Mark 9:14-29
Have you ever been afraid?
Sure we are all afraid in some way, at some time or another. Sometimes, especially around Halloween, we even think it's fun. I am not talking about fun. I am not talking about little now- it's-here-now-it's-not kinds of fear. I am talking about real fear. I am talking about, “Oh no. The demon just threw my son into the fire to kill him again” fear. Have you ever had that kind of fear?
That is real fear.
Few of us have to grapple with demon possession. That does not mean that the rest of us are exempt from fear. Certainly fear can be caused by a demon hell-bent on destroying your child. But you could find yourself experiencing that same fear at anything that would attempt to destroy your child – accident. Illness. Evil spirits or evil people. They all can cause fear. They all can destroy life, they all can ruin lives. Whether it be your son, your daughter, you sister, your husband, your cousin, your friend. Any number of situations, any number of people. There are many things that can cause fear. Have you ever felt that fear?
So when that fear comes, where do you go? Where do you turn when you find yourself enmeshed in that kind of fear? Who is able to help? Who is able to provide you with the much needed comfort? There is only one. Only one place for you to go. One person to whom you can turn. Only Jesus. Only Jesus can provide comfort. Only Jesus can provide solace. Only Jesus can offer true security and safety from your fear. You go to Jesus.
There was a young boy. He was possessed and ensnared by Satan. These days people think of demon possession as either a parlor trick, a game for trifling with, for fun at slumber parties. Or else he is thought of as a boogeyman man who comes to get you in the dark. He is neither of these. He is God's sworn enemy who desires most of all that you be destroyed in Hell. He is not for games nor is he for overactive imaginations. He is for real. And he enslaved this child.
The child's father understood the diagnosis. Certainly he exhibited signs for a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy. But this was no epilepsy. Epilepsy does not throw children into fire or into water. Epilepsy is random, it does not aim, it does not desire, it does not have a will. This spirit controlling this boy had a will. The father was powerless to stop it. For years he tried. For year he lived with this evil in his house and in his boy. For years he sought comfort and for years he existed without comfort. The father felt fear.
But then...
the father felt hope. You see, there was one name Jesus. A healer, a teacher, yes, but a healer. There were stories, rumors; others with illnesses, crippled hands and lame feat all had been healed. Demons, even demons had cried out when they saw him and then (and this was the best part) then they obeyed when he commanded them. The father had hope. Was this small glimmer of hope the beginning of faith?
The father went in search of Jesus. Instead he found the disciples. What a sore disappointment they turned out to be. Oh, they did their best. But there were of no help. They were powerless to save the child, to help the child. The more they failed, the more they argued. And then the scribes got into it. An opportunity to “one up” the disciples of the “great teacher”. They could step in a show who was really in-the-know about these religious matters. They failed, too. The father had seen failures before, he had lived through failures before.
But then came Jesus.
Jesus came walking up to the crowd. The crowd saw him and ran to him. Jesus addressed his disciples. “What are you arguing about.” A voice chimed in from the crowd. It was the father. I brought them my boy. He has a spirit. The spirit makes him mute. The spirit seizes him, thrashes him. He foams at the mouth. He grinds his teeth. He become as stiff as stone.”
Jesus paused. He looked past the father he addressed the crowd... the disciples... “you faithless generation. For how long am I going to have to put up with you?”
“Faithless...” “Faith – less” he called them. Without faith. Having none. Jesus had taught them. He had given them even authority to cast out demons. The authority was his authority. The power was His power. All they needed was faith, and in faith all they needed was prayer. For such afflictions God would answer the prayer.
All they needed was faith.
Isn't that what we tell ourselves? “All it takes is a little faith”, “You just have to believe”. “You just gotta keep going, you can't give up hope.” Sometimes we turn faith into “positive thinking”.
It's not just positive thinking. Neither is it confidence or assurance or determination.
After all, the father had none of these things.
Look at him. Did he have confidence? Did he trust? Was he the poster child for positive thinking? Far from it.
The father brought his boy to Jesus and immediately the demon went into action. The boy started to roll around on the ground, he started to foam at the mouth. The father had seen this so many times before. Seeing it even now must have torn him apart.
Jesus asked him, “how long has he been like this?”
Why? Why ask that question? What difference did it make?
Jesus asked, not for his own sake, but for that of the father.
The father was desperate. He had no where to go. No where to turn. He wanted Jesus to help. He heard Jesus could help. He hoped that Jesus could help. But deep down in side he doubted. He had gotten his hopes up before and had them dashed to pieces. This was a demon. There was no pill, no shot, no ointment you could give to make it go away. It just was. There was no man who had authority over such things. It didn't matter what he heard. It didn't matter even what Jesus said. The man doubted.
And so do you. If you have ever been afraid, if you have ever been really truly afraid, then you have doubted. You know you shouldn't. You are ashamed that you were so weak. But you doubted. You saw the object of your fear and it was big, bigger than you, bigger than you had the power to deal with.
And then you saw the object of your faith. A man. His name was Jesus. You only know about him because you read his name in a book. You haven't seen him. You haven't talked to him. You've got to be crazy for believing in him, believe that the object of your faith (a man who you can't see) is bigger than the object of your fear (a sickness, a situation that you can see).
You are like the man, the father, who saw his son writhing down on the ground, thrown into a fit by a devil with an unimpressive man standing in front of him asking him questions about how long this has been going on.
There was a war inside the man. Faith was there but it was weak, it was oh so weak. Doubt was there and the doubt was as loud and as strong as could be. The father wanted to believe but he just couldn't.
So he prayed.
“I believe. Help my unbelief.”
Jesus had just spoken of unbelief. He directed the word at his disciples. They had fruitlessly tried to cast out the demon. They flexed their own muscles and argued and bickered when they failed. This was not faith. Faith does not look to one's self. Faith looks to Jesus. Faith prays.
And so the father prayed.
“I believe. Help my unbelief.”
The father looked to Jesus. He looked to Jesus in prayer. Jesus answered the prayer. Jesus answered the man's prayer by giving to him faith.
Sometimes is our prayers we get confused between our will vs. God's will. Our will is always for healing, for prosperity, for a tranquil life. God's will is always for salvation. God sometimes allows the suffering, the crosses that we bear because he knows they are useful in keeping our hearts focused on Him and away from the World. Sometimes God allows the suffering. He always hears the prayer for faith. He always hears the prayer for salvation.
Jesus rescued the boy from the demon. He commanded the spirit: “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never return.”
The demon did not want to obey. It screamed. The scream must have made a horrible sound. But it obeyed. It left the boy. He was still. He was quiet. Almost like he was dead.
Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him to stand. He stood up on his feet. Quiet, peaceful, and in his right mind. Jesus saved the boy. Jesus saved the father.
Jesus has saved you.
Have you been afraid? Perhaps. Have you wrestled with what God has promised and doubted? Have you felt in your heart unbelief? Pray. Confess your unbelief and pray. Jesus will answer your prayer. He will forgive your sin. He will rescue you from the grip of the devil. He will set you free from your unbelief and he will give you greater things than even those you have asked for. He will give you faith that believes Him to be your God and your savior.
Pray to Jesus. He will hear your prayer. He will respond to your need. He will save you.
Amen.
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