Help My Unbelief
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Recap
Read Mark 9:14-29
Read Mark 9:14-29
Central question of the story: why can’t the disciples cast out the demon?
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
A lot of readers think that the answer has to do with the type of demon, because Jesus says “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
But actually the reason is found in his first reaction:
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
We have seen in the past that a lack of faith prevents Jesus himself from healing people. The same thing seems to be happening here. However, the stakes are rising because now we know Jesus won’t always be there to audibly call people to faith and physically perform the miracle.
We live in that time today, so we need to understand the source of their faithlessness.
The Faithless Generation
The Faithless Generation
The crowd.
The crowd.
Jesus calls them a faithless generation. The crowd has something to do with it.
When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
The disciples are arguing with the scribes. Evidently, the scribes have been watching and are using this failure as an opportunity to score points. The disciples have taken the bait, and are defending themselves. The crowd has gathered around to see who wins.
This is a common theme with the crowds. The crowds are there as spectators, to see the spectacle. They aren’t invested in the story, they’re just curious about who will win. They want to join with the winner. This is what will happen in Jerusalem, when the crowds turn on Jesus.
The crowd was waiting to see who WOULD WIN. (9:14-15, Luke 7:31-32)
Today we face this temptation to be spectators, to wait for some proof, to wait until one side wins before we pick a side.
The Father
The Father
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
Jesus picks up on the “if you can.” What is the problem? Is he mad that the father doesn’t have absolute confidence in Jesus’ power to heal?
The problem with “if you can” is that the father came to Jesus, not because he trusted in Jesus, but because he was willing to try anything. He doesn’t know if Jesus has the ability. He will make his decision about Jesus based on whether Jesus heals his son or not.
The father was waiting to see if Jesus would give him WHAT HE WANTS. (9:17-18, 22)
The problem here is that the father will only trust in Jesus if Jesus heals his son. Of course, if Jesus chooses not to, that doesn’t actually change who Jesus is. But if that was the case, he would walk away not believing in Jesus. This is what happened with Judas.
And what if he did find some Pharisee or pagan exorcist who could drive out the demon? He would end up following them.
33% of parents who suffer the death of a child report doubts about God in first year.
90% of mothers of babies with severe mental disabilities voice doubts about the existence of God.
Anger at God over a negative life event is a strong predictor of loss of faith, and lack of recovery.
The Disciples
The Disciples
The most important factor in the failure of the healing, however, is the disciples. What did they do wrong? They ask Jesus:
After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
We often take this to mean that their exorcism technique was wrong. They should have used more prayer. But there are several problems with this interpretation:
Jesus is too vague to be helpful.
“This kind” of what? Demon? Illness? Demons in general? How do we tell the difference?
And how do we incorporate prayer? Which prayer? When?
The NT does not teach us how to do exorcisms.
Jesus never actually uses prayer in an exorcism.
Jesus never actually does an exorcism or healing the same way twice.
Be quiet, come out of him! (Mk. 1:25)
Go into the pigs (Mk. 5)
From a distance (Mk. 7)
Come out of him and never enter him again
Three others with no description
Acts: twice mentioned, no descriptions
Paul exorcises with a command, in a fit of frustration.
The problem is not their technique, but their lack of faith. Remember Jesus says,
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
Bring the boy to me, because the problem is with the excorcist.
Matthew gives us this version of Jesus’ response:
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This makes it sound like they didn’t believe hard enough, just like the father, But that’s not what was going on. They believed that the exorcism would work. They were surprised that it didn’t.
The problem is that they had come to expect God to do whatever they asked for, simply because they asked. They are focused on their own status as miracle-workers. This is a trend for them:
Arguing about being the greatest (Mk. 9:34)
Opposing someone who cast out demons in his name (Mk. 9:38)
Keeping the children away (Mk. 10:13)
Asking to be at his right and left hand (Mk. 10:37)
They are focused on themselves, their status, their own authority. They want to be leaders, not servants.
The disciples expected God to CONFORM to their PLANS. (v. 19, 29; Matthew 17:20)
This is why they abandoned Jesus in the garden.
A Faithful Disciple
A Faithful Disciple
BEGINS with TRUST in Jesus. (v. 23)
It sure sounds like Jesus is saying that God will do whatever we want.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
“ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
But notice two things. First, Jesus says that everything is possible. Not that everything is certain. You can say to a mountain, move, and it will move.
But what if it doesn’t? Does that mean that God can’t? Or that we don’t have enough faith?
No, we only need a very little bit of faith. After all, Jesus heals the boy, but the father doesn’t actually increase his faith.
But we have to remember what faith is: faith is trust, allegiance. It means we trust, not only God’s power, but also his judgment. It means that, if we tell the mountain to move and it doesn’t, we know it is because God chose not to, and we trust his decision not to move the mountain.
This doesn’t mean that we believe God has a reason or plan for every terrible thing. We don’t have to believe that it was better for my child to die. God does work things to our good, but assuming that all the bad things are secretly good things still assumes that God is conforming to our plans.
We trust, ultimately, in God’s decision to allow these things to take place without knowing why. We begin with trust, regardless of the outcome.
DEPENDS on God for all THINGS. (v. 24)
The father does something profoundly important here. He prays the most profound prayer in the Bible:
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Notice that the father does not claim to have some kind of radical change of heart. He doesn’t search his soul, repent, fast, anything. He simply recognizes his lack of faith, and asks Jesus to help him. He recognizes that he is totally dependent on Jesus.
This is faith: we realize that we are totally dependent on God, and we rely on him to give us what we need and determine what we need. This is exactly what Jesus was tested on in the wilderness.
DEPENDS on God at all TIMES. (v. 29; Mark 14:36)
How do we compare the two answers Jesus gives in Mark and Matthew?
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
Jesus did not pray as part of his exorcisms, but he was constantly in prayer. Jesus didn’t need to pray in the moment because he was in prayer all the time—and the purpose was to be in line with God’s will.
“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
We need to be in prayer all the time, because praying now is what prepares us for the challenges later.
