And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”” (Mark 9:14–29, ESV)Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
This text begins with a failure. A man has brought his son to the disciples to have a demon cast out of his son. The disciples had done it before, but here they are unsuccessful. It causes a large argument among the crowds. Jesus and Peter, James, and John have just come down from the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. When the crowds see Jesus, they run up to him, the text says they are amazed. Jesus was there, now everything would be done properly. Jesus asks what they were arguing about. The man who brought his son speaks.
“Teacher, I brought my son here to you. He has a demon that makes him mute and throws him on the ground, with foaming at the mouth and grinds his teeth. When you weren’t here, I asked your disciples to cast it out. They couldn’t.”
I imagine the disciples all looking at the ground, very sheepishly. They undoubtedly expected to be able to do it because Jesus had given them authority to do it before.
Jesus scolds them.
“O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:19, ESV)“Not again.”, the disciples may have said to each other.
I’m sure they were thinking they had it right. It doesn’t tell us how they tried to cast out the demon, except they did it without faith. But more on that later.
“Bring him to me.” Jesus told the people. And the child convulsed and began foaming at the mouth.
“How long has this been happening?”
“From childhood. It tries to kill him!” His father added. “If you can do anything, have compassion and help us.”
“If you can!” Jesus said rather surprised. “All things are possible for the one who believes.”
“I believe! Please help my unbelief!” The father cried.
Jesus commanded the demon to leave the child, and it was gone.
Afterwards, the disciples asked why they couldn’t cast it out?
“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Now, I ask, where was the prayer? Jesus didn’t pray over the child. The father didn’t pray over the child. The disciples didn’t pray over the child. Yet, only Jesus was successful.
Well, the truth is, Jesus isn’t talking about prayer over the child. He is speaking about the prayer of the father to him.
“I believe! Please help my unbelief!”
It is almost a throwaway line in the text, but it is the most important. All those, except Jesus failed because they tried to do it without faith. Not faith in what they could do, but faith in what God, in Jesus, could do. The man’s desperation for help and his actual faith is drawn out of him when Jesus responds, “If you can!” pointing out the issue. “If” speaks of doubt. But when he says, “Help my unbelief!” he is praying for faith. Jesus grants faith and heals the son.
So, what is this text about? Is it a manual for casting out demons? That is, saying, the tough ones require you to pray to get them out. Not in the least. The prayer in the text isn’t about the demon, it’s a plea to Jesus for faith. It is a definition of faith. So, exactly what is faith? Depending on Jesus. That’s why Jesus accuses the disciples of lack of faith. That why Jesus says, “If you can!” It all displays a lack of faith. The disciples still don’t understand, they ask why they couldn’t do it. Jesus points them to the prayer of the father.
You see, our faith isn’t ours at all. That’s how we often see it. My faith, we say. If my faith were stronger, I wouldn’t fail. All these ways of looking at faith push faith as something we do. There is nothing in you that makes your faith strong or weak. Faith is nothing you do. Faith is something you have. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift is dependance. Dependance on Jesus. “I believe, help our unbelief.” You don’t have faith in Jesus because you have faith. You have faith in Jesus because he is faithful. You can’t have faith in someone who isn’t faithful. It is all in Jesus. He shows himself to be faithful. When the father says, help my unbelief, Jesus shows himself to be faithful by healing his son.
Jesus is faithful. He is God. God is faithful. He shows his faithfulness in scripture, in all he does to save us from our sin. It is the most important thing God is faithful in. He goes to great lengths to provide what he promises. From his declaration that he would send a savior to Adam and Eve, to his promises to Abraham, to his faithfulness to King David. He fulfills all his promises in Mary the mother of our Lord. Jesus, our Savior, was born. He is the very same one who cast out the demon from the child. He preaches God’s promises to the crowds who clung to every word. He told the disciples of his death on the cross. They didn’t understand and had to see him after the resurrection to believe. What it meant for them, and us, is that Jesus’ promises are true.
His suffering on the cross wasn’t just the suffering of an ordinary person. His suffering was yours and mine. He His death was not just his death, but also yours and mine. He proves that with his resurrection.
Faith in Jesus is trust that what he did in his whole life, and his whole death and his whole resurrection is for you. Faith is the for you of the promise. It isn’t only a promise of resurrection but a promise of forgiveness. There is no one else that proves to be as faithful as Jesus does. When you have faith in Jesus you have faith that you are forgiven. There is no greater way to praise God than to seek Jesus for forgiveness. There is no greater faith than to plead Jesus for forgiveness. There is no forgiveness without Jesus.
This text is about faith. The key in this text is the prayer.
“I believe; help my unbelief!”
It is much more profound than you may realize, more even that the father in this text understood. Do you think your faith isn’t troubled by unbelief? The father shows in this text that he understood that. How many times do you turn to God, in faith, only after everything you have done has failed? You know how difficult it is to take all our burdens to Jesus. We think handling the little ones shows we have great faith. When the opposite is the truth. In your struggle with sin, do you think of all you can do to stop, instead of turning to Jesus for forgiveness? I have all these struggles and so do you. You can’t help it. It is unbelief crouching on your faith. It is your sinful nature pushing against you, against the saint that God has declared is alive in you. It is what it means to be a Christian human being in a sinful and broken world.
Remember, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
It is a prayer that Jesus loves to answer. It is exactly why he has sent the Holy Spirit. He uses things that are readily available to do just that. How simple it is to sit here and hear God speak his word of promise to you? How simple is it to have his word of promise poured over your head? How simple it is to come to the altar and have Jesus’ forgiveness given directly to you?
Jesus answers the prayer “help my unbelief” with real concrete answers. Christianity is quite simple. Forgiveness flows from faith; Faith flows from forgiveness. God attaches forgiveness to very simple things, very simple people, water, wine, bread, a man, and he gives it to you in a way that shows how simple it is. We simply receive what is graciously given.
To be sure, God graciously gives us many opportunities, to practice our faith. He gives us our vocations to serve our neighbors, friends and family. I have seen such great acts of faith carried out by God’s people here. But, in our sinful and broken world, in our sinful and broken heart we will always fail. We act self-centered, we are not as eager to forgive as we ought (It is one of our greatest failings!). When we do fail, we return, in faith, to the one who promises to forgive, to the one who is faithful. We return here, and we pray, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And Jesus does exactly what he promises, he forgives, renews and strengthens our faith. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment