The Ember Wednesday in September
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is the Ember Wednesday in September. In the church calendar, Ember days occur four times per year, on a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in early Lent, in the week following Pentecost, in the middle of September, and in the middle of December. Traditionally, the Western Church observed these four sets of Ember days in correspondence with the four seasons of the year. They were times to seek God’s blessings upon the fruits of the earth and to acknowledge that all food comes from Him. The basic Christian disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving were typically associated with these days. In the time of the Reformation, the Lutheran reformers saw great benefit in retaining the Ember days. These days were used as times to focus on piety and the preaching of the catechism and the basics of the Christian faith.
So it is that our Gospel Reading for this Ember Wednesday in September invites us to consider the basics of our faith. For in the same way that an athlete can never move beyond the basic fundamentals of his sport, the Christian never moves beyond the basics of humble contrition and repentance. In short, the Christian life is summarized by the following verse from the Gospel:
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
The Christian life is characterized by the struggle between faith and unbelief. This is the most basic element of the Christian life. The father’s cry, then, is the cry of all faithful Christians. “I do believe. But doubts, insecurities, and weakness plague me. O Lord, help my unbelief!”
The struggle of the father in our text illustrates the struggle of all Christians. This father’s son was severely oppressed by a demon which was intent upon his destruction. The father, no doubt, had tried everything. He had even brought his son to Christ’s disciples when the Lord was away. But the disciples were no help. When Jesus returned, the father was desperate. And so, he pleaded with the Lord to help his son. Then Christ replied with these words:
“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).
These words must have been a gut-punch to the father. If the father only believed harder, if his faith was deeper, if his trust was more sure, then his son could be healed. And yet, his son was still demon possessed. The father’s faith was not enough to save his son. He was not strong enough. He simply couldn’t do it. And so, the father cried out with tears:
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
And with these words, the father demonstrated the greatest kind of faith.
This is the paradox of Christianity. The strength of one’s faith is not directly proportional to one’s own inner strength. And this is where we often get it all wrong. We think that if we believe harder, if we do spiritual exercises to strengthen our faith, then our faith will become strong enough—whatever exactly that means. And so, we might convince ourselves that if we had a stronger faith, then our loved one’s suffering or our own struggles would be healed and resolved. But strength of faith does not work like the muscles in your body which get stronger the more you work out and use them. The Christian’s faith is not strengthened by his own efforts. Nor does spiritual strength equal an ability to do something alone, as when someone who had been going to the gym is able to lift more and more weight. Spiritual strength is of another kind completely.
The father in our text demonstrates the essence of Christian strength:
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
See, Christian strength is characterized by humility. It means recognition of one’s inability to go it alone. It means humbly throwing oneself at the feet of Christ and trusting Him for everything. And this may seem like a paradox. For casting oneself at the feet of another seems like the epitome of weakness. And yet, before God, this is the epitome of strength. The strongest of Christians is the one who realizes that he cannot do it alone. And so, he leans on Christ for strength and the increase of faith. After all, Christ alone is the one who can strengthen our faith by the working of His Holy Spirit. It is only when we fully depend upon Him that we will find true Christian strength.
And so, dear friends in Christ, this is the essence of the Christian life—to struggle with faith and unbelief and to trust that the weakness of the cross is our strength. Our social-media-driven world has made it popular to put on the appearance of a perfectly curated life. But none of us has a perfect life. We all have struggles with sin, doubt, and insecurities. The essence of the Christian life is not to move past these things—something which is not possible on this side of eternity. The essence of the Christian life is learning to depend upon Christ for our strength at all times. And so, may this be our prayer throughout our lives:
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
