Our passage picks up with Jesus, Peter, James, and John, coming down from what was literally a mountaintop experience. The churchy word for what happened to Jesus on that mountaintop is called the “transfiguration.” This is when Jesus’s divinity is revealed in a more dramatic way. An unworldly light illuminates Jesus and he then engages in conversation with Elijah and Moses who have come down to be with Jesus.
If anyone, including John, James, and Peter, who were the only ones on the mountaintop with Jesus, believed and understood in all that Jesus said about himself: that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, and God himself as a human, the transfiguration would not have been a big deal. But it is.
Peter rushes to make shelters for Elijah and Moses who had appeared to Jesus. He is not sure what what this means. He, James, and John are also terrified because they don’t know what to do with this experience.
The transfiguration foreshadows what is to come, specifically Christ’s resurrection and his defeat over death. Jesus will soon enter Jerusalem, where he will experience terrible suffering and death before the resurrection. It also shows that the disciples still don’t fully understand who Jesus is.
You’d think Peter, James, and John would remember this incredible mountaintop experience when the authorities arrested Jesus. As we know they and the other disciples desert Jesus in his time of need. Peter goes as far as to deny having ever known Jesus.
It goes to show that if Jesus were to stand right in front of us we wouldn’t recognize him. Even if light from heaven and God were to shine down upon him and illuminate him we still wouldn’t recognize him. We’re not any smarter than the disciples. We need Jesus himself to believe in him. And that is the heart of the following passage.
Jesus, Peter, James, and John, fresh from their mountain-top experience, go to find the other disciples. They happen upon the Sadducees and Pharisees arguing with the other disciples. They are then interrupted by a desperate father who is looking for someone to heal his son who has been possessed by a powerful spirit.
This father had first approached the other disciples to heal his son, but they were not successful. The disciples were able to perform earlier miracles, but only because they were directed by Jesus to do so and did so in partnership with him. In this passage, the disciples are attempting to do something they weren’t sent to do and it doesn’t go well. Time and time again as seen in other places in Mark, when the disciples engage in ministry without Jesus they fail.
Jesus gets to know the boy’s situation by asking questions. This shows his care for this family as he wants to know their story. Here, Jesus reminds me of the doctor who takes time to learn all of a patient’s health history in order to know how to help someone with their present ailment. We all know these kinds of doctors are few and far between as most are in a rush due to their patient workload. This also demonstrates how Jesus wants to know our stories too.
What I love about the father is he reminds me of all of us. While he’s desperate to have his son healed he does so in a midwestern sort of way. It’s as if he’s saying: “Jesus, I heard you’ve healed a ton of people in the past, but if it’s not too much trouble…if you’re willing and if you’re not too busy…ope, gosh I’m so sorry to bother you, if it’s not too hard, could you please heal my son?” We tend to approach Jesus in the same way. How many times have we thought to ourselves: “Why would I pray to God about my troubles? There are wars and hurricanes raging in the world so Jesus can’t be bothered with my small troubles.” We have the same issue as the dad in this passage. We don’t believe that Jesus has enough compassion to go around.
At times, we think that the creator of the universe and the one who rose from the dead can only deal with major catastrophes and not what is currently hurting our hearts. But thank goodness God is God, and as God, Jesus can and will help everyone. Jesus didn’t say “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens (but only burdens that affect millions not the tension in your marriage, or your troubled relationship with your coworker, etc.) and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus didn’t qualify what kinds of burdens to bring to him. Jesus wants us to bring all of our burdens to him.
As one of your pastors, I say this with much love to you, and to all of us. We need to get over ourselves. And that’s just what the father in this passage does. In response to the father’s question, if Jesus is compassionate enough to help his son, Jesus replies: “All things can be done for the one who believes.” That’s when the father exclaims: “I believe! Help my unbelief!” The father shows deep faith by acknowledging he has none. It’s one of my favorite verses in scripture. “Help my unbelief.” Faith is not something we muster up from within, but rather a decision to trust that Jesus will help us to believe. To believe in his resurrection which demonstrates his compassion for all of us. That Jesus truly cares about each one of us and all that’s happening in our lives. And we can’t even believe in this without Jesus’s help. This is what Paul meant when he wrote in Ephesians:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
That being said, we can’t understand Mark 9:17-31 as saying we must first have faith before God will help us. Our faith does not determine how God decides to act, but instead, faith is trusting that Jesus does indeed care about us enough to hear us and help us. True faith is always aware of how small and inadequate it is. True faith is unconditional openness to God. Faith is a decision in the face of all to the contrary that Jesus is able.
Disbelief in Jesus, whether it’s from the scribes, disciples, crowds or desperate fathers are a greater opposition to God than any powerful demon. Demons themselves know who Jesus is. In addition, look how quickly and easily Jesus is able to heal the little possessed boy. It is harder for Jesus to help us believe when we don’t ask for his help to believe. Our failure to trust that Jesus cares for us does much more damage than any evil supernatural power. When we doubt Jesus’ compassion for us we begin to doubt Jesus’s compassion for all. We then doubt who Jesus is period.
For Mark, the significance of Jesus cannot be fully conveyed by what he does, but only by who he is. One can be amazed by miracles, but one can only trust and believe in a person. When we falsely think that Jesus doesn’t have enough compassion for us and our seemingly “small” problems we discount the power of Christ’s love. With that frame of thinking we see Jesus’ love as not enough and then we put limits on Jesus’ compassion.
In this passage, we also see that it’s not about whether or not the disciples can heal, but if they trust Jesus. The real reason they couldn’t heal this little boy is because they thought they could do so without Jesus’ help. They too needed help like the desperate father to believe. The true miracle in this passage is that Jesus remains with us and acts on our behalf even when we doubt his love and compassion. Whether it is carrying out what God has called us to do, like the disciples, or believing that Jesus has enough compassion and love to help us in our personal trials, like the desperate father, we too need the help of Jesus himself to believe in him.
In closing let’s pray together: “Jesus, please help. Help us in our unbelief. Help us to believe. In your name, we pray. Amen.”
