Lent 2 - Weak

37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God. While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples,

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Coming Down the Mountain

Just a few weeks ago, we read the first part of this passage together. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a mountain to pray. They saw Jesus glow and witnessed an appearance by both Moses and Elijah. It was a powerful experience for them all. Well, not everyone. If I count right, there were only three of the disciples there. Where were the other nine?

They were working. They were preaching, teaching, healing, and trying to figure out what to do with the crowds that kept following them back to Jesus. This was near the end of the three-year ministry Jesus led on earth, so the disciples were getting plenty of practice.

How successful were they? We know they were able to preach and teach enough to draw crowds. They healed people of sickness and even cast out demons. By most accounts in the gospels, they were quite successful in their work. However, our passage today highlights an instance where they failed.

An evil spirit had taken control of a boy, causing him seizures and injuries. The disciples had tried. Maybe more than once. They may have even gathered together, all nine of them, and attempted to free this boy from the oppressive spirit that held him captive. We don't know how much they tried. What we know is that they failed, they gave up, and they hoped bringing the boy to Jesus would free him.

As the song says, "We are weak but He is strong."

This was the day that the disciples learned that there are some things we cannot do on our own strength.

Weak

We don’t notice our weakness when we are on the mountain with Jesus. Not really. We may notice our guilt or a kind of inadequacy, but when we are in the middle of worshipping God, whether that is at church camp, a revival concert, or praising God while doing yard work, we don't usually think about calling it quits and going to take a nap when we are still on a spiritual high. Afterward, yes, but not typically while we are being filled with the Spirit of God.

We have a way of taking those mountaintop moments, even the ones that are clearly about Who God is, and making them about ourselves.

Coming down from that place, our feet hit the ground, and we are back in the world again. From God’s perspective, Heaven is reaching down into the world through us. However, from our perspective, it feels like Heaven is floating away and leaving us back in the world. That is the moment we all start to feel our own weakness.

Wait a minute! I thought Jesus was handling all of this. He came to build a kingdom of believers and take us all home. Why am I stuck here holding construction tools? I don’t know how to build a kingdom of priests and a holy nation! And looking around at the people and resources I have to work with, we will be lucky if this kingdom of God makes it outside the city limits!

Reality sinks in, and we see and feel our weakness. We, like the disciples, forget the work that God has already done through us. We forget the demons cast out and the miraculous healings of yesterday. We forget how God fed thousands with two fish and five loaves. We forget that He took care of us on the road when we didn’t even pack a change of clothes or a walking stick, let alone any money. And we have long forgotten the way Jesus taught us to deal with rejection… “shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

All we can see is the one time it didn’t work. Peter, James, and John walked down the mountain to see a father with a tormented son and nine disciples scratching their heads. Everyone was staring at them and waiting for Jesus to come to fix the situation because nobody likes to be caught in their weakness.

“I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

Strong

We know we are weak but Jesus is strong. What He does is no surprise. The demon rebels, the boy is thrown to the ground. Jesus rebukes the evil spirit and heals the boy, giving him back to his father. That is exactly what we expect. In fact, we may have expected more from the disciples of Jesus at this point. Maybe they should have been able to handle more of this themselves. Regardless, everyone was again amazed at the strength of Jesus at the end of the day. Coming down from the mountain of intense prayer and His own preparation for the cross, Jesus still had more than enough strength to knock this demon out of the park and return this boy made whole back to his father.

The strength of Jesus does not surprise us. It is the words and the weariness of Jesus that surprises us here.

“You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”

Those are harsh words for a boy with an evil spirit and a weary care-giving father.

Those are harsh words for nine disciples who have been doing their best to preach, teach, and heal while Jesus had His inner circle at a prayer meeting on the mountain.

Those are harsh words for a crowd of innocent bystanders.

Who was Jesus frustrated by and why this sudden outburst?

Faithless or unbelieving is a fairly straightforward translation here, but the word perverse implies something twisted or turned physically - a foot, an eye, maybe even a neck, that cripples a person in such a way that they can no longer live or act in a healthy way. Think of it in regards to your stomach. When you come across a smell or a sight that “turns your stomach”, you can no longer eat. It doesn’t matter how good the food is, your stomach will not function correctly. That is how Jesus is describing a generation standing before Him. Faithless, and twisted so that they can no longer act in faith to God.

All of humanity could fall under that accusation, and not just those that lived back then. Every generation that has ever lived has fallen far short of God’s glory. They have also had some shining moments of faith. We are all a messy mixed bag of blessings and curses. Yet here in this moment we have some separate groups. A boy who is a victim and in need of help, not without sin, but weak and incapable of helping himself. A father who has faith enough to bring his son to Jesus, even if he disrespects the disciples who tried to heal his son. Nine disciples who have stepped out in faith, but failed in this instance to grant the boy freedom from this evil spirit. Finally, we have the crowd, who are standing back and watching to see what happens next.

Jesus started the next chapter of His ministry, preparing to face His crucifixion. Peter, James, and John were not ready. The nine were a bit further behind them. The rest of the world was a picture of this crowd surrounding a tormented father and son. Everyone standing around waiting to see what would happen next. Not a picture of heaven. Not a picture of people who love God and each other. This is a picture of people who are unable to be the people God created them to be. They are stuck. And Jesus does not have a lot of time left with them.

Faith and Care

When faced with needs and situations that are beyond our power to fix (and there are a lot of them), what is God’s role? What is our role?

Was Jesus expecting miraculous healing from everyone? I don't think so. Did He expect perfect behavior and organization? I doubt it. No, I think there is one word that is missing from this whole story that may have changed the response Jesus gave them:

Care.

Compare this story to the paralytic whose friends let him through the roof, and the comment Jesus made about their faith. What is the difference? Care. It wasn't even about the healing, because the first thing Jesus said was, "Your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:20) Physical healing is almost a secondary side effect. Go back to any healing story in the gospel. When Jesus praises faith, someone is already showing care. Right in between the paralytic and our passage today we read about a Roman Centurion who had a dying slave. He cared for the Jewish people he was over and the whole community loved him for it.

Luke 7:3

Luke 7:3 NRSV

3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

Rather than have Jesus bother coming to him and his slave, he told the Jewish leaders to let Jesus know that His word was good enough. He trusted God would heal his slave if Jesus said it would be done.

Luke 7:9–10 NRSV

9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

This pagan soldier, who never even saw Jesus, cared for all the Jewish people around him, and Jesus counted that as more faith than He found anywhere in Israel. In our weakness, we can still choose to care, and Jesus counts that as faith. Why? Because the entire law can be summed up in these two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

We cannot do that chasing mountaintop experiences.

We cannot do that following a crowd.

We can't accomplish that with our complaints and criticisms, or even our cries for help.

But God will work through our weakness when we have the faith to care for those around us. Who is Jesus asking you to step out in faith and care for today?

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