Confessing Unbelief

2011-05-07

The healing of a young man with a demon in Mark 9 happens following the Transfiguration, and precedes a Passion prediction and an argument among the disciples over who is the greatest. There is an agreement between the Synoptics of this sequence of events. When Jesus comes down from the mountain, nine of his disciples are found attempting to cast out a demon, and they could not do it.

This young man, according to the three gospels, was a “lunatick,” had a devil that tried to throw him in water and fire, had seizures, and was deaf and dumb. This was a horrific ordeal that happened to this young man on a regular basis since he was a child.

When Jesus heard from the father of the young man that the disciples could not cast out the devil, he cried out, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” Notice the usage of “you,” not “thee,” but he is answering the father. In my opinion, he is talking to everyone there, and he is talking just as directly to us today. I will touch upon this shortly.

As customary for demons that come into the presence of Christ, this demon instantly caused a commotion by hurting the young man. While this is going on, Jesus asked the father how long he had this problem. He obviously asked the question for the benefit of the hearers, because he knew already. This devil had been with the son since childhood. One begins to see the heart of the father as he asked for compassion. Jesus tells us that “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The father’s tearful answer is just as significant: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

This is the crux of this whole passage. The whole conversation is going on while the young man suffered at the hands of this devil. We fathers can understand at least to a degree when we are helpless to help our own children. You can feel his anguish. But we need to be brought to this place to see the power of God. We need to be helpless. When we are helpless and empty before God and we are begging him, we begin to understand our true plight before God and trust him as we ought. “For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Jesus then cured this young man completely. The disciples then asked him why they could not heal him, receiving a rebuke from Jesus. It was because of unbelief, as we know from Matthew 17:20, but he also went on to say that this kind of devil will not come out save by prayer and fasting. There is surely a correlation between belief, and prayer and fasting. When we are begging God to help us and save us, confessing our unbelief, God responds to us. We too often explain away “all things are possible to him that believeth” by adding “only if it is in God’s will.” Now there may be some truth to that, such as Paul’s begging for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, yet it remains. However, we often resign, claiming “God’s will” for our failure to rely on him, not truly humbling ourselves in prayer and fasting. Let this be a challenge to you and to me today. Let us confess our unbelief and our powerlessness, and trust Jesus Christ to do the impossible. Otherwise, we will end up like the disciples in the next few verses, arguing over who is the greatest disciple of all.