Face To Face - Father & Son
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Face to Face - Father & Son
Face to Face - Father & Son
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
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?”
“They” - Jesus, Peter James and John
came to the disciples.
They saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
Jesus asked, What are you arguing about?
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.”
“I brought my son to you” - Remember Jesus was up in the mountains.
He has a spirit that makes him mute - unable to speak (The father knew that the boy had a spirit)
“Whenever is seizes (overpowers) him, it throws him down…
He foams and grinds his teeth…
He becomes rigid or stiff
Think about this emotional experience for this Father and family!
The boy is not able to articulate
They don’t know when the spirit is going to overpower him…
But when it does…
It throws him down - He foams....
Think about family functions
Vacations
Leaving the House
Can you relate to this situation…
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.
“Bring him to me” -
“When the spirit saw him” - This maybe a reason why people act up when they get around you!
“Convulsed” - Thrown into a violent fit
“He fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth”
We have to park at this next verse…
And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
This is an interesting question.
Was the question for Jesus / The Father / The disciples - perverse generation (crowd)
Jesus clearly knew the answer…
I believe the question addressed a few different areas:
The question puts this miracle in perspective for the “crowd” & “Scribes”
The question kills the preconceived notion that someone must have sinned! - Remember the man born blind (The disciples asked the question)
The question allows the father to tell his story that the boy has been afflicted since childhood, with near fatal effect. But it also allows the father to declare his heart.
The question of Jesus invites the father to come to him as a total person, with hard facts and with human hopes.
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.”
The Father is Face to Face with the mirror…
The mirror exposes us to hidden and suppressed emotions.
It allows us to bring uncontrollable issues to his feet…
The mirror shows me how powerless I am in certain situations of live!
“But if you can do anything”
“Have compassion on us and help us.”
Honestly their are some areas that I feel helpless
And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Face To Face
“If you can!”
It’s not about if I can but If you can!
Jesus can expel demonic forces at a word, but the evoking of faith is a much harder matter.
Disbelief of Jesus, whether from scribes, crowds, disciples, or desperate fathers, is both a greater opposition and more serious obstacle than the actions of the son.
The problem is not divine unwillingness or divine inability but human unbelief
The sole bridge between frail humanity and the all-sufficiency of God is faith
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Immediately the father of the child cried out!
I believe.... I really do…
When you come Face to Face with the mirror
We will have moments where we may feel that our faith is shaken.....
but… Help me overcome my unbelief.
True faith takes no confidence in itself, nor does it judge Jesus by the weakness of his followers.
It looks to the More Powerful One, who stands in the place of God, whose authoritative word restores life from chaos.
True faith is unconditional openness to God, a decision in the face of all to the contrary that Jesus is able.
Help me, if you can.
If there is still some discouragement in me, still some doubts, take them away and fill me with an unquestioning faith.
God allowed the son to go through this to increase the faith of the Father!
What you feel is uncontrollable is what God is going to you use to strengthen you....