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 that after six days (following Peter's confession and Christ's prophecy of His suffering, death, and Resurrection) 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?"   Here Jesus has just returned from the Mount of Transfiguration (see yesterday's reading, above), with Peter, James, and John who had been with Him.  He returns to find a great multitude around the rest of His disciples, and with scribes who were disputing with the disciples.  We note that His first act is to intervene on behalf of His disciples, confronting the scribes Himself, saying, "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."  My study Bible explains that sickness in Scripture is often connected to demonic activity.

 

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.   We observe the father's ambivalence, as it's perfectly and memorably stated:  "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  Christ's earlier rebuke, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me" is directed to the father, and perhaps also to the crowd.  But Christ's rebuke here, my study Bible indicates, is directed to those who would place the blame on the disciples, particularly the father, while it was his own greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing.  

 

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."  In Matthew's version of this story, Jesus first responds to the disciples' question, "Why could we not cast it out?" by saying, "Because of your unbelief," before explaining that "this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."  Effectively, with that perspective, Jesus teaches us that we ought first to correct people privately.  Such a scenario also corresponds to Christ's own formula for self-correction in the Church (Matthew 18:15-17).  St. John Chrysostom, commenting on Matthew's version of this story, notes that Christ's rebuke in private is directed at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon.  The "pillars" of faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- were not included in the rebuke, as they had been on the mountain with Christ at the Transfiguration (see yesterday's reading, above).

Faith, as we can observe, plays a great role in today's reading.  One must consider, in that light, why this reading comes in the sequence that it does, after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus' statement regarding His future Passion, death, and Resurrection.  This becomes a pivotal moment in the ministry of Christ, for it prepares us for the rejection to come.   With that understanding, faith itself will come to play a much greater role in the future of Christ's mission and the Church to come.  The faithlessness of the Pharisees (their "leaven" in this reading), and the demand for proofs ("a sign"), mean that it is no longer sufficient that Jesus continues His ministry giving miraculous signs.  For this alone will not produce the future of the Church, but it is only faith not dependent solely on those signs which will be the true fruit of His mission, and ongoing into the future long after the incarnate Jesus is put to death.  In fact, those of us who are "to come" and who will make up His Church, will have to do so through faith. The capacity to perceive who Christ is, to be drawn to the Church, to grow and participate in the reality of His life, death, and Resurrection, will all be dependent upon faith, and upon the growth of that faith.  The Transfiguration marks a turning point, because it is not a "proof," it's not a miraculous marvel in front of a crowd, it's a revelation to the disciples, a theophany, a revelation of God.  But it comes to those with the faith to truly see and accept, and who will grow in that faith -- its memory being an inerasable part of the treasury of the Church for its future.  Here in today's reading we're given a kind of prayer so many of us can relate to:  "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  Jesus also gives us, through the disciples, a lesson in what we need to strengthen our faith, the primary practices of the Church such as prayer and fasting.  Let us think about the state of our faith, and how we need it, and consider how it grows.  For this is the foundation He seeks in us.  When we struggle with our faith, let us remind ourselves that faith is not a simple one-time declaration, but an ongoing process, unfolding, growing, challenged in new ways, and evolving throughout our lives and through our experiences.   For such it was even for the disciples.