4th Sunday of the Great Fast St John Climacus

Title

Do You Trust Him?

Outline

1 Salvation is a often a matter of trust

The drowning person who trusts the rescuer to grip him or her rather than gripping onto them

The person in a burning building who trusts the fireman to keep them safe as he guides them out of the window onto the ladder

The patient who trusts that the medicine or procedure the doctor is giving them will heal them, even if there are significant side effects first

And that is all trust of a human being, although a human being certified by appropriate authorities

2 But do we trust Jesus, do we really trust Jesus?

a. Hebrews tells us that he is certified to act as priest - through both God’s character and his oath - high priest after the order of Melchizedek

b. The gospel narrates this:

Jesus has come down from the transfiguration with his three witnesses

The 9 who were left behind have not witnessed the certification on the mountain and have a problem, a demon they cannot get out - Jesus suggests that they do not fully trust him

The father has brought the epileptic boy to Jesus - trying the disciples in his absence - but has limited expectations: “if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.”

Jesus retorts ““If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.”

If you trust me, if you have heard my will and trust me to fulfill it, everything is possible - the key is knowing God’s will and trusting that will

You can say “if you can” to a doctor, but to the Son of God only “if it be your will”

Jesus awakens a type of repentance, a desperate call for the grace of faith: “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Jesus speaks a word, a word received with trust by the father, and the demon obeys

c Jesus’ conclusion is the conclusion he would tell us

We ask with the disciples, “Why can’t we?”

Jesus responds, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”

Quiet yourself and control your own desires with fasting - you will hear God

Then prayer that connects you to God, in which you not only share your concern with God but listen to God so he brings your desires in line with his will

In other words, prayer and fasting is not manipulating God but enabling us to hear God and to distinguish his voice from our desires

Then you act in trust on his will, whatever it costs one

The disciples were not quite ready for that yet. They could not pray in the garden and so were not ready to hear, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

When the time came, they were ready for fight or flight, but not to support Jesus as he did God’s will. They would have to come back after the resurrection and in effect say, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

We now have this narrative, those of Acts, and the stories of saints, calling us to the same point of trust

Get your own desires under control; come in listening prayer before God; realize that you are speaking to the Great King of Peace and High Priest, the one who can; listen until you hear and then do what he tells you, whether it be to wait in quiet or to act in faith

All things are possible to the one who has aligned themselves in trust with him who is God in flesh

Readings

Epistle

Hebrews 6:13-20

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. 16 Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Heb 6:13–20.

Gospel

Mark 9:17-31

17 And one of the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; 18 and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and 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 he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him 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 dumb 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 and fasting.”

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying . . .

Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Mk 9:17–31.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 4-11-2021: Fourth Sunday of Great Lent or Sunday of Saint John Climacus

FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT OR SUNDAY OF SAINT JOHN CLIMACUS

Bright or Dark Vestments

Our Venerable Father Benedict, Abbot; St Alexander of Pidna, Priest-Martyr (m. 272 in Thrace)

First Sunday of Daylight Savings Time