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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 that, having told the disciples about His future suffering and death, after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."
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 comes upon a scene of dispute, having been on the mountain top with Peter, James, and John, and the revelation of divinity (the Trinity) via His Transfiguration. Whatever His divine identity as Son, His worldly life is taken with disputes from the religious leadership. Here, there is a problem of healing. An unclean spirit seeks to destroy a boy and keeps him mute; his father comes to the disciples for help. As framed here in the Gospels, this is a story of oppression. The boy needs help, and the father comes to those who may be able to help. But the dispute with the scribes is going on with the disciples, and there is a problem.
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!" "Faithless generation" most likely applies to everyone in this scenario. There are disputes going on within many levels -- the scribes with the disciples, the disciples trying to help the boy with the unclean spirit, the father conflicted within his own belief. So there's a kind of equation here with struggle: often it is reflective of or parallel to ongoing struggles within ourselves. This man's plea, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" may be a prayer for all of us. Even the compassion of the Lord also needs our faith, our belief, our trust in God.
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." Again, we see the struggle of faith here. Many in the crowd think the child is dead after Jesus heals the child and commands the "deaf and dumb" spirit to come out of him. I think it's important that we see this "mute" spirit binds the child; the oppression is his inability to express himself, along with the destructive nature of the spirit. Jesus must defy all expectations in this healing, even of the crowds. Privately, he rebukes the disciples: in public He defends them but teaches that correction should happen in private. The NU-text omits and fasting here. Nevertheless, we get the message: practices that increase faith are necessary for our own struggles, especially in a world where any form of evil creates conflict, oppression, or chaos for us.
What does it mean to struggle with our faith? In today's reading, we can see all kinds of struggles going on. The scribes from Jerusalem are present; they're the ones who study the great teachers of the past, or with famous rabbis, and they learn and teach the same way to others. They represent the students of the religious establishment -- both they and the disciples ostensibly have faith in the same God. Jesus never denies Jewish spiritual history; indeed, He has said that He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He is the fullness of the truth revealed in the Law and the Prophets. It's important to understand that in the ancient world, the Pagan Greeks, for example, who became Christians, saw their own civilization and history the same way: containing many good truths and things essential for life, but with a greater fulfillment and revelation in Christ. That's how, essentially, we have theology -- the classical Greek world of philosophy merging with the revelation of Christ; the "true, good, and beautiful" (as Plato, among others, would put it) manifest in Christ. Christ teaches that He is the Person who is truth; He manifests a fullness of truth, beauty, and goodness and gives us a fullness of that vision in a person (or Person, as the case may be). But where does our faith, our belief come into it? Once again, we look at the scene in today's reading, and it's a scene of chaos and struggle: the disciples with the scribes, the man and boy with this oppressive, destructive unclean spirit -- one that keeps this boy from the potential of expression. That is, a human capacity for expression that can be like our Creator: manifesting truth, beauty, and goodness. The conflict with evil is that which stops us from that potential or capacity, the fullness of what it is to be created in the image of God. There's a conflict with the crowds, who insist the boy is dead when Jesus has, in fact, healed him. And there is the struggle with faith in Christ, the Person who's the personification of truth and beauty and goodness. This is the struggle present in all of the people here, the "faithless generation" -- to one extent and another, the disciples, scribes, the crowd, and the father. The key here is really telling us that the practices of faith -- those designed to give us discipline in faith and to shore up our faith, like prayer and fasting -- keep us on the road, the connection, to Christ, to the things that are good and true and beautiful that we may manifest in our own lives. They help us in the battle with chaos, in that which tears down and muzzles and seeks destruction. Faith keeps us in a place where we put our trust in what is good and true and beautiful, and where we know that we may seek those things for ourselves and live them, too. Faith teaches us we are made in the image of our Creator. Maybe most importantly for this story, faith gives us a way to express the good and true and beautiful in our own lives, despite whatever handicap or obstacle we may encounter. We are not going to live in a perfect world, but we do have help and strength, through faith, to transcend and overcome, to manifest the things that are of God, that which liberates, transforms, redeems. Faith is the key to all of it, and this story teaches us the importance of the practices that shore up and help our faith, the necessary discipline to build order out of chaos, peace from conflict, a true way out of that which binds and stops us from being who we are to be, and the lies that tell us we can't. Faith is trust, it is a question of the trust we put in Christ, the love we have for God. Let us remember the father's prayer: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." In the Greek, the word for "believe" is more akin to trust, so it's a question of what we put our faith into, where we place our trust. How do you help to find the grace in your life, your connection with the love of God and the faith that draws you near? What helps you to find His peace, the place of His love and presence, the choice for faith? Fasting is a deliberate "saying no" to forms of temptation, a kind of practice for personal discipline in saying "no" to what may seek to alienate us from God's way, a learning of self-discipline for times of real temptation. Prayer keeps us in communion, as disciples, with our Lord; it's a line to grace, a way we call the Lord to our side (as in the word Paraclete, one who comes when called, usually in defense, an Advocate, a Comforter). Let us remember that these are keys to our healing and wholeness, to maintaining a life in which we live to our potential as ones created in the image of the true, the good, and the beautiful. This is real spiritual health. Christ calls us to realize it through faith! The word "generation" can be used to apply to all of us.
