“Dangerous Intersections -When Faith and Doubt Collide”
Mark 9:14-24
I learned this week that of all the traffic intersections in America that the most dangerous intersection in the nation is right here in Florida. Shouldn’t surprise us. Florida manages to be first in a lot of things and seems to get in the news pretty often, usually for the wrong reasons. We held up a presidential election and had the entire nation watching us because of hanging chads in 2000. All of America was watching Florida. I love Florida, that’s why we have stayed here for 15 years now but maybe it shouldn’t surprise us to learn that the most dangerous traffic intersection in the nation is found in Pembroke Pines, Florida. In a two year study at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Pines Blvd. There were 357 accidents. That’s an average of one every other day for two years. That is one dangerous intersection.
People who are driven often arrive at these dangerous intersections in life. It is like a crossroads. It is a place where difficult decisions have to be made, our faith is tested. It is what Dr. Henry Blackaby in his book, Experiencing God calls a crisis of belief. And he reminds us that when we get to this intersection it takes two things for us to navigate through safely. It takes faith and action.
In this passage we read today we find the story of a father who brings his son to Jesus to be healed. This man’s son has suffered since childhood so we assume that now he is a bit older, however he is still in the care of his father. When the father brought him to the disciples they prayed over him expecting that he would be healed. We know from previous passages in the scripture that Jesus had given them the authority to do this and they had been successful at other times. But this time they seem to be in over their heads. They pray and nothing happens. Has that ever happened to you? They prayed and laid hands on him and spoke the Name of Jesus but nothing changed. When we face these kinds of dilemmas our faith is certainly tested.
Jesus now arrives on the scene and he notices the disciples are arguing with a crowd of people. We don’t know for sure what the argument was about but we can imagine that if the disciples were unable to cast out this demon and heal this young man then the teachers of the law may have said if YOU can’t and you represent Jesus, then why should we believe HE can do it? They were not only questioning the disciples they were questioning their Master. And that puts it all on an entirely different level. On Wednesday of this week I was quietly preparing my Bible study for Wednesday night in my office when I heard a man shouting .... and he just got louder and was using every profanity you can imagine and he was directing most of at Jesus saying terrible things. Obviously I won’t repeat the words he used but he called Jesus terrible names and it seemed that he was getting violent. So I had to physically takes him by the arm and escort him out of the building. He did leave but he continued to shout profanities at me, the church and at my Savior. We do not have to look far to find people who are deeply troubled and in need of the very one they doubt and reject, Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ response to what is happening in this story is really directed at the disciples, not the man who needed healing. But his words seemed to be directed also at the young man’s father. Listen to what He says, v. 19. Most people agree that this boy must have had epilepsy. Look at the signs.
* a spirit seized him
* threw him to the ground
* he foams at the mouth
* gnashes his teeth
* becomes rigid
It seems to me in dealing with this matter that the disciples made the same mistake that the we make today: we assume that we can do the work of God in our own power. They were using the right words, almost like it was a magic formula. They placed their hands on the young man the same way they had before. They followed the example of Jesus but something was missing. And here it is: there was no power. Same words. Same actions. But no results. Here it is : if there is no prayer there will be no power. If there is no ongoing relationship with Christ through prayer then there will be no deliverance from the things that hold us back. We can follow the formula but there will be no filling. We can go through the ritual but there will be no renewal. We can say the words but we will still be waiting for an answer. It’s this simple: without faith you cannot experience God’s power.
You see you and I are really a channel. The power does not belong to us. It doesn’t come from within us... it comes from God. We are a vessel for His power to flow through to others. There is then a 2nd lesson we learn here: Whenever Christ comes to do His work, God is never in a hurry. We may be very driven, but God is not. And sometimes this can be frustrating. We pray and God answers ... 5 years later. Our timing is not the same.
You may have heard of the man who asked God,
"God, what's a million years to you?" And God said "A minute."
Then the man asked: "Well, what's a million dollars to you?"
And God said: "A penny" Then the man asked:
"God... can I have a penny?"
And God said: "Sure... In a minute."
We are always in a hurry. God is never in a hurry. We live in an instant generation, instant breakfast, microwaves, drive throughs, email, fax, God lives in eternity. To catch up with God we often have to slow down. My wife and I tried to walk together .... that didn’t last long because I wanted to walk a lot faster than she did. My legs are longer. If I want to walk with her I have to slow down. It’s the same way when I am walking with God. He’s never in a hurry because He is full of confidence, no worry and knows that His purposes will be accomplished. For me I have to learn to make His mind, my mind.
Finally in this passage we see Jesus say, “bring the boy to me.” Now we expect to see some action. We expect to see things get better-but instead they get worse. The evil spirit in the boy sees Jesus and throws the boy into convulsions. He is completely out of control. Things get worse. We sometimes mislead people by telling them if they just come to Jesus their lives will be immediately better. Fact is they may become more difficult. Friends and family may not understand. It may bring tension to your job because now you have Biblical standards you live by. You may think you're immune from illness and tragedy and trouble now but instead things get worse and we don't understand. Our faith collides with our questions and we walk away empty.
Ever been in the ER with someone you love and the doctors just keep asking questions? And we're thinking do something! Here's Jesus ... the boy is having a convulsion, down on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Jesus calmly says how long has he been like this? All the time this whole scene is growing more tense. Finally the father says to Jesus “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” I love the response of Jesus here He says, “if you can.” It’s like sure I can. Are you kidding? Is the Pope Catholic? Is Billy Graham a Christian? Is a fire truck red? Of course I can. Jesus said EVERYTHING is possible for him who believes. Now listen again to the father’s response. V. 24. Ever feel that way? Part of you believes. Part of you doubts. Part of you says yes to God. Part of you says I’m not sure. Part of you has faith. Part of you is afraid. And when we come to this intersection know this is a dangerous place because many will walk away... they say I just have too many questions about God, about my faith, about the Bible .... It is a dangerous intersection but it CAN be a divine intersection. Because this is how we grow. A faith that is never questioned is not worth having.
The key to this is found in v. 24 and it has become one of my favorite passages of scripture. Listen to what the boy’s father says to Jesus. V. 24. Is it really possible that belief and unbelief can exist at the same time? Can we have faith and still have doubts at the same time? Absolutely. You see God looks at the heart. And if we have doubt and we genuinely do not understand then God helps us and brings us to an understanding of Him. But if we’re stubborn, driven and it’s all about us then our hearts become cold; they are hardened and we fall away.
The good news is that when we face up to our doubts, when we allow faith and fear to intersect that is when we actually give God room to do only what he can do. Several things Jesus did not say here. He didn’t say, sorry nothing can be done here... you don’t have enough faith. He didn’t say, why don’t you come back later and in the meantime try to muster up little more faith. He didn’t say , once your faith hits a certain level, then I can do something. No, Jesus just reached and healed the boy. Two things that are important here.
1. Be honest about your doubts. God is big enough, smart enough and confident enough to deal with your questions? He is not threatened by your doubts.
2. Get to Jesus asap. God doesn’t call us to live a life that is driven. He doesn’t call us to live a hurried life. Always rushing, running, constantly in a hurry. That is not God’s way. We find the word hurry or hurried only 4 times in the gospels. One of those was the time when King Herod said to the daughter of Herodias, ask me for anything you want and I’ll give it to you. She ran to him, she hurried and said “I want you to give me, right now, the head of John the Baptist on a platter. By the way he did it. The other 3X are (1) when Mary learned she would have a child named jesus she learned on the same day that Elizabeth, her cousin was also going to have a baby. So she hurried to see her. (2) When the shepherds learned that Jesus was about to be born, they hurried to Bethlehem to see Him. (3) After the death and burial of Jesus the women went to the tomb and realizing he was risen they then hurried away from the tomb; they were afraid, yet filled with joy (intersection) and they ran to tell the disciples. So it’s clear the only time to be in a hurry is to get to Jesus or to spread the word about Jesus.
