Dependent Faith

Mark 9:14-29

Mark 9:14–29 ESV

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 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.” 19 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.” 20 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. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 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.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, 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.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Introduction

The Gospel of Mark

Mark is associated with the Apostle Peter

Gospel was written no later than 65 AD (as early as 50 AD)

The shortest of the Gospels

Reads like an action movie

First miracle in Chapter 1

Immediately, Then...

The Gospel of Mark can be broken into Two acts Jesus the King and Jesus toward the Cross

We find ourselves in a pericope which is also included in the other synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke), where there is not as much detail as given in Mark’s Gospel. the detail and vantage point come from a place of one viewing the situation from the outside rather than as a part of, which lends credence to the fact that Peter was more than likely the Apostle that was working with or dictating to Mark the events to capture in this Gospel.

Today we want to look at two vantage points of faith. The father of the spirit possessed son and the disciples. Let’s see what these folks tell us about faith.

The Father

The Environment (Mark 9:14-15)

Mark 9:14–15 ESV

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.

Re-entering the world from a mountain top experience (Mark 9:2-13)

The Crowd, the Disciples and the Scribes (Mark 9:14-15)

Disciples (those who did not go with Jesus to the Mt. of Transfiguration)

General People

Scribes - Following Jesus and trying to discount Him throughout the Gospel Narrative

Amazed by Jesus, but not following Jesus - not called out as disciples rather as onlookers

The Circumstances (Mark 9:16-19)

Mark 9:16–19 ESV

16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 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.” 19 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.”

Jesus is asking the Scribes the question, but the father of the demon-possessed son answers

This is life

Not Clean

Not without Turmoil

Not without Pressure Points

My son

Brought to You (Jesus)

He is seized by a spirit that makes him mute and seizes him (captures him, controls him)

Throws my son down

My son begins to foam at the mouth

My son begins to grind his teeth

My son becomes rigid

Jesus’ response

Jesus is frustrated with the whole of the generation that he was sent to (John 17:4)

The generation being a general representation of all of Israel, of all mankind. This group is not willing to hear, listen and believe (have faith) in Jesus. Jesus is doing what He is supposed to do. Several times in the Gospel of John Jesus points to His doing the will of His Father (John 5-6), so frustration is allowed. Men were not responding. He came to His own and they received Him not. (John 1:11)

Jesus on the way to the Cross, how long am I still here with this mission (Mark 1:15)

I have shown you time and time again.

Scribes still testing and arguing with me (Mark 2:16; 3:22, 7:1)

Apostles still questioning me (Mark 8:15-17)

Crowds still ogling, not following or committing

Seeing and Believing (Mark 9:20-21)

Mark 9:20–21 ESV

20 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. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

There are times when seeing is worse than hearing about a situation. For you football fans I have heard about Joe Theisman’s broken leg for years, I even remember the Monday night it happened, but I have never seen it. When you hear about an accident it just does not seem quite as bad as when you see the scene of the accident or the car after the accident.

That is where the crowd and the man is right now. They actually see this happening. The spirit sees Jesus and does just as he described (throws him down, foaming at the mouth and rolling around (rigid))

There is something about seeing this in person, there is something about seeing this everyday.

We learn more about the history based on Jesus’ question

Happening since childhood

The boy is probably no more than 13-15 years old and this has probably been happening since he was about 5 or 6.

Desperation (Mark 9:22-24)

Mark 9:22–24 ESV

22 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.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

This spirit has a purpose to cause destruction. It is easy until this point to dismiss this as a medical condition, but we see clearly that this spirit has a purpose, to cause destruction and the way that it does this is to cause the seizures that have been described. It would be too easy to dismiss this action as that of an illness and not a spirit and in turn dismiss the authority of Jesus in this situation. This is an exorcism.

The weight of all that the father of the spirit possessed boy has to deal with has come to a head.

He has seen the combativeness of the Scribes in their unbelief

Is Jesus really who He ways He is

Can He really do what I have heard that He can

He has seen the inability of the Disciples to cast out the demon

The men who ride or die with Jesus

The men who accompany Jesus everywhere

The men who Jesus hand picked

These men did not have the resources at their disposal to help me, to cast out a spirit

The Reality of his family’s situation has been shown for all the chaos and fear that it causes even now

Is there anything that Jesus can do, Does He want to help? Do He care enough to help?

Fear and doubt have gripped this man. The world, others who claim Jesus and his own eyes have moved him from ‘Jesus can fix it’ to ‘Jesus can you fix it, can you do anything. Help Us!!!’

Jesus’ response is fitting (If You Can!).

None of those things the man has experienced impact Jesus.

The ability of Jesus to fix the situation is not the question here, rather the question is the father’s belief. This is a far cry from that of the Leper that is encountered by Jesus in chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark.

The leper is desperate, just as the man is

The leper is in need, just as the man is

The leper comes to the one who can help, just as the man did

The leper does not say if you can, rather he says ‘You Can, if You Will’ (Mark 1:41)

Mark 1:40–41 ESV

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”

The leper affirms the ability of Jesus, while the other questions the ability of Jesus

Jesus notes the determining factor of whether healing is available is the faith of the father. Does the father believe?

This is not to say that Jesus is beholden to the faith of any man, but quite the opposite. To see the power of God, the Grace of God, the Love of God, the Peace of God fully manifest in your life, requires that you believe in Jesus.

Mark’s concern is not just about the miracles that Jesus performed, the healing that Jesus provided, but rather Mark’s concern is about showing that Jesus carries out of the mission, which is to call man to believe in the Gospel. To believe that Jesus is who He says He is (Mark 1:15). Without that you do not get to experience God to the uttermost in the here and now, with the hope of a greater experience on the New Earth.

The son’s father immediately replies, he cries out.

I believe

He Believes - with all that is swirling around him,

He Believes - in spite of those who are servants of Jesus without the ability

He Believes - with everything he has seen in his life

He says “Help my Unbelief” - What is he saying?

His belief is not without questions - what will the healing look like, what will my life look like after, how is this going to get done, why am I still so scared

His belief is not because he knows all there is to know - we sometimes treat faith like a science project, we know what we completely understand, that is not the faith of the Bible. The faith is in Jesus, the faith is in God and the specifics are not ours to know unless the Father will it.

Think of Abram/Abraham who did not have all the answers:

When the LORD told him he would be a great nation and Abram believed Him although he was advanced in years (Romans 4:19)

When the LORD called him from the land of his fathers to a place he did not know (Hebrews 11:8)

When the LORD tested him through his only son Isaac the son of promise (Hebrews 11:17-19)

The belief required is not one without questions, rather one that does not question the object of our Faith, Jesus the Christ.

This is where this man is now, He believes and whatever he is struggling with, whatever threatens his faith, whatever fears and doubts come Jesus help with this.

Till the End (Mark 9:25-27)

Mark 9:25–27 ESV

25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, 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.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Jesus rebukes the spirit, as we knew, despite the failings of the disciples. Jesus is Able, Jesus had Compassion and Jesus was willing to Help

The deaf and mute spirit gives one last push

Cries Out

Convulses the son terribly

It cannot stay in the father’s son

The crowd said the boy was dead, Jesus is able even when it looks darkest. There is still victory in Jesus Christ, there is still life in Jesus Christ. The father’s son is alive.

The Disciples

Ready and Willing (Mark 9:18)

Mark 9:18 ESV

18 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.”

We can easily overlook the relationship of the disciples to faith with a majority of the pericope focusing on the father and his spirit possessed son.

We should not do this, there are questions here.

We should take note of the situation. Jesus is returning from the mountain where He was transfigured and was chopping it up with Moses and Elijah, so Jesus was not there when the attempt at exorcising the spirit took place by the disciples

What’s more is that the disciples were given the ability to cast out demons. (Mark 6:7,12-13)

Mark 6:7 ESV

7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

Mark 6:12–13 ESV

12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

What happened between then (when they were sent) and now.

What Happened (Mark 9:28-29)

Mark 9:28–29 ESV

28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Even the disciples were wondering what went wrong

At one point they had access to the power and authority they needed to cast out demons

Now they do not have the power, authority to carry out the same task?

Jesus let’s them now what is going on

There was a lack of dependence - trust can be made misdirected in two ways that we have seen in this passage.

The first is the father’s lack because of outside influences causing doubt and fear.

The second is the disciples way of being overly dependent on self.

Prayer can get so twisted at times, while prayer is

Opportunity to communicate with the Creator of the Universe, the God of the Bible

Privilege that the adopted children of the Father have

Access that is provided by Jesus Christ, allowing those who are His to approach boldly

An opportunity to ask for forgiveness and make petition

Prayer is also

An opportunity to go to the God that we trust in completely and can bring any situation to

An opportunity to realize that we as God’s children are dependent on Him

An opportunity to realize that in and of myself I can do nothing, but am fully dependent on the Father

I like what John Calvin says in the ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion’ concerning our approach to the Father in prayer. Calvin writes, “: it is very much in our interest to be constantly supplicating Him ...”

“first, that our hearts may always be inflamed with serious and ardent desire of seeking, loving and serving him, while we accustom ourselves to have recourse to him as a sacred anchor in every necessity”

“secondly, that no desires, no longing whatever, of which we are ashamed to make him witness, may enter our minds, while we learn to place all our wishes in his sight and thus pour out our heart before him.”

“and lastly, that we may be prepared to receive all his benefits with true gratitude and thanksgiving, while our prayers remind us that they proceed from his hand.”

Calvin is saying that prayer allows us to move toward God as the anchor for our every need

Calvin is saying that knowing we are coming before God in prayer, moves us to keep a short account of wrong before Him aligning our actions with Him

Calvin is saying that we look to all the blessings and provision of the Father being reminded that all we have comes from Him

Conclusion

Faith is faith only in Jesus - Any other faith, any other object of faith any other source of faith can and will fail you.

Faith is faith only in dependence on God - any faith in self can and will fail you