Help My Unbelief
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Title: Help My Unbelief
And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
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.”
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.”
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.
And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
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.”
And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
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.”
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.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
While many will say this is a passage about spiritual warfare, of prayer, on fasting, one thing is very clear and that it is a clear story of faith. Of belief, and unbelief.
Where our faith resides is paramount to our walk with Christ.
Thesis: Our faith rests in Christ alone.
Introduction:
1. First, we go to Jesus in Faith
And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
Luke gives a much shorter version of this story, Matthew expands on it in a few noticeable ways, but the one thing in common we see is this event follows the events on the Mount of Transfiguration.
While God was active, exposing the unifying presence of the Messiah, showing the disciples who and what Jesus really is - the devil was at work in the valley below.
What does the devil do? He sows chaos, breeds confusion, terror, deceit. If nothing else, we see clearly his fingerprints upon the crowd.
Jesus, James, John, and Peter have come down the mountain to the remaining 9 disciples, only find a great crowd around them and the Scribes are there (of course) and they’re arguing with the disciples.
If you recall, Jesus had tried to get away from the Scribes and the Pharisees, back in the early portion of chapter 8.
They were no doubt among the Pharisees and Sadducees as they’d demanded a sign from heaven. Jesus had rebuked them,
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
And He had gone over to Bethsaida, healed a blind man, was confessed to be the Christ by Peter and the disciples, and about a week later went up the mountain, was transfigured, and now he’s back down the mountain
And who is there waiting on him? The Scribes - and with the scribes, a chaos. The Scribes being present, though, Luke does not mention this in his account, neither does Matthew - only Mark makes mention of their having caught up to Jesus and the disciples.
It’s interesting Mark even mentions they were there because he doesn’t mention them again in the story - as if their role is moot once Jesus shows up.
Perhaps Mark is making the case that those who cause division, those who only wish to argue, are a side effect of the presence of the enemy, or are opportunistic in their attacks - coming against the disciple of Jesus at the first glimmer of failure.
But, we have to be careful, or we make the mistake so many do and we take our eyes off of Jesus in this text, and we begin to miss the point. Jesus has arrived on the scene - and the crowd sees Him.
And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
Again, Mark is the only one in the synoptic gospels who notes the crowd is amazed - and that’s curious. Why are they amazed? It’s possible Mark is continuing his parallel to Moses’ trip up Mt. Sinai, and insinuating Jesus’ appearance is still somewhat shining from the transfiguration, though if that was the case you’d think one of the other Gospel writers would have mentioned it.
Not to mention Jesus had, Himself, told the 3 disciples with Him not to tell anyone - how could they be quiet if His face was still shining? Jesus would be contradicting Himself, in a sense, if that were the case.
It’s likely that they knew Jesus was the one with the authority to actually do something. Perhaps His presence is what silenced the Scribes, and the fact they shut their mouths at the arrival of Jesus was enough to spark the crowd to amazement.
We’re not told, but the disciples are clearly relieved to see Jesus show up, they’d been trying to hold their own with the scribes, as well as do the work of ministry.
Jesus’s first question to them in the moment wasn’t “Why’s everyone here?” It’s not “what have you been doing while I was up the mountain?” It’s very specific: “What are you arguing about with them?”
Why does Jesus ask this right out of the gate? Because not that long ago, He specifically warned His disciples to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the Herodians (Mark 8:15), and here they are, arguing with them.
Entertaining their arguments.
Dignifying their poison with a rebuttal.
Their arguing only escalated the situation, it only gave the Scribes more ammunition to use against Jesus, it only served to make more chaos in what was clearly already a chaotic situation.
The right response should not have been to argue, the right response should have been to go back to what Jesus had already said, and let that settle it. But here we get an idea of what’s happening in the disciples...
Pride.
It wasn’t that long ago, they were out teaching and casting out demons, and now they believe they can hold their own with the Scribes as well - meanwhile, the Scribes likely used their education to beat up, criticize, or even humiliate these 9 men.
And now, in their efforts, they’ve embarrassed themselves, disappointed the crowd, and failed to follow through on the miracle.
But before they can answer, someone rushes in to speak for them.
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.”
Now let’s take a moment here and observe what this Spirit does to the boy:
Makes him mute
It throws him down
he foams at the mouth
grinds his teeth
becomes rigid
Now, previously when we’d witnessed a demon-possessed man, the Gerasene Demoniac, what did he do?
Night and day he cried out
he broke chains and shackles in pieces
lived among tombs
cut himself
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.”
II.
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.
And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
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.” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
III.
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.”
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.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Conclusion: