THE POWER OF FAITH

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In Christ, Mark

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:14-20

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him.

“What are you arguing with them about?” He asked.

A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you My son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Mark 9:14-29

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

Luke 17:5-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We are all going to do through hardship and difficulty. It’s one of those inevitable, inescapable facts of life.

How well do we handle these hardships and difficulties when they come?

Perhaps the answer lies in one simple thing and the quantity and quality of it within ourselves.

That thing is faith.

The ones who are strong in it persevere and endure through the tribulations of life.

Those who are weak in it struggle mightily when mired in the pit of troubles.

This discussion is particularly relevant as we look at our scripture passage for today. There we find Jesus trying to resolve an issue that had bubbled up regarding a failed exorcism by the disciples. Look at these words again here from Matthew and Mark’s accounts:

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  Matthew 17:14-20

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him.

“What are you arguing with them about?” He asked.

A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”  Mark 9:14-29

Let me first set the scene for you.

Jesus has just returned from the mountain with Peter, James, and John who had just witnessed the amazing transfiguration, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and the envelopment of a cloud from which God Himself spoke to them. What the three disciples had witnessed had been nothing short of incredible but as they rejoined their disciple brothers, they found a dispute was in progress with the teachers of the law involved. Wanting to get to the bottom of the conflict quickly, Jesus asked what was going on. A man present filled Him in:

“Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

The disciples had been able to cure others before this. They had a reputation of being able to do some of the same things as Jesus and I’m sure the man brought his son to the disciples thinking they could drive out the demon within in him and restore him to full health but as we see, that didn’t happen, stirring up quite a dispute.

So who did Jesus fault? As we see from His words, it was everyone involved:

“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

Note here that Jesus saw the entire generation as being unbelieving or, in other words, lacking faith. They simply failed to believe something could happen and thus watched their unbelief leave them disappointed when nothing happened. In this instance, it was true of the father and the disciples. Let’s look at each.

In regard to the father, Jesus asks him a few questions regarding the duration of the son’s affliction. After the father provides some additional information, he makes this revealing statement regarding his level of faith:

“…if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

Here was Jesus who had never failed in accomplishing what He wanted to do. This included healing a multitude of different maladies and afflictions as well as driving out demons. There was nothing that Jesus couldn’t do and yet the man doubted in his heart whether anything could be done for his Son. He showed reservations that Jesus could heal His son, something that obviously didn’t sit well:

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Jesus calls out the man’s lack of faith and assures Him that anything could be possible if he or anyone else would just simply believe. In this case, all the man had to do is just place his full faith in Jesus and then allow Him to reward that faith.

Well, the man quickly saw the errors of his ways because he petitions Jesus to help him grow in his faith exclaiming:

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

And with that, Jesus drove out the demon from the boy with a simple command. The man’s change of heart from disbelief to full trust resulted in his son receiving a powerful miracle from Jesus, the One he placed his belief in.

It was a two for one deal. A son’s healing and a father growing in his faith.

Let’s shift our focus now to the disciples who came to Jesus in private after He had driven out the boy’s demon, wondering why they were incapable of doing it first. In Matthew’s account, we discover it had everything to do with their lack of faith:

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 

Perhaps the nine disciples (minus Peter, James, and John) had good intentions in attempting to drive out the child’s demon but they didn’t truly believe they could do it and that is why it failed to happen. Jesus goes on to tell them that if they had even had the tiniest inkling of faith then they could have made what seemed impossible possible. They could have done what they wanted to do, like driving out an evil spirit from a child in this instance.

But they lacked faith and so they failed to see what they desired transpire.

Friends, in this account of Jesus driving out a boy’s demon, we are reminded of the power of faith, something we all need to have if we’re going to have any hope in life. I pray the words of Jesus will embolden us when we face the certain adversity and hard times that are sure to come our way at one time or another. For all we need to do is have faith as small as a mustard seed and we can move mountains, understanding nothing is impossible when we place our hope and trust in the Great Mountain Mover, the One who can do all things, the Lord Almighty who always makes the improbable probable.

Perhaps we would all be well served to pray the words of the boy’s father:

“Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Amen.  

In Christ,

Mark

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