The Fount of Faith: Mark 9:14-29

Introduce

Did you notice the contrast between the stories of the last two weeks and the one we just read. We pass from the glorious revelation of God’s beloved Son in the transfiguration. We pass to the wicked works of the Devil and his brood. We move from Jesus’s shining glory, Jesus’s discussion with the Elijah and Moses, and the Father’s announcement of Jesus identity. We move to a story of pain, suffering, and unbelief. We move to the agony of a father, the affliction of a son, the mockings of religious authorities, the triumph of a demon, and the floundering of the disciples. God’s beloved Son descends from His heavenly glory and enters into His cursed creation to undo the works of the Devil.

There is a key question this story answers. Where do weak, sinful, and doubt-filled people like you and me get the faith we need? You may know, but if not the answer will become clear as I retell and apply the story.

Retell

To start, we see the failing of faith (9:14-19).

Jesus, Peter, James, and John return to where they left the remaining nine disciples. They find them at the base of the mountain arguing with some scribes. Scribes were respected transcribers and teachers of the Scriptures. They might have known the letter of the Scriptures, yet they did not know the central subject of the Scriptures. They did not know Jesus.

The crowd saw our Lord. They ran to Him in amazement. Jesus poses a question to the scribes. He said, “What are you arguing about with them?” A member of the crowd explains the situation. Look at verses 17-18:

“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.”

The man speaking had brought his demon possessed son to Jesus, so Jesus could heal him. Jesus, however, was not there. Therefore, the Father asked the disciples for help. The disciples could not do it. Like a school bullies the scribes rubbed in the failures of the disciples. In the middle of the Scribes meddling Jesus arrives. His arrival silences the bullies. We hear of them no more.

This boy had a complicated issue. He was not an epileptic. He did not merely have a neurological disease. He was a demoniac. His seizures were not random, nor were they caused by flashing lights or anxiety. A demon caused them to destroy the boy. The demon, also, made him deaf and mute.

For Jesus’s response look at verse 19: “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” The faithless generation, likely includes all present, especially the scribes. Jesus is frustrated. I imagine similar feelings have been shared by loving and sacrificial parents who find their children to be ungrateful, belligerent, and disobedient. Despite such faithlessness, Jesus demands the boy be brought to Him. It is clear that we see a lack or failing of faith at this point in the story.

Now, we see the faltering of faith (9:20-24).

The boy is brought to our Lord. The demon spots Jesus and sends the boy into a fit. The nearer God’s grace approaches the more the demons rage, but their raging is to no avail. God’s beloved Son is a crusher of serpent heads and a freer of captives.

Jesus, seeing the fit, ask how long the boy suffered from his condition. Jesus is a tender and compassionate shepherd.

The father tells him the boy has suffered from a very young age. Satan and his servants spare not even young children from their attacks. They are like ravenous lions that seek the youngest or weakest of antelopes. The father reports that the spirit seeks to destroy the boy by throwing him into fits near water or fire. The father then says at the end of 22, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus responds in the following verse. He says, “If you can! All things are possible for the one who believes.” By saying “If you can” the father shows he doubts Jesus’s ability not his willingness. Jesus’s response is pointed and press the finger in the issue with the father, his disciples, and the scribes. All of them either have no faith in Jesus or very little. In the case of the Father, we see he does have some faith, but it is mixed with doubt. Look at verse 24: “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!”

We saw saw the failing of faith in the first scene. Here we see the faltering of faith. However, the father has come not only to the one who is the source of healing, but the fount of faith.

Yes, now, we see the fount of faith (9:25-27).

Jesus, sees the crowd quickly approaching. They had kept back at first, but perhaps the perceived something amazing was about to happen. Their perceptions would have been correct. Jesus rebuked the demon. In verse 25 he says, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, com out of him and never enter him again.”

The demon convulses the boy terribly and cries out, yet it comes out at Jesus’s command. Like cornered animal the demon thrashes and fights, but to no avail.The boy is worn out like anyone would be after such convulsing and seizing. He looks dead to those watching. The even say, “He is dead.” Jesus, though, is not worried. He takes the boy by the hand and lifts him up. The boy rises. Jesus has freed the captive by defeating the captor.

In Jesus’s home town He did not perform many miracles due to the lack of faith there. Here he supplies the boy’s father with faith and saves him from his affliction. He saves the father’s son.

We saw that the failing and faltering faith in the first two scenes. Now we just saw the fount of faith. We saw Jesus. There is one more thing I want you to see in the story.

Lastly, we see the focus of faith (9:28-29).

Jesus and his disciples leave the crowd. They enter a house. The disciples are puzzled by what just happened. In the privacy of the home, they ask their question. Look at the end of verse 18: “Why could we not cast it out?” They had cast out demons before. They had also healed the sick. Why could they not cast out this demon?

Jesus answer is in verse 19. Look there: He says, “This kind of demon cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” The King James and the New King James both add fasting after prayer. The older manuscripts do not include fasting. That said, its inclusion or exclusion adds or takes away very little from the meaning of the text. Prayer is talking with God. It is a display of humility, devotion, worship, and dependance. By themselves the disciples were powerless. They were not the source, object, or focus of faith. God in Christ is the focus of faith.

The connection of prayer and faith is implied by the context in Mark. Matthew gives a more detailed account of Jesus’s answer to the disciples question. Matthew records that Jesus says it is because of their little faith that they were unable to cast out the demon (Matthew 17:20). Prayer is a work that flows from faith. The focus of prayer is God in Christ. Thus the focus of faith is also God in Christ.

Transition

We have seen the failing, faltering, fount, and focus of faith. In light of the what we have seen, I believe we are ready to answer the question I posed earlier. Where do weak, sinful, and doubt-filled people like you and me get the faith we need? The answer is Jesus. We might put it this way: Jesus is the fount and focus of faith. This proposition is big idea. Jesus is the source and object of faith.

Jesus being the fount and focus of faith requires a response from us weak, sinful, and doubt-filled people. I will break down this response in three ways.

Apply

1. Jesus is the fount and focus of faith, so be humble

2. Jesus is the fount and focus of faith, so be prayerful

3. Jesus is the fount and focus of faith, so be hopeful

Conclude