I Believe; Help My Unbelief! Mark 9:14-29

As we begin this morning, go ahead and turn in your copies of God’s Word to Mark 9:14-29. Last Sunday morning we looked at the amazing event of Jesus Transfiguration, where He lifted the veil that had hidden His glory during His time on earth in human form. A glory that was always present, but that had been hidden from view until the moment of His transfiguration. In His glorified state He was also visited by Moses and Elijah, who had come to visit Him from heaven and, while there discussed His upcoming death. As we have seen in the past, Peter speaks quickly without putting any thoughts into his words and, as a result, snacks on his own 2 feet. God the Father interrupts Peter’s foot in mouth episode to speak of His only Son and to challenge Peter, James and John to pay close attention to everything He says. This leads us to the passage we will be looking at this morning. Would you please stand now in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word?

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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.”

From the outset this morning we see; Next Slide

What a Difference A Day Makes! Luke 9:37; Mk. 9:14, 17-19

We find out in Luke’s account of this event (Luke 9:37), that they must have spent the night on Mount Hermon, because he describes them coming down the next day, and what a difference a day makes!

The day before they heard to voice of the of God heaven, today they hear the voice of the god of this world. The day before they experienced the glory of God, today they experienced the sufferings of man. The day before the witnessed the joy of The Father, today they witness the despair of a father. The day before they saw the perfect Son, today their eyes were drawn to a perverted son. The day before they were fallen sons in holy wonder, today they saw a fallen son in holy terror. The reason for this amazing difference in days, was because the day before the disciples experienced the mountaintop of the transfiguration, today they experienced the valley of confrontation.

One of the things we discussed last week is the fact that God’s greatest works in us take place, not during those mountain top experiences that we have the opportunity to go through from time to time, but through our times in the valley, times of hardship, of conflict, of trials and sometimes times of great tribulation. You see, it is during those times in the valley, where we are forced to turn to God and rely on Him, experience His presence like never before. It is in the valleys we learn to trust in Him and where some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned. What we need to understand is, one of the purposes of spiritual mountaintop experiences is to deepen our focus on the power of God, that we would then maintain that focus, that understanding, when we move into life’s valleys. This is what we see taking place in this morning’s passage.

Up until this point in time the disciples were walking by sight. For the past 2 1/2 years Jesus had been with them virtually every step of the way. Now all of the sudden, at least for 9 of the disciples, they were on their own and they were challenged to walk, not by sight, but by faith and they failed. Let’s take a closer look at their failure.

No sooner did Jesus, Peter, James & John reach the remaining 9 disciples than they were confronted with;

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Double Trouble. Vs. 14-18; Luke 9:38-40; Matt. 17:14-17

I can imagine that had I been Peter, James and John, I might have been tempted to turn around and climb right back up that mountain! Because see in verses 14-18 an unruly scene.

In my minds eye, I picture them hiking down a mountain trail, a curvy trail filled with trees. As they approached the bottom, before they saw anyone, they heard a great commotion. Maybe, just maybe Peter turned and looked at Jesus, to gage His reaction to the commotion. He probably saw a downcast stare as Jesus shook His head knowingly. Then they rounded the corner and saw the commotion. They saw a huge crowd surrounding the remaining 9 disciples, the 9 were standing nose to nose with the scribes in a tense argument. Did I say argument? It was more of a shouting match, and to be honest, the 9 were no match for the scribes. The scribes were learned men, steeped in the study of the Old Testament and the traditions of the elders, raised in the best schools having sat at the feet of the best teachers available. The 9 also likely started training at a very early age, almost every Jewish boy had some training, but a big part of their training with Jesus meant they had to first unlearn much of the training they had received as boys because it revolved more on the traditions of men that on the Word of God. So, for the 12....well most of their training started 2 1/2 years earlier. With their limited training, they were ill prepared for a battle of the minds with the scribes. That was the first part of the Double Trouble Jesus, Peter, James and John saw as they rounded the bend. The next part of the trouble was even more tragic.

Let me give you a picture of what I believe was happening. As we just mentioned, the 9 were in the midst of an argument. The moment Jesus and the other 3 walked around the corner, the crowd saw Jesus. They quickly made their way towards Jesus. The 9 and the scribes and part of the crowd surrounded Him. While some of the crowd evidently remained at a distant, at least for now. As they all approached Him, Jesus asked the 2 arguing parties, what they were arguing about. Neither group said a word in response. The scribes were probably silent because they knew from experience that they were no match for Jesus. The disciples were likely silent as they were embarrassed, because not only were they doing poorly in the debate, but they were also unable to cast the demon out of the boy. The fact that they were not able to cast of the demon was surprising to them, as you may recall, Jesus had given them the ability to cast out demons back in chapter 6, when He sent them out 2 by 2. In the silence of the moment, one man speaks up, breaking the silence. That is when we see the second part of the Double Trouble. The man, a father of an only son says; Next Slide

Mark 9:17–18 ESV

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.”

In verse 19, most believe Jesus is addressing His disciples when He says; “O faithless generation”, we will talk about this shortly, but He ends by instructing the disciples to bring the boy to Him. As soon as the demon controlling the boy sees Jesus, it convulses the boy and he falls to the ground, rolls around and foams at the mouth. What takes place next probably surprised everyone present. I mean, your expectation would have been that Jesus would have seen the most important need of the moment as the demon possessed boy. Instead, Jesus turns His glance from the boy and looks intently at the father. Probably looks deeply into his eyes, this father who was literally at the end of his rope. I personally believe that we are seeing Jesus get to;

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The Root Of The Problem. Vs. 21

Jesus asks the father “How long has this been happening?” Perhaps you’re wondering, “How is this the Root of the Problem? Wouldn’t the demon possessed boy be the Root of the Problem?” I understand that thought process. But look at the fathers response to Jesus question. “From childhood”. His response indicates that the boy had been possessed by a demon since, at least, he was a toddler. Keep in mind that Jesus knew the answer to the question before He even asked it. In other words, He didn’t ask the question because he didn’t know the answer. I believe He asked the question to spur the memory of the father. To spur his memory to an event the father may have reviewed in his mind every day since, or maybe to a memory he had forgotten altogether. I believe Jesus asks this question so the father will think back, to search the depths of his memory to something he did that opened the door for the torment of his son. My guess is that no sooner was the question asked than the father’s memory went to a day, to a specific event in time. I believe that Jesus asked the question because He wanted dad to deal with something. It would seem as if it was something in dad’s life had opened the door to the demon come into his home, and eventually into his son. If Jesus were asking this question today, maybe it would be;

What websites were you on mom or dad?

What sporting events were more important than church, for you and your family? Or maybe it’s hunting and fishing, dance or drama?

What are your late night viewing habits? You know, when you’re pretty sure the kids can’t see or hear.

I know, I know, now I’m meddling a bit, but my guess is that as this father was thinking back to when this all started with his son, he was probably thinking. “Oh how I wish someone would have stopped me, would have meddled a bit before I got in to deep. But it’s too late now, my son is all but lost!”

You know, as parents, what we do and say. What we pattern through our life, year after year, month by month, day by day and moment by moment, has an effect on our children. All to frequently our children pay a heavy price for our actions or our inactions. There is perhaps nothing more important for us as parents and grandparents than patterning a life of complete devotion to our Savior for our kids to see and emulate. Jesus asks the father, “How long has this been happening?” He asks the same of us today. Oh how I pray that we listen and respond, before it’s too late.

From the Root of the Problem we move to the: Next Slide

Desperate Pleas. Vs. 22

The father, now in humility as well as desperation asks; “if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” By the way, the Greek word the man uses for “help” in his plea to Jesus, is particularly powerful. In it’s full meaning it means “to run to the aid of the one who cries for help.” It is as if the father is saying, “Jesus, if you can, would you run to our rescue?”

The father focuses his plea on Jesus, Jesus then takes the focus off of Himself and places back on the father. “If You can!” Jesus wasn’t asking the man a question, it was a declaration of surprise, that is why the ESV has an exclamation point in verse 23. In light of Jesus wide spread ministry of healing the sick, cleansing the leper, raising the dead and casting out demons, are you really asking “If I can! The question isn’t ‘If I can, it’s if you will believe!’”

Which brings us to the second desperate plea of the father; “I believe; help my unbelief!” The father willingly admitted that while he did believe, he still had doubts. Do you see the word “help” in his second plea to Jesus? It is the same Greek word the man used in his first desperate plea. Similar to his first plea, the father is saying; “Jesus, I do believe, but doubt has crept in, in spite of my doubt, would you run to my rescue?”

Next we see Jesus; Next Slide

Power Unleashed Through Faith. Vs. 25

Keeping the Greek word for “help” from verses 22 & 24 in mind, in a spiritual sense, I picture Jesus running to the aid of this father and son, similar to what we see in the parable of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Remember when the son returns home? The father is waiting on the front porch when he sees his son returning. You get the picture he had been waiting there day after day, never giving up hope that the lost son would return. With that picture in my mind, I picture Jesus on the front porch waiting for the prodigal father to return, and at the first glance of just a glimmer of faith, Jesus run to his rescue. In verse 25 we see Jesus reach both the prodigal father and his lost son when he says “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

But our enemy doesn’t give up easily, with one last desperate attempt, he seeks to inflict as much damage as he can on the young boy. “crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out and the boy was like a corpse”. He did so much damage that almost everyone present thought the boy was dead. Until we see; Next Slide

The Touch Of The Master’s Hand. Vs. 27; Lk. 9:42

What a beautiful picture here of our compassionate Savior. I would imagine that more doubt may have crept into the mind of the father. “Is my son dead? Was coming here a mistake? At least I had a son, now it looks like he is gone!” Then, he watches as Jesus bends down, lovingly reaches the Hand that formed the heavens and the earth, and touches his son, lifts him to his feet, completely restored. Luke adds that He then “gave him back to his father.”

From the Touch Of The Master’s Hand, we move to;

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The Lesson For The Prayer-less, Faithless Disciples. Vs. 19, 28-29; Mt. 17:19-21

I mentioned briefly earlier that the disciples had cast out demons in the past. We see that in Mark 6:13 when Jesus sent them out 2 by 2. Perhaps their experience in that area brought them to the point of overconfidence, and not just any overconfidence, their overconfidence was in themselves. We get this by combining this account in Mark 9 with the same account in Matthew 17. In Mark 9:28-29 Jesus tells the 9 that “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Additionally, earlier in vs. 19, Jesus, speaking to the 9 says to them “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” And then in Matthew’s account He tells them that if they had but the “faith like a grain of mustard seed”, they’d be able to move mountains. When Jesus speaks of faith the size of a mustard seed, the listeners would have immediately recognized a mustard seed as the smallest seed they would have been familiar with. In other words, it is not the size of the faith that matters, it was the object of the faith. The fact that they had cast out demons before, with their lack of prayer in this instance and Jesus reference to a faith the size of a mustard seed in Matthew 17, leads most commentaries to conclude that they were attempting to cast this demon out on their own power. With less than 6 months before Jesus death, burial and resurrection, Jesus had very little time to get the disciples to understand that they had no chance of success in carrying on His ministry, if they didn’t continually pray and stay completely dependent on Him. He had to be the object of their faith or they would fail.

So, what is our application this morning? To begin with, those of us who are parents, as well as those of us who are grandparents, we have a huge responsibility. God has placed children in our care and charged us with the task of doing everything in our power to guide them to the point where they surrender their lives completely to Him. Our first step to accomplishing this is for us to live lives completely surrendered to Him. That means we may have to make some significant changes in our daily habits. Being devoted to the Spiritual discipline, time in God’s Word, prayer, our meeting together in church and small group settings, among other things.

The second application. I mentioned towards the beginning of the message this morning that; “it is during those times in the valley, where we are forced to turn to God and rely on Him, experience His presence like never before. It is in the valleys we learn to trust in Him and where some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned.” Well, initially the 9 hadn’t learned this lesson. They attempted to drive the demon out of the boy completely on their own, trusting not on God but on their own power. It seems amazing to me that not one of the 9 ever thought to approach the throne of God, when their attempts at casting out the demon proved unsuccessful. So Jesus drives the message home in Mark 9:29 and Matthew 17:19-21.

The lesson He gave them is for our benefit as well. Someone said it this way; “The highway to the power of God is paved by faith and the vehicle that transports us there is our diligent time in prayer.”