Strangers: The son who was possessed with a spirit
Notes
Transcript
Scripture reading
Scripture reading
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.”
Introduction
Introduction
Right before this event in today’s passage, Jesus had taken up Peter, James, and John to the mountain, and as they were praying, Jesus transfigured before them. And so the mountain is called the mount of transfiguration. They went up to pray, but in the midst of prayer, they saw Jesus in his transfigured form talking with Moses and Elijah. And when they came down from the mountain, there was a big commotion. There was a great crowd around Jesus’ disciples, who couldnt cast out the demon-possessed boy, and the scribes were arguing with them.
“O unbelieving generation!”
“O unbelieving generation!”
Jesus first said, ‘O unbelieving generation.’ When Jesus came down from the mountain, the rest of the world was in chaos. Reality hits often after we have a spiritual high, when we are filled with God’s grace and blessings. The disciples were in awe of the glory of God, and they wanted to stay there on the mountain, but they had to come back down. As we face those issues and problems, we are forced to confront them. Are we Christians when we still engage with the world? Do we only label ourselves as Christians because we go to church every week, or do we actually have Christ in us? Are we able to cast out the demons?
Jesus first asked the disciples, ‘What are you discussing with them?’ He didn’t ask ‘What is problem?’ or ‘Who is this child?’, but ‘What are you discussing with them?’ The disciples were supposed to pray for the child and bring the child to Jesus to be healed. But instead of that, they were busy arguing with the scribes. Many times we are also caught up defending our faith in useless arguments. We think we’ve spent enough time in church, enough knowledge of God’s Word, and so we think we get caught up in proving ourselves rather than going to God to solve our problems.
When we do work in church, we often have questions which cause us or others to lose faith. Jesus is asking, ‘What use is discussing with the scribes? What use is entertaining the questions that have no answer?’ They are merely distracting the disciples from focusing on healing the child. We need to have discernment on whether or not to engage with such questions. Why didn’t the disciples bring the child to Jesus right away? Because they were busy caught up in argument with the scribes. We need to learn to come straight to Jesus whenever we have problems. Do we instead message other people, asking for advice? We must come straight to Jesus first.
Jesus had already given the disciples power and authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick.
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
Why were they not able to cast out the demon this time? The questions of the scribes smuggled in doubt. What’s happened? It’s because people try to live today with the faith of yesterday. And they don’t realize that their faith of yesterday cannot carry on into the life of today. They think of their faith in the past and use that to justify their lifestyles today. The problem, says Jesus, is that the disciples stopped believing. That’s why Jesus calls them an unbelieving generation. The church of Korea grew so quickly in the past, but what good is it today? Is it still growing? What about Europe, the heart of the Reformation? The disciples probably prayed with all their zeal because of their experience of the past, but when it didn’t work, it must have been so embarrassing for them. They thought, ‘Because I did it in the past, I can do it now.’ But that’s not the right attitude toward doing the work of God.
Jesus gave them the answer: bring him to me.
The disciples were only messengers and deliverers of Jesus’ power. That’s why they could heal in the past. But now they tried to do it on their own.
Prayer isn’t just something we should do during worship time. Neither is it a magic spell that we cast in times of need. The prayer that Jesus is speaking about is the kind of prayer he himself did. He would go up to pray to the Father whenever he could, every chance he got. To Jesus, prayer was like his speed dial number 1. He constantly prayed to God. The power of faith comes from the Word and prayer. What is our faith like today? When Jesus looks at our church, may he not say, ‘O unbelieving generation,’ but may he say, ‘Your faith has made you well.’
“This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
“This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Moses and Elijah appeared at the Mount of Transfiguration. Why? Because they were men of prayer. Moses and Elijah made miracles happen because of prayer. They were people who were closely related to the identity and coming of the Messiah.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
God promised that the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses. Moses became a hint and sign to recognize the Messiah.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
God promised through the prophet Malachi that Elijah would come before the Messiah. And so as the Israelites waited for the Messiah, they waited for people like Moses and Elijah.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
These two people, Moses and Elijah, were signs of Jesus’ coming and going. They were talking about how Jesus would leave this earth, because Moses and Elijah were representatives of resurrection and transfiguration.
And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
The two witnesses are reminiscent of Moses and Elijah. Even Jesus’ second coming is associated with these two figures.
These people, Moses and Elijah, were people of prayer who did God’s work. But their prayers were not seeking for miracles. They were praying for the salvation of God’s people. It was God who then told them what to do. Their prayer was for God to save His people, and through their prayers God did amazing works. May our prayers focus not on our personal benefit.
Conclusion: If you can? All things are possible to him who believes.
Conclusion: If you can? All things are possible to him who believes.
And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
The boy’s father should be our response to God’s Word.
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
We must cry out, ‘Help my unbelief!’
When someone is sick, and we pray for that person, do we pray with a hundred percent confidence that they would be healed? If you believe fully, without any doubt, would miracles happen? This pattern of thinking isn’t correct. Jesus isn’t saying that we should have 100% faith that miracles would happen. Jesus is saying that we must believe in him, and not ourselves, not our power, not our past.
We must pray, ‘Jesus, what is your will for this person? Let it happen.’
When we try to psych ourselves up for prayer, that’s magic and not dependent on Jesus.
May our prayers change. Faith and prayer is about whom we believe in. Moses and Elijah prayed and miracles happened, but they did not pray for miracles. Is our prayer about Jesus first? Or is it for the desired results? Is our prayer a prayer that seeks for the Lord’s will, or a request for what I want and need?
