Help Mine Unbelief

Help Mine Unbelief

Mark 9:17-26

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto Me. And they brought him unto Him: and when He saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If Thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him.

Jesus had just performed the miracle of His Transfiguration and came down from the mount with three of His disciples; Peter, John, and James and found His other nine disciples in an argument with the teachers of the Law. The people who were there to watch the exchange were overwhelmed with wonder from Jesus and greeted Him, and Jesus asked the teachers of the Law what the argument was about.

The answer came from a man who told Jesus he had brought his son to His disciples to cast out a spirit that had possessed his son. The father told Jesus the spirit had made his son mute and whenever it seizes the son, he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. He explained he brought his son to the disciples to cast out the spirit but they could not. After Jesus asked how long the son had been possessed, the father said since childhood. The father explained the spirit would often put his son into fires or water in attempts to kill the son.

Jesus rebuked the crowd, calling them an unbelieving generation. He asked how long would He stay with them and how long should He put up with them. This He directed at the entire nation of the Jews. They all, with a few exceptions, heard the Word of the Gospel, the very saving Words of Faith, with ears that did not hear. The number of disciples, not just the Twelve but all who listened, were small and the number of believers smaller still. Even His hand-picked Twelve, who on at least two different occasions were told they had the authority to drive out demons, could not perform this act.

Jesus asked for the boy to be brought to Him and when the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy on the ground and into convulsions. The father said to Jesus “but if Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus replied “’If Thou canst’ believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” This caused the boy’s father to cry out with tears in his eyes “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!” Jesus saw another crowd of people running to the scene and Jesus commanded “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” With this the spirit shrieked and left the boy. A bit later the disciples asked Jesus why they could not dismiss the spirit as He had done. Jesus told His disciples “This kind of can come forth by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

This morning I don’t want to talk about the possession per say but rather what the father declared. The father of the boy said to Jesus “but if Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus said “If I can help?” Jesus then said “believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Which caused the father to give his heartfelt reply “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” He came to Jesus with the belief that the Savior could get rid of the spirit that possessed his son. Jesus was gone so he asked His disciples to help who fail to get rid of the spirit. Undaunted, when Jesus returned the rest of the Twelve, he was the one who told Jesus what the argument was about, the tone of his explanation indicated that he wanted Jesus to perform the miracle.