Mark 9:14-29 The Secret to Power
Good morning! We are returning to our study in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter nine. This morning we are going to look at verses 14-29, that’s page 844 in the pew Bibles.
If you’re ever wondering why I always give you the Scripture reference and the page number in the pew Bibles, it’s more than just so you can follow along, though that is very helpful, it’s mostly to hold me accountable. It would be a great injustice to just say to you all, “Trust me, it’s in there somewhere.” If anybody says that to you about the Bible, stop listening to them immediately. Either what they are saying isn’t in the Bible they just make it sound like it should be, or, it’s in there and they just don’t know where and so it’s probably taken out of context and doesn’t mean what they are saying it means.
I give you all these references so you can look at it yourselves and see if what I am saying is right or not. If you believe me just because it’s me then we are both going to be in trouble, but if you believe me because what I’m saying is in God’s Word for real then we will both benefit, but if what I’m saying doesn’t agree with Scripture, if you have the references, you will be able to see it for yourself and correct me.
So, with that in mind let’s look at Mark 9:14-29, page 844.
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And 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.” 19 And 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.” 20 And 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. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And 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.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And 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.” 26 And 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.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Let’s pray.
So here we have Jesus, Peter, James, and John, coming down the mountain of transfiguration, Mount Hermon, after a long and glorious night to fine the nine other disciples in an argument with the Scribes in the midst of a large crowd. When the crowd saw Jesus coming they got all excited and ran to Him and greeted Him.
What happens next has been among the more confusing Gospel accounts in my mind, and, like the account of the transfiguration from last week hasn’t gotten much more than an, “I dunno,” from me.
This is unfortunate because here in these verses, here in this account, we find the secret to living with power. I’m sure we all want a little more of that!
Now, we‘ve established over the last few weeks and months that the disciples, at this point in they’re walk with the Lord were in fact… Idiots. They had seen some amazing things, done some amazing things, heard some amazing things, but still struggled to put it all together.
So here are nine of the disciples having an argument with the Scribes in the midst of a big crowd and they were losing. I can only imagine their relief when they saw the Lord Jesus round the corner and the crowd ran to Him. And when they got to Him He asked them, in verse 16, “What are you arguing about with them?”
17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And 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.”
Now think about this for a minute. The disciples had had quite a bit of success healing people and casting out demons in the past, what made this different?
This poor father brought his son in this sad condition that sounds a lot like epilepsy but as we read it was in fact a demon so don’t go to the neurologist’s office and try to cast demons out of their patients, not everybody with epilepsy has a demon!
So dad describes his son’s condition to Jesus, knowing that it was an unclean spirit, but also now knowing that the disciples were powerless to cast it out of him. And when Jesus hears the father’s story, how does He react?
19 And 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.”
Who do think He said that to, the father? The Scribes? The crowd? He said it to the disciples.
“O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”
What an indictment from the Lord, he was clearly frustrated with them. First, the night before, Peter wanted to set up tents for Jesus and Elijah and Moses so that they could set up an new kingdom on earth, and now, the nine other disciples didn’t have the sense to do what they needed to do to cast out one demon. He had to be frustrated! But that was a problem He would deal with later.
Jesus said, “bring him to me.” 20 And 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. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.
What a sad state. Many of us who have children who have been ill or have to deal with terrible situations that are out of our control, I’m sure, can identify with this poor father’s heart for his son.
This dad’s desperate cry to Jesus was, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
The disciples hadn’t been able to do anything for this man nor his son, the Scribes had certainly been no help. This poor dad’s heart was plagued with doubt. But still, with what little faith he had, he begged Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
If you can… If you can…
I can’t help but imagine Jesus, in His great compassion, with a little smile as He says, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
The poor father, in his humility, cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” What a statement! It’s as if he was saying, “it is useless to hide the unbelief that still struggles in this heart of mine; but that heart bears witness that I do believe in you; and if any distrust remains I disown it, I wrestle with it, I seek help from you against it!”
This should be our heart’s cry too: I believe; help my unbelief!
John Calvin wrote, “As our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers; but God forgives us and exercises such forbearance towards us as to reckon us believers on account of a small portion of faith. It is our duty, in the meantime, carefully to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us, to strive against them, and to pray to God to correct them, and, as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to Him for aid.”
The problem was not with Jesus’ ability to heal, or even with the disciples’ inability to heal, the problem was with their ability to trust in God who can do what is humanly impossible. But that kind of trust is only possible with the help of the One who is its object.
25 And 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.” 26 And 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.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
Jesus did the impossible, he cast out the demon forbidding it to ever enter the boy again, and after the demon left he raised the boy up as if he had been brought back from the dead.
This was not beyond Jesus’ power.
And after this incredible scene the disciples were left wondering… what just happened?
28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
So is Jesus saying here that all the disciples had to do was pray and they could have cast the demon out themselves? Did they just not say the magic words? Did they just forget to bow their heads and close their eyes and fold their hands?
Don’t be fooled, the disciples expected something to happen, they expected the demon to come out when they told it to but it wouldn’t. Why is that? It’s because they were trying to do it on their own. They had done it before and so trusted in their own ability to follow the process.
But did they have the power to do it? No.
Who did have power to do it in this scene? The disciples? Nope. The Scribes? Nope. The crowd? Nope. The dad? Nope. Jesus. And that’s the secret to power.
Jesus said to the disciples, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” That wasn’t because it was a different type of demon, bigger, stronger, deeper.
That was because they cannot hope to cast out demons or do anything for God’s kingdom or even their own faith without connecting to the One who is the Source of all power.
Faith does not depend so much on the theoretical consciousness of a truth, as on the existence of a real and actual fellowship with God, and faith exposes our own powerlessness without the Lord’s intervention.
The disciples failed because they didn’t depend on God’s power, that’s why Jesus said that this kind couldn’t be cast out except by prayer because prayer is faith expressed. Faith is not just taking a flying leap into the unknown, it’s taking hold of the Lord and deriving strength from Him and we do this through prayer.
Real and actual fellowship with God our Father through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the secret to power.
Our prayer ought always be the same as the poor father in this account:
“I believe, help my unbelief! It is useless to hide the unbelief that still struggles in this heart of mine; but that heart bears witness that I do believe in you Lord Jesus, and if any distrust remains I disown it, I wrestle with it, I seek help from you against it! In Jesus’ Name!
Amen.
