Anything is Possible (Mark 9:14-29)

The transfiguration offered a respite from the conflict.  It gave Jesus encouragement from the Father and provided another opportunity for the Father to publicly affirm Jesus to Peter, James, and John. After this momentary break, however, it was time for Jesus to again enter the fray.  

Question: Where do you turn when faced with the impossible? 

The Conflict

The enemy’s purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy – relationships, lives, futures.  We see it in the conflict between the religious leaders and the disciples.  We see it in the demon possessed boy and the demon’s attempts to bring him physical harm and death. 

Mark 9:14-19  When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. 17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.[d] So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”19 Jesus said to them,[e] “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

• Jesus has just returned from the transfiguration on the mountain. We saw last week that Jesus was glorified on the mountain.  He received public affirmation from God the Father.  This had to be encouraging as the ministry of Jesus marches on towards the cross.  It was a nice break from the constant demands on Jesus, the pressure of the crowds, and the conflict with the religious leaders.  It was a great time to further clarify James’, John’s, and Peter’s understanding of who he was – to help them see a little more clearly like we discussed a few weeks ago. 
• As soon as he’s off the mountain and approaches the other nine disciples, he sees they’re embroiled in conflict with the religious leaders.  Verse 14 says that there is a large crowd surrounding the disciples and the religious leaders are arguing with them.  The text gives us some clues as to what they’re arguing about.  
• A man has brought his son to be healed from a demonic spirit and the disciples were unable to heal him. I’m sure you can get a feel for the accusations made by the religious leaders when the disciples were unable to heal the boy. “See! You’re a fraud! Your Rabbi is a fraud! If you had proper authority, you’d be able to heal this boy. If you were following the teachings of the elders and adhering to all of the oral traditions, you would be able to deliver him from this evil spirit.  If this teacher of yours was really who he said he was, you’d be able to do it.”  It’s probably a good thing James, John, and Peter were with Jesus during all this or they probably would have wanted to throw hands when the arguing started.  
• It’s interesting that the religious leaders don’t offer to heal the boy to prove that truth is on their side.  They just criticize. This would have been a great way to show all the people crowded around that God had empowered them to bring healing to the boy, but they didn’t.  They were more concerned with denouncing the disciples than caring for this man and his son.  I hope we’re never more concerned with proving our point than in ministering to the people we’re in conflict with.  We want to speak truth in love.  There should be a purpose in our conflict with others that is above and beyond just proving we’re right. 
• Scripture tells us that this evil spirit caused the boy to be mute. This might be one of the reasons the religious leaders didn’t try to heal him.  It was a superstition of that time that you needed to know the name of the evil spirit to exercise authority over him.  If the boy was mute, there would be no way to get the evil spirit to identify himself.  This would have made the evil spirit even more difficult to remove in the minds of the religious leaders and maybe some of that had carried over into the minds of the disciples and that is one reason they were unsuccessful.  
• John 10:10  The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
  • We see the devil’s purpose on full display.  He’s destroying relationships. He’s trying to bring physical harm, even death to the young boy. It throws him violently to the ground.  He foams at the mouth.  He grinds his teeth. This sounds like symptoms of epilepsy.  It tells us later in the passage that it has thrown him into water and into fire to try and destroy him. Our culture tries to paint this idea that the devil has some hang ups and some areas of cruelty but he has some redeeming qualities.  Numerous TV shows and movies have tried to present this “softer” looking devil.  That is a lie from the pit of hell.  He has no redeeming qualities. He seeks only to kill and steal and destroy. He is in utter rebellion against the perfect, Holy God of the universe and he knows  he can’t win so he’s just hoping to take as many down with him as he can. 
  • The Bible tells us our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the evil rulers of this world.  In this particular situation, it is clear that an evil spirit was the cause of the epilepsy.  Here is where people seem to want to go to one of two extremes.  On one side, they want to deny the spiritual and act like any physical or mental ailment is a result of some chemical, anatomical, genetic, or physiological failure; and on the other side we want to attribute every ailment to spiritual warfare.  Neither of those are healthy.  We live in a broken, fallen world.  Sometimes our bodies just break down.  But to think that all of a sudden the devil just stopped warring on us like he did in Biblical times is silly.  I have no doubt that some of the mental and physical illness we see around us has a demonic connection, but not all of it does.  
  • Don’t blame demonic influence for causing you to turn left at that intersection even though the light had already turned red. You just saw the guy before you go and figured your time is more valuable than everyone else’s and your errands are more important so you ran it. And if you’re going to keep doing that, take that fish sticker off of your car.  
  • Jesus is frustrated with the situation.  He’s frustrated at the lack of faith.  He calls the people faithless.  Who’s he talking to?  The religious leaders, the crowds, and even the disciples.  The disciples weren’t able to deliver the boy.  Jesus had given them authority over demons.  They had healed others, but something caused them to be ineffective here.  Maybe they felt more pressure because of the eyes of the religious leaders.  Maybe they got prideful. “Now is our chance to show these guys that even though we didn’t study under them, we’re more powerful than they are.”  I think the end of the passage gives us some clues and we’ll get there in a little bit.  
  • Jesus is annoyed at their lack of faith. We see the long-suffering of Jesus on full display.  He isn’t always happy with us, but he loves us in spite of that.  He went to the cross in spite of his frustration at our lack of faith.  We don’t always give Jesus “warm fuzzies”.  He was annoyed at the lack of faith.  That may not line up with your picture of Jesus.  You might even find that offensive, but scripture is clear that he was frustrated with their lack of faith. 

The Healing

The father’s faith was small, but he brought what little faith he had to Jesus.  He was honest about the limits of his faith and begged Jesus to increase it. 

So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” 23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

• Here is another example of how the demons know exactly who Jesus is.  As soon as this evil spirit sees Jesus, it throws the child into a violent convulsion.  The religious leaders don’t recognize Jesus for who he is.  Most of the crowd doesn’t.  The disciples are still trying to figure it out, although they’re making progress, but the demons know.  This is James 2:19 played out for all to see: You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
• This evil spirit sees Jesus, acknowledges the power of Jesus and sends the boy into a violent convulsion to try and inflict as much pain as possible before being cast out.  
• You can hear the desperation in the father’s voice as he begs, “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”  “If I can?” Jesus asked.  Do you know who you’re talking to?  Do you know who I am?  If anybody else said that, we’d call them arrogant or prideful.  When Jesus says it, he’s just reminding us of the glory and honor due him.  He’s the King of all Kings.  He’s God in the flesh! What do you mean if I can?  Contrast this statement with the leper back in Mark chapter 1.  He said, “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” His doubt wasn’t about the greatness of Jesus, it was about the goodness of Jesus.  This father seems to believe that Jesus is good, he’s coming to him, but he doesn’t know if he’s great.  He doesn’t know if he’s powerful.  
• Jesus tells him, “Anything is possible if a person believes.” Then the father utters one of the most honest statements in all of the Bible.  A statement that I can so relate to, one that I’ve uttered on more than one occasion. “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.”  What a powerful statement! 
• The guy’s not lying.  He did have some belief.  He wouldn’t have come to Jesus in the first place if he was filled with disbelief.  Back in verse 17 he said, “Teacher I brought my son so you could heal him.” He genuinely believed that Jesus could do something about his desperate situation or he wouldn’t have traveled there in the first place.  This dad was likely a Jew.  He addresses Jesus as teacher or master, depending upon the translation you have.  The original Greek word is didaskalo.  It’s used 31 times in the NT and in most every case it’s used, the person addressing Jesus by this term is Jewish. So he was subjecting himself to all sorts of ridicule and potential discipline by the religious leaders for bringing his son to Jesus.  You don’t do that unless you have at least some belief that he can do something. We talked a few weeks ago about disbelief versus doubt.  Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, disbelief is.  This man had doubt.  He was honest about his doubt.  He recognized he needed Jesus’ help to overcome that doubt.  
• Hebrews 11 – Hall of Faith – Abraham, Sarah, Gideon, David are in the faith Hall of fame and all had periods of doubt.  Abraham lied twice about Sarah being his wife because he doubted God’s ability to protect him.  Sarah laughed when she first heard she’d have a child in her old age.  Gideon put God to all sorts of tests before he would step out in obedience.  Read the psalms and you’ll see David struggled at times with all kinds of doubt.  But all of them took that doubt to God.  In the end, they made up their mind to believe him and stand on his promises and his character. 
• I want to make sure it doesn’t sound like this puts Jesus in a situation where he has to grant our wishes like some cosmic genie.  We know that all things are possible when we believe, but that doesn’t mean we always know God’s will.  Jesus models this in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed.  Mark 14:36 36 “Abba, Father,”[g] he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” – Jesus knew everything was possible with God the Father.  It wasn’t a question of if God could.  It was a question of God’s will being done. 

Mark 9:25-26 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil[f] spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. 

• After the father’s request for Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief, Jesus notices that the crowd is growing.  As Jesus has often done in the gospel of Mark, he’s trying not to cause too big of a scene with this healing. He commands the spirit to come out of the boy and never enter him again. 
• Jesus heals the boy, in spite of the man’s small faith.  He heals him in spite of the fact that he is annoyed by the unbelief and faithlessness of those around. He not only delivers this boy from the evil spirit, he forbids the spirit from ever entering him again.  
• The evil spirit knows his time is up so he takes one last shot at trying to destroy the boy.  He goes into another violent convulsion before he leaves, but this leaves the boy motionless on the ground.  It appears the boy has died.  The verse says a murmur ran through the crowd.  It seems that Jesus let the tension sit in the air awhile.  The crowds were looking on and they begin to pass the word to one another – he’s dead.  I wonder what was going through the dad’s mind.  He just prayed for Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief and now it seems like he’s lost his son! It didn’t work! The plan failed.  Jesus wasn’t powerful enough!  The enemy won.  But just when it looked like all hope was lost, Jesus reaches down and picks him up by the hand and he stands up.  In the ESV it says Jesus took him by the hand and he arose! Does that sound familiar?  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this miracle takes place between two conversations where Jesus tells the disciples explicitly that he’s going to be killed and rise again.  Just like the gradual healing of the blind man a couple of weeks ago was a metaphor, so is this healing.  When Jesus goes to the cross, it’s going to look like the plan didn’t work.  It’s going to look like the enemy won and Jesus isn’t powerful enough.  But he’s going to arise! The grave is no match for him, just like this evil spirit in the boy was no match for him.  

The Lesson 

The most important factor isn’t the measure of our faith; it is the object of our faith. It takes a consistent recognition of our dependence upon God and his power.  Prayer is one of the most effective spiritual disciplines to remind us of our dependence upon him. 

Mark 9:28-29 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.[

• There’s no indication that the father’s faith grew drastically as he asked Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief.  That’s not what caused Jesus to heal the boy.  The man did recognize his dependence on Jesus.  He knew he couldn’t even overcome his unbelief unless Jesus helped him.  
• When the dust settled and Jesus had retired into a home with his disciples they ask, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”  Jesus replied this kind can only be cast out by prayer.  What does prayer do?  Prayer forces us to recognize our dependence on God.  We don’t go to God in prayer to inform him of anything.  He already knows.  He’s all-knowing.  Yet, he invites us to come and lift our needs to him and this reminds us how utterly dependent upon him we are.  
• In some translations in Matthew’s version of this incident in Matthew 17, he tells the disciples that this kind of demon can only be brought out by prayer and fasting.  Both prayer and fasting focus our attention on God.  They remind us of the object of our faith.  The disciples had forgotten who had given them the authority to cast out demons.  They forgot their authority was from the God of the universe. Maybe they had become prideful and were looking to their own power or maybe, with the pressure of the on-looking religious leaders, they simply began to doubt Jesus and the authority he had given them.  
• He then tells them in the Matthew account that if they had the faith of a mustard seed they could move mountains.  It’s the object of our faith that is most important.  Jesus definitely wants our faith to grow.  This passage is clear that he was annoyed by their lack of faith, but if he is the object of our faith, he is patient with us.  He helps us to grow that faith muscle. 

The Takeaway

I want to go back to the question we asked at the beginning of the podcast: Where do you turn when faced with the impossible?  Do you turn to family, friends, your own power or resources?  Or do you turn to Jesus?  The Bible says that all of us face an impossible situation – overcoming our sin problem and restoring our relationship with God by our own effort.  We can’t do it.  It doesn’t just seem impossible, it is impossible.  But God, in his mercy, sent Jesus., who lived the perfect life that we couldn’t live.  He went to the cross and paid the price we should have paid and when we turn to him and ask him to forgive us and trust in his finished work on the cross, this amazing miracle happens.  We become children of God.  So, if you’ve never done that, with whatever amount of faith you have, turn to him and say Jesus, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  I may not have all the answers.  I still have some doubt, but with all I have I trust you and surrender to you.  If you did that for the first time and would like to get connected with a mentor to help walk with you as you pursue Jesus in this newness of life, reach out to us at pursuegod.org.  We’ll see you next week as we talk about the Upside Down Kingdom.