The Problem July 2
Mark 9:17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
The scribes do not answer Jesus’ question, but one of the crowd speaks.
A man describes how his son is inhabited by a mute spirit, one that renders his son speechless and sends him into convulsions. This may be what we call epilepsy today. He had told Jesus’ disciples of his demon possessed son, but they were not able to cast out the demon.
Jesus speaks with sorrow – although this word and others is inadequate alone - against a faithless (or unbelieving) generation. Matthew 17:17 and Luke 9:41 add the words “and perverse” (figuratively, misinterpreting) in describing this generation.
The disciples have seen a multitude fed from little, the sick healed, spirits banished, Jesus walking toward them on the sea, and more. What else must He do?
The descent from the mountain top of the Transfiguration to the plain below was not so great a fall as the descent of the disciples from the heights of miracles to this failure of faith.
How long must Jesus endure their persistence in bondage to the token realities of earth rather than soaring in spirit through heaven?
Jesus calls the disciples – and us – to use what has been given them in His service. This is what faithful servants are called to do.
If You Can Believe… July 3
Mark 9:19 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Jesus witnesses the son going through one of his fits as “the spirit convulsed him.”
Jesus asks the father how long this has been occurring to make a point. This has occurred since the boy’s infancy. Disease is a punishment from God according to the Pharisees. Since the onset was before the child was able to sin, the disease is not a curse from God.
The response also indicates the issue is chronic, has been prolonged and without relief, and is hopeless – until this moment. The man has come in search of a greater power.
The man’s lack of full faith is in his question, “If you can (are able to) do anything….” Jesus responds with His own “if:” “If you can (are able to) believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Is it the man’s faith that must come first?
Help My Unbelief July 4
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Verse 23 is a remarkable statement. The promise that all things are possible is not a guarantee that all prayer will be answered.
Jesus is present with the man, and Jesus says that if the man believes, then the healing will be done. This cannot be a blanket assurance for every prayer offered in sincere belief, but it is a promise to this man.
If every prayer was answered in the affirmative, the world would be in chaos with conflicting demands. The consequences of the actions of ourselves and others would be nullified. The divine character would be sullied.
There are times when the universe will withstand a momentary wrinkle in its fabric. Such is a miracle. We pray and believe. We must also allow His will be done and not ours in preference to His.
The father accepts Jesus’ assurance that faith is all that is needed, but acknowledgment of a truth and believing it over all the evidence weighing against it is hard.
The father asks Jesus to help him by adding Jesus’ faith to his own faith. With Jesus’ physical absence in our age, this is comparable to when we pray for the Holy Spirit.
Whether the physical or the spiritual reality wins must be consistent with all that is good and just, with the values spoken into existence in Genesis 1.
We pray in faith knowing that we have not been left alone.
Another Rebuke July 5
Mark 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
Again, the crowd is growing. The natural desire to be a spectator at what may be a momentous event is in all of us. The miracles of day to day life are too common, and therefore too small, to hold our interest. Something bigger and shinier is necessary to hold our attention.
This notoriety is a mixed blessing for Jesus. The miracles lend credence to His words, but the message is overshadowed by the spectacle.
Jesus speaks with authority, as the One who has the power behind the words. He rebukes the spirit, denounces it for what it is, an enemy to understanding. “Come out, you who silences hearing and speech, and return no more.”
The boy is again convulsed as the evil spirit cries out. The two have become as one, and separation is painful to both.
The power of the Authority that once created the world retains its power. The truth of how all things were once made remains, and evidence of that truth comes when we submit to that Authority.
Jesus does not rebuke the father or the son for any sin. He rebukes only the untruth that is present.
Redemption July 6
Mark 9:26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
The evil spirit had displaced the heavenly spirit. When truth is silenced and speech made impossible, how is a person to live?
When the silencer has departed and communication again is possible, the boy is momentarily between two masters. There is a sudden void, an emptiness, as he is unpossessed by any spirit. The boy is as one dead.
Jesus restores the boy to his rightful Master with a touch, and the boy rises up.
Each of us is possessed by one spirit or another in this life. Jesus restores the pneuma spirit of life given in the Beginning to its rightful position of supremacy.
The picture of Jesus lifting up the boy is itself uplifting. Jesus is the One to be lifted up, but He defers to the risen youth.
This part of the lesson is the servanthood of restoration of life. This can be accomplished by anyone who lifts up another, helping them to recognize their identity as a child of the Father, valuable in their own right and not subject to the dominion of those who would hide this truth.
Jesus’ act is dramatic, a picture on a canvas bigger than life. We are all painters on this canvas, however small our corner.
Here Endeth the Lesson July 7
Mark 9:28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
The disciples are chastened. They were unable to redeem the boy from the evil spirit, but Jesus has just accomplished this.
They are with Jesus apart from the crowd and ask, “Why could we not…?” A better question is, “How could we…?”
Remember that when Jesus sent out the twelve, He gave them power to cast out evil spirits, and they did (Mark 6). They are at a loss as to the cause of their failure now.
Jesus answers the better question, “How can we…?”
“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” In Matthew 17:20, Jesus summarizes with the necessity of faith.
We sense more clearly that Jesus’ reference to a faithless generation in verse 19 included His disciples.
The implication is that the disciples have not gone through the disciplines necessary for spiritual work. Prayer is submission to Authority, and fasting is denial of distractions from that Authority. The Romans kept the masses in Rome submissive with “bread and circuses,” food and entertainment. (The Roman elite resorted to terrorizing with cruel violence as the next level of control.)
Jesus’ remedy for their impotence is simple and straightforward. As Jesus rebuked the deaf and dumb spirit, the disciples also now feel a rebuke.
Hard Truths Again July 8
Mark 9:30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. 31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” 32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
Jesus and His disciples return to the western side of the lake, and begin to move south from the lake’s northern end. The destination on the road they are travelling is clear to Jesus, and He shares the journey’s end with the disciples that they can prepare themselves.
After the transfiguration, Jesus had told them (Mark 8:31) much the same as He now speaks again. Peter had protested, but this time there is no response from His disciples as Jesus speaks of His betrayal, death, and resurrection.
The disciples have been humbled repeatedly as Jesus has taught them things and they have misunderstood. This incident where they were unable to cast the deaf and dumb spirit from the boy is only the latest.
The disciples are us, the people of every age. People have been confused by the appearances of the world around us that do not fit with their conception of how the world should be. We continue today in the tradition of the perplexed disciples, afraid to ask hard questions.
They – and we - fear another hard answer, no more intelligible and acceptable than Jesus’ answers on other hard questions. All of His answers require His followers to surrender their will, their desire for control.
Perhaps the disciples – and we – do not understand the true nature of life.
Next day
Mark 9:17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
The scribes do not answer Jesus’ question, but one of the crowd speaks.
A man describes how his son is inhabited by a mute spirit, one that renders his son speechless and sends him into convulsions. This may be what we call epilepsy today. He had told Jesus’ disciples of his demon possessed son, but they were not able to cast out the demon.
Jesus speaks with sorrow – although this word and others is inadequate alone - against a faithless (or unbelieving) generation. Matthew 17:17 and Luke 9:41 add the words “and perverse” (figuratively, misinterpreting) in describing this generation.
The disciples have seen a multitude fed from little, the sick healed, spirits banished, Jesus walking toward them on the sea, and more. What else must He do?
The descent from the mountain top of the Transfiguration to the plain below was not so great a fall as the descent of the disciples from the heights of miracles to this failure of faith.
How long must Jesus endure their persistence in bondage to the token realities of earth rather than soaring in spirit through heaven?
Jesus calls the disciples – and us – to use what has been given them in His service. This is what faithful servants are called to do.
If You Can Believe… July 3
Mark 9:19 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Jesus witnesses the son going through one of his fits as “the spirit convulsed him.”
Jesus asks the father how long this has been occurring to make a point. This has occurred since the boy’s infancy. Disease is a punishment from God according to the Pharisees. Since the onset was before the child was able to sin, the disease is not a curse from God.
The response also indicates the issue is chronic, has been prolonged and without relief, and is hopeless – until this moment. The man has come in search of a greater power.
The man’s lack of full faith is in his question, “If you can (are able to) do anything….” Jesus responds with His own “if:” “If you can (are able to) believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Is it the man’s faith that must come first?
Help My Unbelief July 4
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Verse 23 is a remarkable statement. The promise that all things are possible is not a guarantee that all prayer will be answered.
Jesus is present with the man, and Jesus says that if the man believes, then the healing will be done. This cannot be a blanket assurance for every prayer offered in sincere belief, but it is a promise to this man.
If every prayer was answered in the affirmative, the world would be in chaos with conflicting demands. The consequences of the actions of ourselves and others would be nullified. The divine character would be sullied.
There are times when the universe will withstand a momentary wrinkle in its fabric. Such is a miracle. We pray and believe. We must also allow His will be done and not ours in preference to His.
The father accepts Jesus’ assurance that faith is all that is needed, but acknowledgment of a truth and believing it over all the evidence weighing against it is hard.
The father asks Jesus to help him by adding Jesus’ faith to his own faith. With Jesus’ physical absence in our age, this is comparable to when we pray for the Holy Spirit.
Whether the physical or the spiritual reality wins must be consistent with all that is good and just, with the values spoken into existence in Genesis 1.
We pray in faith knowing that we have not been left alone.
Another Rebuke July 5
Mark 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
Again, the crowd is growing. The natural desire to be a spectator at what may be a momentous event is in all of us. The miracles of day to day life are too common, and therefore too small, to hold our interest. Something bigger and shinier is necessary to hold our attention.
This notoriety is a mixed blessing for Jesus. The miracles lend credence to His words, but the message is overshadowed by the spectacle.
Jesus speaks with authority, as the One who has the power behind the words. He rebukes the spirit, denounces it for what it is, an enemy to understanding. “Come out, you who silences hearing and speech, and return no more.”
The boy is again convulsed as the evil spirit cries out. The two have become as one, and separation is painful to both.
The power of the Authority that once created the world retains its power. The truth of how all things were once made remains, and evidence of that truth comes when we submit to that Authority.
Jesus does not rebuke the father or the son for any sin. He rebukes only the untruth that is present.
Redemption July 6
Mark 9:26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
The evil spirit had displaced the heavenly spirit. When truth is silenced and speech made impossible, how is a person to live?
When the silencer has departed and communication again is possible, the boy is momentarily between two masters. There is a sudden void, an emptiness, as he is unpossessed by any spirit. The boy is as one dead.
Jesus restores the boy to his rightful Master with a touch, and the boy rises up.
Each of us is possessed by one spirit or another in this life. Jesus restores the pneuma spirit of life given in the Beginning to its rightful position of supremacy.
The picture of Jesus lifting up the boy is itself uplifting. Jesus is the One to be lifted up, but He defers to the risen youth.
This part of the lesson is the servanthood of restoration of life. This can be accomplished by anyone who lifts up another, helping them to recognize their identity as a child of the Father, valuable in their own right and not subject to the dominion of those who would hide this truth.
Jesus’ act is dramatic, a picture on a canvas bigger than life. We are all painters on this canvas, however small our corner.
Here Endeth the Lesson July 7
Mark 9:28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
The disciples are chastened. They were unable to redeem the boy from the evil spirit, but Jesus has just accomplished this.
They are with Jesus apart from the crowd and ask, “Why could we not…?” A better question is, “How could we…?”
Remember that when Jesus sent out the twelve, He gave them power to cast out evil spirits, and they did (Mark 6). They are at a loss as to the cause of their failure now.
Jesus answers the better question, “How can we…?”
“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” In Matthew 17:20, Jesus summarizes with the necessity of faith.
We sense more clearly that Jesus’ reference to a faithless generation in verse 19 included His disciples.
The implication is that the disciples have not gone through the disciplines necessary for spiritual work. Prayer is submission to Authority, and fasting is denial of distractions from that Authority. The Romans kept the masses in Rome submissive with “bread and circuses,” food and entertainment. (The Roman elite resorted to terrorizing with cruel violence as the next level of control.)
Jesus’ remedy for their impotence is simple and straightforward. As Jesus rebuked the deaf and dumb spirit, the disciples also now feel a rebuke.
Hard Truths Again July 8
Mark 9:30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. 31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” 32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
Jesus and His disciples return to the western side of the lake, and begin to move south from the lake’s northern end. The destination on the road they are travelling is clear to Jesus, and He shares the journey’s end with the disciples that they can prepare themselves.
After the transfiguration, Jesus had told them (Mark 8:31) much the same as He now speaks again. Peter had protested, but this time there is no response from His disciples as Jesus speaks of His betrayal, death, and resurrection.
The disciples have been humbled repeatedly as Jesus has taught them things and they have misunderstood. This incident where they were unable to cast the deaf and dumb spirit from the boy is only the latest.
The disciples are us, the people of every age. People have been confused by the appearances of the world around us that do not fit with their conception of how the world should be. We continue today in the tradition of the perplexed disciples, afraid to ask hard questions.
They – and we - fear another hard answer, no more intelligible and acceptable than Jesus’ answers on other hard questions. All of His answers require His followers to surrender their will, their desire for control.
Perhaps the disciples – and we – do not understand the true nature of life.
Next day