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Mark 9:14-29

I Want to Do It Myself

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Mark 9:14-29

I Want to Do It Myself

By The Rev. James T. Batchelor

I remember growing up in the church and hearing the account in today’s Gospel.  The thing that really impressed me as a child – in fact, it frightened me – was that Jesus got very frustrated with the disciples.  He was frustrated that the disciples were not able to deal with this demon possessed boy.

I was too young to express my feelings, but if I could have expressed my feelings, it would have gone something like this: “I don’t want Jesus to get frustrated with me.  I better learn how to drive demons out of demon possessed people.  In fact, if I have a powerful enough faith, I ought to be able to heal people of all kinds of problems.”  Keep in mind that this was in a time in my life when I thought that if I tied a towel around my neck so that it looked like a cape, I ought to be able to jump up into the air and fly like superman.

Now, in spite of the fact that I had more imagination than sense when I was that age, the question still remains.  Jesus said, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:19)  Jesus is clearly frustrated with the disciples because they were not able to deal with this demon.  Should He also be frustrated with us because we can’t perform miracles of healing?

Here is where one of the great rules of Biblical interpretation comes to the rescue.  We must always read the Bible in the light of its full context including the context of the culture in which it was written.  If we work our way back from today’s Gospel – to pick up some context in Mark 6 – we read these words:

Jesus “called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse, but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics.  He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there.   Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!’  They went out and preached that people should repent.  They cast out many demons, and anointed many with oil who were sick, and healed them.” (Mark 6:7–13) These words teach us that Jesus had already given authority to the disciples.  Jesus had given them authority over unclean spirits.  They were able to cast out demons and heal the sick.  Jesus had promised to give them this authority and it happened just as Jesus promised.

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Do we also have a promise from Jesus that gives us the authority to perform miracles of healing?  When we examine the Scriptures, we cannot find a place where Jesus has promised these miraculous signs of healing.  Instead, these miracles were given specifically to the Apostles as a sign of their office as apostle.  They were the ones to whom Jesus had assigned His teachings until they could get them written down.  They were the ones to whom Jesus had given the authority to inform the church which writings were true scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit.  They were the ones who had Jesus’ promise of authority over diseases and demons.

So what was the deal in today’s Gospel?  Why were the disciples not able to drive out the demon?  What went wrong?  Why was Jesus frustrated with them?

In the end, it boils down to the age old problem of mankind.  If we look at the history of the Old Testament, we learn that every time the Children of Israel became successful, they thought it was their own doing.  They began to leave God out of the picture.  The cycle repeats over and over throughout the Old Testament.  The Israelites are in trouble.  They turn to God.  God rescues them.  The Israelites become successful.  They forget about God.  Without God’s protection, they get back into trouble.  Once they get into trouble, they turn to God and the cycle repeats.  This demonstrates a problem that all human beings have.  When things go well, we tend to forget about God.

The disciples had forgotten the source of their power.  They had forgotten that they were not the ones who were doing the healing and so forth.  Instead, it is God who does the healing.  In fact, today’s reading tells us that the disciples didn’t even pray over the boy.  [Jesus] said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29). Jesus doesn’t even qualify the words prayer or fasting.  He doesn’t say fervent prayer or intense prayer or persistent prayer and fasting.  He just said prayer and fasting.  Instead of asking God to drive out the demon, the disciples simply tried to do that in their own power.

This is the real reason for frustration on Jesus’ part.  Their faith was in themselves instead of God.  They had not even invited God to help them, much less had they trusted in God for the entire miracle.

We are helpless without God.  The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to say it this way, “… you were dead in transgressions and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1b)  Dead people can’t do anything.  They can’t even believe for themselves.  Jesus Himself said, “I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

We can do nothing without Christ because God’s law demands perfection.  One sin – one indiscretion and our eternity is doomed.  Remember that sin also includes those times when we fail to do what God wants us to do.  This is a totally impossible standard for people who are spiritually dead when they come into this world.  Our only hope must be in Jesus.

It is faith in Jesus that gives us this hope.  At another time and place, Jesus said, “He who believes in him [God’s only begotten Son] is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” (John 3:18)  From this we learn that only faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself, saves us from condemnation.  Any other faith condemns us to eternity in hell.

Just as Jesus was the only solution for the demon-possessed son, so also Jesus is the only solution for us.  Just as Jesus dealt with the demon in today’s Gospel, He also deals with the sin in us.  He does not ask us to work off our own sin.  Instead, He worked off our sins for us.  He took our sins onto Himself and then carried them to the cross.  He took the punishment of our sins on Himself so that we do not have to suffer for them.  He conquered sin with His suffering and death and then conquered death by rising from the grave.  Now He offers the cure for sin to all mankind.

We receive this cure by faith, but even here, the forces of sin try to deceive us.  The devil, the world, and even our own sinful nature try to convince us that this faith is something we produce in ourselves.  In fact, there is a popular song that starts with the words: “I have decided to follow Jesus.”  Compare that statement with the words that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: “The mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.” (Romans 8:7)  From this we learn that not only is it impossible for anyone to produce faith within themselves, but the person without faith is hostile to God.

Paul also wrote: “Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, ‘Jesus is accursed.’ No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ but by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)  Just as the father had to bring his son to Jesus in today’s Gospel, so also we cannot come to Jesus Christ ourselves.  As Martin Luther explains: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” (Small Catechism, Creed, Third Article)  There is no way for us to create faith within ourselves.  The Holy Spirit must give it to us as a gift.

This brings us back again to the father’s prayer: “I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24b)  When we Christians pray this prayer, we acknowledge that our faith is weak and we can do nothing to maintain it let alone strengthen it.  We are crying out to God from our utter helplessness and begging Him to keep us in the one, true faith until He comes to take us home to Himself in heaven.

The Holy Spirit works to give us a faith that believes in God’s grace, not in our own works.  He calls us to believe in the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.  He calls us to believe in the one who drives out demons and gives us true life instead.  He calls us to believe in Jesus Christ.  The faith that comes from within us will fail.  The faith that comes from the world will fail.  Only the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus Christ will last forever.  And only through that faith will Jesus give us forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  Amen

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2012, James T. Batchelor.  Used by permission.