Lessons For Ministry - Mark 9:14-29 Series

Mark 9:14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 "What are you arguing with them about?" he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." 19 "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. 22 "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." 23 " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 29 He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."

Introduction

I believe one of the purposes of this passage is to teach us lessons about Christian ministry. And the first has to do with the contrast between the mountain and the valley.

Coming off the Mountain

When Jesus came down from the glory of the Transfiguration into the nightmare of evil, suffering, death, and unbelief that was awaiting him, he probably felt like turning around on his heals and go right back up that mountain. We have mountaintop experiences, and we always want to stay up there, away from all the chaos and evil and suffering and unbelief. But that’s not what God called us to do. In fact, it’s very often immediately after our greatest mountaintop experiences that we drop into the most exasperating confrontations with evil. It was a great moment for Jesus up on that mountain. The only one that comes close was the one other time God spoke from heaven about how he felt about Jesus—his baptism. And what happened that time? Jesus was immediately slammed out into the desert to be attacked by Satan for a month and a half. And it’s the same way this time—Jesus comes from the glory of the Transfiguration into a mess of unbelief that makes him wonder how long he’ll be able to put up with it. It’s the way life goes. It’s exactly what happened to both Moses and Elijah. Moses had his glorious meeting with God up on Mt. Sinai, then he comes down and is immediately confronted with the idolatry and apostasy of the people, and it gets him so angry he smashes the Ten Commandments and has to climb back up for another copy. Elijah meets with God on Mt. Horeb, then comes down and has to deal with wicked Ahab and Jezebel and the murder of Naboth.

I made the point in the final podcast on the Transfiguration that you can’t freeze time and hold on to mountaintop experiences. But Jesus shows us that not only can you not stay on the mountain, when you get back to the bottom, brace yourself to get hit with the full force of darkness, despair, suffering, and unbelief.

This is an important principle to remember in those times when you’re tempted to drop out of church. You run into so many disappointments, so much sin, the churches you go to are so full of problems; it just seems like you’d be better off to just worship God alone in your own living room by yourself. That’s a desire to go back up on the mountain. Go up there where the wretchedness of life can’t reach you. It’s comfy up there on the mountain, but it’s not God’s plan. We’re not in heaven yet. The glory and rest will come soon enough, but in the meantime we need to wade in hip deep into the mire of the fall and bring God’s grace into the brokenness, including the brokenness of the church itself—which is the most exasperating brokenness of all. We expect the church to be a mount of transfiguration, but it’s not. It’s the valley where there is evil and demonic activity and unbelief. And it’s the fact that it’s not supposed to be that way is what makes it all the more painful.