Help My Unbelief

Mark 4:14–29 ESV

The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 9:14–24 ESV

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!”

Mark 9:14–29 CSB

When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him. He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?” Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, 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.” Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up. After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

Introduction

This past week, Sue and I watched “A Case for Christianity” on Netflix. It’s about Lee Strobel, an atheist reporter for the Chicago Tribune back in the 1970s. His wife comes to faith in Christ, and he sets out to debunk her faith. However, in the process of his research, he realizes the scientific, historic and empirical evidence supports Christianity. At the end of the movie, he, too, comes to faith in the Lord. It’s a true story and, while the movie seems a little dated, was excellent. I had read his book with the same title many years ago. So I went online and I found his latest work: A Case for Miracles. I ordered it on my Kindle and am about halfway through it right now. Again, it is excellent.

In the book he says something that is wrong, however. He quotes a leading evangelical Christian writer who defines a miracle as “God setting aside the laws of nature to show His glory”. I used to think that about miracles as well. When Jesus did them, for instance, he does things that do not happen in nature: He turns water into wine, cures those lame from birth, feeds thousands of people with a limited amount of bread and fish, causes sight to return to the blind, and in several instances, He raises the dead. That sure seems like God is breaking into creation and going against the laws of nature.

However, when we look at miracles that way, we are looking at them from our perspective. But it isn’t the Lord’s perspective. His is quite the opposite. A miracle is what life is supposed to be like. Jesus isn’t setting aside the laws of nature; Sin already did that. Sin set aside the laws of nature. Jesus removes the veil that sin has cast on over our eyes, and He shows us what is supposed to be! For in His Kingdom, there is no sickness. No suffering, no death. That’s a part of fallen creation, not God’s intended creation! And miracles are a glory-burst given to sinful mankind that for a brief moment shows us the very Kingdom of God. This gives a whole new perspective on miracles, one that testifies to Him in a better way as Son of Man and Son of God, so that we might believe in Him.

Our text today shows a miracle. Jesus casts out a difficult-to-exorcise demon from this boy, who was possessed from birth.

For our outline we are going to use the word HELP, for this is what the man asks Jesus twice. HELP my boy. HELP my unbelief. Jesus HEARS them disputing. The Father EXPLAINS to Jesus about his son’s condition. Jesus commands the demon to LEAVE the boy and it does; and then Jesus explains that this kind of demon could only be removed by PRAYER.

Jesus HEARS them disputing

In order to understand this text, we must first go to the context. What immediately precedes this account in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is the Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on that mount when He gives them a glimpse of His eternal kingdom. The other disciples were at the bottom of the mountain; they didn’t experience Jesus’ resplendent glory. However, it seems that the Sadducee’s honed in on these guys. While the Scripture does not share with us the source of the dispute, Commentaries direct us to play detective for a minute. There, in the midst of this dispute was the man who had the demoniac child. No doubt the Sadducees had suggested that this band of fishermen, a tax collector and others cast this demon out of the boy. Evidently, they could not. We can glean this from the private conversation at the end of this section, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Of course, them not being able to drive out the demon speaks not only to their credibility, but the credibility of their message, and ultimately the credibility of Jesus. It was an attempt to discredit Jesus on the part of the Sadducees, and the disciples were really backed into an awkward corner!

Thank goodness, Jesus arrives on the scene! At least it was good for the disciples, and it was good for this man and his son.

Jesus asks what they are disputing, but no one gives an answer. But immediately this man— who is in the crowd— pleas for help from Jesus.

The Man Explains his son’s condition

Jesus is clearly frustrated. Nobody there gets it. The Sadducees think He’s a traitor; the disciples are impotent and unable to help, and this man doesn’t think any help is to be found there. The text tells us that Jesus replies: “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

The spirit knew exactly who Jesus was. Pretty sad, nobody else did. Jesus was surrounded by unbelief!

He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.

After hearing this man’s plea for mercy, Jesus asks this man “how long has this been happening to him?” The man goes on to explain:

After hearing this man’s plea for mercy, Jesus asks this man “how long has this been happening to him?” The man goes on to explain:

“From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

There is an important sub-point here. There are some who would debunk the fact that this boy was demon possessed. Some even insert the word “epilepsy” in the text. There are those who believe that this boy simply had a disease. If you’ve ever witnessed someone having a seizure, they do thrash about, sometimes foam at the mouth, and have all of the same things that this boy had. We have to be careful here, because Jesus Himself acknowledges that this boy has a demon. He does not “heal” the boy, which the text would say if he were simply sick or had a disease. He commands the demon out. So don’t let your scientific minds get ahead of you here. The boy has a demon.

This poor father had suffered right along side of his son. Any of you who has had a sick child know that you’d do anything for that child. This demon through the child into the water to drown him. The father surely had to jump in after him at great risk to his own life. The demon through this child into the fire. I’m sure that the father had burns on him. Because that’s what fathers do for their children.

The father then asks Jesus, “But if you can do anything, have compassion and help us.” There is the plea put into words.

Notice Jesus’ response. This would go with the explanation of the disciples failed attempt. But if YOU can do anything” meaning, because “They COULDN’T do anything”

Jesus issues the man a quick rebuke. The man does not know who Jesus is. “IF you can??? “Everything is possible for those who believe.”

Jesus is not advocating what we might call “name it and claim it” theology here. Like, “if you believe hard enough” you can make something happen. Or, if something doesn’t happen “you didn’t have enough faith.” Such thinking is heretical, and it is advocated by many of the wolves out there in sheep’s clothing.

Jesus is speaking about faith in the Lord, faith in Him. And He, the creator of the world, can do all things well.

The man then says something incredible: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” The second plea for help that he says to Jesus. What a prayer! That’s a prayer each one of us need to pray daily. Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief. No explanation necessary. We all know that our faith is attacked daily by our own unbelief. The “whys” we ask God. The hypocrisy of our lives as believers. The neglect we are guilty of in maintaining our spiritual walk through studying God’s Word, prayer and fellowship. The sin that entangles us and makes mockery of the faith that we have. Yeah. Plenty of that in each of our lives. Not only do we scream for mercy for the Lord to exorcise sin out of our lives through the Cross of Jesus, but we scream to God that He “help our unbelief.” It’s one of the best prayers in the Bible.

Jesus commands the demon to LEAVE

When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, 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.” Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

There is an important sub-point here. There are some who would debunk the fact that this boy was demon possessed. Some even insert the word “epilepsy” in the text. There are those who believe that this boy simply had a disease. If you’ve ever witnessed someone having a seizure, they do thrash about, sometimes foam at the mouth, and have all of the same things that this boy had. We have to be careful here, because Jesus Himself acknowledges that this boy has a demon. He does not “heal” the boy, which the text would say if he were simply sick or had a disease. He commands the demon out. So don’t let your scientific minds get ahead of you here. The boy has a demon.

There is an important sub-point here. There are some who would debunk the fact that this boy was demon possessed. Some even insert the word “epilepsy” in the text. There are those who believe that this boy simply had a disease. If you’ve ever witnessed someone having a seizure, they do thrash about, sometimes foam at the mouth, and have all of the same things that this boy had. We have to be careful here, because Jesus Himself acknowledges that this boy has a demon. He does not “heal” the boy, which the text would say if he were simply sick or had a disease. He commands the demon out. So don’t let your scientific minds get ahead of you here. The boy has a demon.

Jesus rebukes this unclean spirit. He exorcises the boy. He commands it to come out and never return to the boy. The demon fights it but has to go. So for the last time this boy seizes, and it is worse than ever. When the demon had left, the boy collapsed. But the demon cannot touch his life. Jesus raises him up from the ground and he stood up.

A direct answer to this man who uttered “if you can”. He can and He does. The boy is cleansed.

A direct answer to our “if you cans” to God. He cleanses us as well. Jesus has cleansed you from all demonic forces. He has washed away your sin by the Cross. He sends His Holy Spirit so that our unbelief is exorcised and our faith in Him comes alive. And then He raises us up. All in your Baptism. It happened to you. And it is just as great of a miracle as what this boy and his father experienced. This is why we are here today.

Prayer is the only way to remove “this kind”.

After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

There are different types of demons with different powers. In we read of the disciples,

Mark 6:13 ESV

And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Mark 6:13

The disciples had exorcised demons before. But they couldn’t tackle this one.

The fact is, they may have become self-confident and thought that they were the ones who had the power to do this. But no one has the power over demonic forces apart from God. God Himself is always the exorcist; those who do it within the Church do it under His authority. The disciples lack of prayer indicated that they had forgotten where their power was from. So they also were guilty of unbelief. The also needed to pray the prayer that this man prayed, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

We face much in life today. We acknowledge that

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We are reminded of Satan and his hordes, “on earth is not his equal.” That includes us. “But for us fights the valiant one, whom God Himself elected.” That’s Jesus. He is the one who cleanses us, forgives us and renews us. Jesus is the one who fights Satan for us. Jesus is the one who raises us up. Jesus is the one who remains with us in this life through Word and Sacrament. Jesus is the one who gives us all victory in this life. Jesus is the one who will be our Judge. Jesus is the one who will turn all authority over to His Father in the end. Jesus is the one with whom we will live and reign forever. It is sometimes hard to envision this glory that the Cross and Empty tomb have given us. Now, we believe it through faith. And sometimes life gets a little bumpy. And so we cry out, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.