Mark 5:18

Mark 5:18, in plain English

As Jesus gets back in the boat, the healed man begs to go with him. After what he's been through, who could blame him? He wants to stay close to the one who saved him.

Why it's here

Everyone else is pushing Jesus away, but this man is clinging to him. He knows exactly what his life was like before Jesus, and he never wants to go back.

Who's speaking

The formerly possessed man pleads with Jesus to let him come along.

Where it sits in the story

This moment is deeply touching. The man the whole town feared and chained is now the one person who truly understands who Jesus is — and he doesn't want to be separated from him.

The scholarly reading

The healed man's plea (parekalei) to accompany Jesus contrasts sharply with the townspeople's plea for Jesus to leave. His desire for continued proximity to his liberator demonstrates the natural response of genuine deliverance.

Language and setting

The verb parakaleo appears for the third time in this passage — demons beg (v.10), townspeople beg (v.17), and now the healed man begs — each with radically different motivations.

Voice

The healed man appeals directly to Jesus as he prepares to depart.

Significance

As Jesus boards the boat, the restored man begs to come along. While the town wants Jesus gone, this man — who knows firsthand what Jesus can do — never wants to leave his side.

16Those who had seen it described what had happened to the demon-possessed man and also to the pigs.

17And the people began to beg Jesus to leave their region.

18As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the demons begged to go with Him.

19But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.”

20So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

Read all of Mark 5 — A man possessed by a thousand demons, a woman who has bled for twelve years, a father whose daughter has just died — all healed in a single chapter.