Two Faiths: “I believe; help my unbelief."

Two Faiths:
“I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24

September 13, 2009

GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 9:14-29

^{14When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to [Jesus] and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” ¹⁹And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
^{20And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
^{23And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
^{25And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”}}}}

Jesus healed many people. It was a miracle when he healed people who were sick in their body, and it was also a miracle when he healed people who were sick in their soul. Jesus wanted to heal people who had problems with their faith.

There is the healing story in Mark Chapter 9. A boy was an epileptic (Mt. 17:15) and could not speak. The father brought his son to the disciples to cure him. But they could not drive the evil spirit out of him. Jesus finally heals the boy, but first, Jesus had to fix the problem that the disciples and the father had. He had to fix their faith. And so this story about the demoniac boy becomes a story about faith.

Listen to these verses in the Gospel story.

^{19 “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
^{23“If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.”
^{24Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”}}}

The words of the father are unforgettable. “I believe; help my unbelief!” These words are confusing to me. How can he believe and not believe at the same time? How can the disciples have faith and be faithless at the same time? The same words of the father are spoken whenever people pray for a stronger faith. People who already have faith in God will pray that God will give them faith. This seems like a contradiction, a paradox. And this is how I understand it.

I think that the word faith is used in two different ways. There is saving faith and living faith. There is the faith that saves and the faith that lives in the power of that faith. Saving faith is like a light switch, it is either on or off. No half way. Either saved or dammed. Living faith is more like a rheostat or volume control. This faith can be brighter or dimmer, stronger or weaker, able to move mountains or only able to hope to move them. But saving faith is absolute.

Saving faith accepts the existence of God. It believes that Jesus is the Savior that saves you personally. This saving faith is really the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us to faith through the Word of God. That is why it is so powerful to save us. This is the faith that Martin Luther meant in the meaning of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed in the Catechism.

What does this mean?

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.

This is supreme comfort for a Christians. Sometimes it seems like our faith is weak. Sometimes we wonder if we are saved or not. But we are. We are saved because of the work of Jesus on the cross. Our sin cannot destroy that. Our weak faith cannot destroy that. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

But in our daily lives as we live out our faith, when we live according to our faith in Christ, our faith may seem to get stronger or weaker. When we have problems like the father in the Gospel lesson, we too pray, “I believe, help my unbelief.” This is not the prayer of a weak Christian. It is the prayer of any Christian who knows where their ultimate help comes from. It is totally relying on Christ for everything. It is totally believing Jesus when he said “All things are possible for one who believes.”

Okay, so how do we do the impossible? The disciples could not heal the boy, how can we heal our children? The only answer is what Jesus told his disciples. When his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹[Jesus] said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Why does prayer make it possible? Prayer is not magic. Prayer is to know that in God all things are possible. If Jesus can die on the cross and rise on the third day, then everything is possible. If Jesus can forgive my sin, then he can make me clean. If Jesus tells me to repent and change my life, then he can give me the power of the Holy Spirit to make me holy.

The father in the story did not ask for a stronger faith. He said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” We do not need a strong faith. We do not need more faith. One time Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed would move mountains. Just a wee bit of faith is enough because it is not I who move the mountain but God who moves it. Just a tiny bit of faith is enough, because it is not I who makes a sacrifice of my life to forgive my sin, but Jesus who died on the cross forgives my sin. Just a smidgen of faith is enough because it is not I who changes my life to be better but the Holy Spirit who works in my life. It is the Holy Spirit who leads me in prayer. And so it is in this faith that we pray for the health of our children, for the success in our lives, for the peace of the world, for the growth of the church, for the blessings given to our friends.

And so it is with faith that we proclaim our faith and say: Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church