Sermon

Mark 9:14-29

Sincerely Wrong

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Mark 9:14-29

Sincerely Wrong

By The Rev. James T. Batchelor

Sometime next month, as we approach Halloween, one of the television networks will probably show a rerun of a Peanuts’ special entitled, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  For those of you who aren’t big fans of the Peanuts specials, this particular special focuses on Linus’ faith in the Great Pumpkin.

Linus believes that every year on Halloween the Great Pumpkin rises out of the Pumpkin patch and brings presents to boys and girls who are really, really sincere.  Every year, Linus plants his pumpkin patch with the hope that, this year, the Great Pumpkin will choose to rise out of his pumpkin patch.  Linus even works hard to make sure that even the pumpkins look sincere.  Every year Linus tries to maintain a vigil so that he can witness the Great Pumpkin rise out of his patch.  He works diligently to become more and more sincere so that his pumpkin patch will be worthy of hosting the Great Pumpkin.

Many people believe that it is not so important what you believe as long as you are sincere.  They know that hypocrisy is wrong and so sincerity must be right.  In this age when people talk about going with what feels right in your gut or searching your feelings to determine truth – in this age that says if it feels right, do it – we often get the impression that Universe will work to make the right thing feel right or that the universe will somehow sense our beliefs and change to accommodate us.

One would think that the events of the last five years would work to change this attitude in society.  Last Monday was the fifth anniversary of the tragic destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as well as one wing of the Pentagon Building (Note:  This sermon was first preached in 2006).  The misguided men who committed these horrible atrocities were some of the most sincere men on the face of the planet.  They were absolutely convinced that they were doing God’s will.  They were absolutely convinced that they were fighting for a noble cause.  They were very sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.

Never the less, we still hear so many people urging us to trust our inner feelings.  We hear so many people urging us to look to our inner being and find our own path.  There are even people who teach that Jesus had the power to do so many amazing things simply because he was truly one with his inner feelings.  These people even maintain that anyone who could become one with the Christ consciousness inside of them could also do the amazing things that Jesus did.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) Many people take a verse like this out of context.  They actually believe that Jesus was telling us to believe in ourselves and all our dreams will come true.  They point to other verses such as the time Jesus said, “For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)   Then they say, “All you need is enough faith in yourself and then you will be successful, happy, wealthy, healthy”—and so forth.

Today’s gospel very ably demonstrates the fallacy of this kind of thinking.  There are actually two different examples of misplaced faith in today’s Gospel.  There were the disciples who should have known better and there was the father with his demon-possessed son.

Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up on the mountain to witness His transfiguration.  In the mean time, the remaining nine disciples were left behind with no adult supervision.  While the nine disciples were waiting for Jesus and the others to return, a father approached them with a demon possessed son and asked for Jesus.  The disciples most likely told the father that Jesus would be back later in the day and that they could take a look while they were waiting.

Now, in the disciples’ defense, they had exorcised demons before.  In Luke 10 we read that Jesus sent seventy-two disciples out to do mission work.  Verse 17 of Luke 10 informs us that the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17)  So they did have experience with demons.

Nevertheless, this demon wasn’t leaving and, apparently, their attempts to make it leave had attracted a crowd that included some scribes.  So now we have this situation that the beginning of today’s gospel describes.  Jesus returned from the mountain top with Peter, James, and John only to find the remaining nine disciples surrounded by a large crowd of people and arguing with the scribes.

Jesus took a little bit of time to sort out the situation and then He scolded the Disciples, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:19)

The disciples had fallen into a trap that is as old as the nation of Israel itself.  How often do we read in the Old Testament that God blessed the Israelites and that the Israelites then began to believe that they were responsible for their own success?

These nine disciples had a similar problem.  The Holy Spirit had worked through them to expel many demons.  They had grown complacent and begun to rely on themselves.  They had become careless.  The object of their faith had switched from God back to themselves.  They had come to the point that Jesus had to call them a faithless generation.

The father shows a different kind of misplaced faith.  He had placed his faith in many earthly cures and been disappointed.  When he asked for help, the disappointments of the past came through.  He said, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” (Mark 9:22) The world had disappointed him so many times that his request had no confidence.  He expected disappointment once again.

The evil threesome of the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature constantly try to make us like those nine disciples or like that father.  They will tell us that we don’t need to read God’s Word every day.  They will tell us that we no longer need Sunday school now that we have been confirmed.  Our tired bodies tell us that it is way too hard to get to church in time to study God’s Word with our brothers and sisters in the family of Christ.

The forces of evil will do everything they can to separate us from God’s Word.  They want us to become complacent and begin to rely on ourselves instead of God.  They seek to replace our faith in God with faith in ourselves or some other false spirituality.

The cure for that complacency – that false spirituality lies in Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross takes away our sin and declares us holy in God’s eyes.  Just as He restored new life to the demon-possessed son in today’s Gospel, He also restores new life to us.  Just as He drove the demon out of this young man, he drives sin out of us.

The comfort of this Gospel is that in spite of the fact that Jesus called the disciples faithless – in spite of the fact that the father’s faith was weak and said, “If you can,” Jesus still threw the demon out of the boy.  At the sound of God’s Word, the demon had to leave.  The power of this healing depended on God, our savior, Jesus Christ, and not on the faith of those who observed the miracle.

The men who flew airplanes into those buildings five years ago had tremendous faith.  They were willing to die for their beliefs.  Now they are with Allah suffering in the eternal torment of hell.  They were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.

On the other hand, we can bring the youngest infant to the waters of baptism and there the Holy Spirit will start a faith that leads to eternal life with God.  That infant does not even have the mental capacity to even know about faith, yet by the power of the Holy Spirit that infant is a member of God’s family.

The exorcism in today’s gospel reminds us of baptism.  When Jesus drove the demon out of the son, our gospel says: “Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, ‘He is dead’.” (Mark 9:26)  Through baptism, we too die a death.  Our old sinful nature dies.  It drowns in the waters of baptism.

Then, just as Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up, baptism also gives us a new, holy nature.  God adopts us into His family and we become brothers and sisters of Christ and His Father becomes our Father.  We live with the sure and certain knowledge that we shall rise from death even as Jesus Himself rose from the dead and we shall ascend even as He ascended and we shall live forever with Him in righteousness and blessedness forever.

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.  Faith in the world will fail.  Faith in Jesus Christ will last forever.   Amen.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2006, James T. Batchelor.  Used by permission.