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Believe it or not, there is in the Bible a grand total of (Are you ready?) 31,102 verses.
And, as you are about to hear in this PODCAST, of these 31,102 verses, the one verse that best summarizes the state of my relationship with God is this one verse here in Mark 9.
In all honesty, this is right where I live.
And, were the truth to be told, I’d be willing to wager that most of us live here too.
These words uttered, by the desperate dad in this story, could well be my words, my plea, my prayer every day in every situation.
And I rather suspect they could be yours as well.
The verse I am talking about is Mark 9:24,
The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Now, while this story is accounted for in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), I imagine that these words from this heartbroken father must have particularly resonated with Peter, especially considering the bouts that he fought with disbelief. And, since Mark was basically Peter’s stenographer, I have a real tender spot in my heart and mind for Mark’s account of this story. There were moments where Peter undeniably embodied those words, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
It’s really a story about all of our faith, from Peter, the other disciples, all the way to you and me.
The story begins with Jesus, Peter, John and James coming down from Mount Hermon after witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration and standing face to face with Elijah and Moses. The four of them walked down after experiencing the ultimate “Christian Summer Camp High” and walked into a mob scene:
14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.
16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.
17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. (Mark 9:14-27)
Did you notice, back in verses 15-16, that the religious leaders that were in attendance were too busy debating one another that they were not filled with awe at the sight of Christ? Everyone else was filled with wonder, but not these guys. They were so busy arguing, dealing with the now trivial stuff around them that they were oblivious to Jesus’ majesty.
Are we any different, sometimes?
I can say from first-hand experience that while I was in Seminary – learning with every minute and every ounce of attention I could muster to be a Bible teaching pastor – I was in and a part of an environment that was completely void of awe, mystery, wonder, and paradox of God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit who was wanting so badly to minister to me, if I would only listen or take a moment to stand in awe.
Check out what Paul said about the mystery, wonder, awesomeness and paradox of our faith:
Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:
Christ was revealed in a human body
and vindicated by the Spirit.
He was seen by angels
and announced to the nations.
He was believed in throughout the world
and taken to heaven in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)
Each of these phrases is beyond human explanation. To oversimplify Paul’s words… Jesus is AWESOME! He is WONDERFUL! He is a MYSTERY!
If He weren’t, none of us would be in need of faith.
Back to our story…
The religious leaders, and even the nine disciples who were at the bottom of the hill were so preoccupied with debating the theology of demon possession (what is it, who can be demon possessed, is it temporary, is it permanent…) that they had lost all effectiveness and even (as it seems) completely forgotten about the poor boy who was suffering right in front of them.
Did you get that? They were debating demon possession with a demon possessed boy right in front of them, and they weren’t lifting a finger to help him!
Jesus was exasperated. He was exasperated at the religious leaders. He was exasperated at his nine disciples.
But He never got exasperated with the boy or his dad.
Even when the boy’s father asked Jesus to free his son from the demon “if you can”, Jesus didn’t condemn him. He simply loved him and his son. He understood why his faith was weak at that moment.
Luke adds this bit to the story that I find so incredibly testimonial to Dr. Luke’s bedside manner and critical to understanding Jesus’ attitude toward the man and his son:
Then Jesus gave him back to his father. 43 Awe gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God’s power. (Luke 9:42-43)
When was the last time awe gripped you?