Dwell in the Word Mark 9:14-29
Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 9:14-29:
1. How does the story of the boy with the demon highlight the recurring theme of belief and unbelief among both the disciples and the man seeking help for his son? In what ways does this theme play a significant role in the narrative?
2. What is the significance of the man's plea, "I believe; help my unbelief"? How does this prayer resonate with believers today in their struggles with doubt and faith? How does the assurance of God's Word and the presence of the Holy Spirit address this tension?
3. What does Jesus mean when he says, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer"? How does this statement emphasize the importance of reliance on God's power and a posture of faith? How can this lesson be applied in our own lives when facing challenges or struggles?
Transcript:
Well, this passage is a little bit longer than some of the other passages that we have been looking at, and it is very unique. But we see some themes repeating themselves. That's what we're going to really see as we look into this passage a little bit today. Well, the story is pretty straightforward. This man brings his son, who is having issues with a demon, to the disciples, and they are unable to cast this demon out. And so, Jesus comes, and he is... It's interesting. He has something to say here, let me scroll back up here, that is intense. Oh, Faithless Generation. How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Well, Jesus is seeing the lack of faith from these people in this story. And so, they bring the child to Jesus, and he asks some questions. This boy has had this demon issue since childhood, and it's extreme. Like I said, this is an interesting story. The demon would even throw him into water and fire trying to destroy him. And so, this man says, If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
And Jesus says, if you can, he's saying, I can. You have to have belief. And he says, All things are possible for one who believes. Now, Jesus is not saying here that if I believe that I can fly, I'm going to fly. That is not what is going on. He's saying that all the things that pertain to His domain, for lack of a better way of putting it, the things that he is in charge of, the things that matter, when we put our faith in that, it is possible that God will answer our prayers. And so, this man has an amazing response here. He says, I believe help my unbelief. Now, isn't that an amazing response? I'm guessing you feel that response when you've read that before, or as I even read it today, you're like, Yeah, I can relate with this guy. I believe, but I need help with my unbelief. I want to believe more. I want to have the faith that Jesus is talking about here. I want to completely trust that all things are possible through Him, that He is going to save me as He promises. He wants to believe more.
He does believe, but he wants help with his unbelief. And so, Jesus does just that. He commands the spirit to come out of him, and the boy convulses, and he's stiff like a corpse. And so, the people are saying, Oh boy, he's dead. But Jesus does what we've seen him do before. He takes the child by the hand, and he rises. This is another story of Jesus having power over the unclean spirits, of Jesus being the one who is in charge. Jesus is who he claims to be. He is the one that was promised. He is the Messiah. But yet, the theme that we see reoccurring here is the unbelief of the disciples. The disciples, they're there, but they're not quite there. They believe, but they need help. Does that sound like the man in the story? The story here is that the disciples are like this man. They believe, but they need help with their unbelief. They're still not fully understanding the work of the Messiah. They're still not able to fully cast out this demon. They don't have what it takes, I guess you could say, to do that. They asked Jesus about that.
Why couldn't we cast this out? And Jesus says, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Now, there's a lot of different ideas of what that means, but I think the best explanation I've come across, and the best way for us to understand this is that these disciples were not fully resting on Jesus and His power and His name to be the one. When we pray, we are saying to God, We are incapable of doing this on our own. We're surrendering this over to you. And so, it's not likely that there was a demon that was unlike other ones that suddenly this one you use for prayer or like this other method where you just say the name of Jesus and the demon comes out. It's likely here that Jesus is saying, you need to rely on God. You need to rely on me. You need to stop trusting yourselves. You need to have faith because anything is possible when you believe. You need to have faith and prayer shows that reliance that we have on God. As we think about this story, I want to come back to verse 24, this line that this child or this man says, the father of the child says, I believe help my unbelief.
This is an excellent prayer for us every day. Lord, we believe, but we are going to come across things every day that are difficult for us, and we're going to have unbelief. And so, Lord, help us with our unbelief. And we have a sure and certain confidence that He will do that because He has given us His Holy Spirit. We have His word, and those two things work in us to build us up in faith and to help our unbelief. We believe, and through the word and spirit, God continually helps our unbelief. And so, may we step out into God's world today, confident that He will do this. May we believe and trust as we step out into the world that God, through His word and Spirit, will help our unbelief today. So may we live in faith in service to Him.
