In both the desperate storm and with the desperate man, Mark helps us see that – amazingly - one man was strong enough to subdue nature and to subdue the most profoundly disturbing evil. Mark isn’t just telling us information… he’s putting the challenge to us: Can I trust him? Or will I simply ask him to leave?

As Mark continues his good news project, we know that on the one hand there has been some very loud opposition to Jesus. Others, however, are just quietly skeptical and content to pass under the radar. Are we really listening?

There are three incidents that go together in this section of Mark’s gospel and each one is quite surprising in its own way. Together they are designed to help us, the readers, work out why Jesus has come.