Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?" Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood." And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

- Mark 9:14-29

Yesterday, we read of Jesus' Transfiguration. He has taken His closest disciples up a high mountain alone, and there they witness His Transfiguration -- His clothes radiant white, "such as no launderer on earth can whiten them." Next to Him were Moses and Elijah. A cloud came overhead, and a voice said from the cloud, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" See The Transfiguration.

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?" My study bible points out here that the Lord is loyal to His own. We note that He asks the scribes, not the disciples, what they are discussing with them. The scribes must answer, not His disciples. It seems to me that Jesus is prepared to speak for His followers. Clearly this will be a way to teach, so that His disciples learn from Him.

Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." We enter again into a scene of the spiritual battle hidden behind the events of the Gospel, a setting for Jesus' mission of the Kingdom into the world. This destructive world of oppression in the picture of the young son is reminiscent of the man who was called Legion, as the son is so harshly afflicted. He's like a picture of the ills of the world, the torment of oppression in the world that can afflict human beings, mankind as a whole, the sad and unjust suffering we may witness. The helpless father is a picture of love, and the suffering of those who love but cannot heal what ails the ones they love. So many of us turn to God with this prayer. The son is so helpless, he cannot speak for himself, he is mute. It is a picture of humanity in desperate need of a helper to combat what afflicts us.

He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. My study bible says that "faithless generation" refers to them all, including the father of the child and Jesus' disciples. This healing takes us into new territory, after the Transfiguration experience on the mountain. We have just been given a deeper, sharper, brilliant glimpse into this Kingdom coming into the world, and it asks of us a deeper faith in order to engage it, to participate in it. Christ is taking us a step further in the evolution of spiritual perception and understanding, in humanity's relationship to God, as a healing and redemptive ministry for the separation of this world from that Kingdom. So He asks of us -- and them -- a greater faith, a deeper faith, a deeper engagement with God.

And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood." And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Mark gives us here a further glimpse into the suffering and torment of this young boy. From childhood, he has been so afflicted, and we are given vivid imagery: the son has been thrown both into the fire and water to destroy him. And here is the prayer, "But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." The disciples have already tried, and could do nothing. Oppression may be stubborn and difficult. Jesus' words about faith seem to indicate that where deep and persistent troubles are, so faith must be required to match. My study bible notes that "what Christ's disciples can or cannot do reflects on the Lord Himself." There is an undercurrent of teaching here to us all who would be disciples, about our own need for a deeper and growing faith, especially to meet our own challenges throughout life.

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" We recall the lessons from other earlier healings in Mark's Gospel: it is the spark of faith in us that creates the connection to release Christ's power. Jesus seeks faith from the father, as He has done, for example, with Jairus whose daughter was ill (in the reading in the link above). The man's cry teaches us our position, as humanity. My study bible says, "The presence of doubt does not imply the absence of faith. Christ honors whatever faith we have and will increase faith when we sincerely desire Him." We struggle to enter this Kingdom; it is not a onetime declaration that we seek in a lifetime of faith, but a growing and persistent struggle for a deeper faith that goes on within us, and within this relationship. The man's expression to Jesus could be that of any one of us.

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." As we (and His closest disciples) have just been given a glimpse of the fullness of Jesus' power and glory in the Transfiguration, so we discover immediately a deeper and more persistent struggle to bring that Kingdom into this world in which the "prince of this world" has power to oppress. A great deal of faith is required of us as disciples; in this is our liberation. It will be a struggle in which we will all engage, and the Kingdom breaking through into our midst is not a one-time declaration that comes all at once in absolute fullness. It is, rather, one in which we participate to help to bring it into the world through our own dedication and acts of faith. We must be prepared for a struggle.

And so, Mark's gospel begins to give us the seeds of what life will be like in this age which Jesus initiates in His saving mission to the world. As Messiah, He will not immediately declare the end of all things, the New Jerusalem, and final Judgment. Rather, He initiates us into a life of the struggle of faith. This is a period in which the Kingdom breaks through into this world in us, through us, through those who would be His disciples. It will take faith and persistence. Persistence in prayer, persistence in seeking a deeper understanding, a deeper faith, a broader and greater relationship, and supporting one another in our lives of faith so that we all grow in it. This is our world, and a picture, essentially, of our lives in the state in which we find ourselves today. "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" is the essential condition in which any of us can find ourselves at any time, because the great gifts we have been given challenge us to that deeper and growing struggle for faith throughout our lives. The revelation of the Kingdom, the theophany in yesterday's reading of Transfiguration, gives us a sustaining and powerful mission: how will we meet the challenge He has given us to participate in it, and to help to be a part of it in this world, to help it to "break through"? His gifts to us give us the call to step up to them; He calls to all of humanity to grow into those gifts, to be with Him more fully, to enter more deeply into that Kingdom with Him. "Help my unbelief" is the cry we make in our persistence, in the call He gives us to grow in our faith. Can we share in it with this father who seeks, even in tears of helplessness, help for his son? Can we do the same in our lives? We seek the Helper to help us grow our faith, and turn once again to Him in the midst of the struggle.