like shows that I can understand and enjoy a bowl of popcorn. Shows like Walking Dead, Resident Evil or World War Z, I don't understand nor do I understand the attraction or the sense in watching them.

That being said, the Bible passage we are going to examine could be called the Zombie chapter of the Bible. You could say that it involves the stories of a couple of zombies and a dead girl. And if you don't like that title, we could go with an alternative one - The Mad Man, The Malignant Woman and the Dead Maiden.

Mark chapter five, shares how Jesus interacted with some rather unusual individuals and situations that arose as He was preaching the Kingdom of God. Our writer shares with us, all kinds of information dealing with a myriad of subjects. Some of those subjects being:

a. The supernatural b. Demons and demonic possession

c. The Reality of God's Kingdom here and now

d. Consequences of rejecting Jesus e. The importance of faith and belief

f. The importance of obedience g. The importance of courage

h. The importance of determination i. Healing that bring redemption

j. Being raised from the dead k. The power of prayer

There is so much here in this one chapter that it is difficult to get a single handle on an overall theme and yet, that is our goal. It would be easy for us to get lost looking at all the bits and pieces of each pericope. This chapter can be compared to looking at a diamond with a loupe ( those little magnifying glasses). The higher the magnification the more facets, cutlet and table you can see. It's the same way with these stories. If we would take the time and look at each of them very slowly and intensely we would be amazed at all the truths and insights we would gain.

I would encourage each one of us to do that very thing. To take some time this week and spend some quality time allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal His truths in these passages. I would encourage you to sit down with your Bible along with a pen and pad of paper and as you read Mark 5 to jot down all the amazing truths that you discover. Your life along with your faith journey will be greatly enhanced.