The story we have read in the ninth chapter of Mark is a fascinating account of a young man being delivered from the forces of evil. He has suffered from this since childhood. When his father brought him to the disciples, they prayed over him, expecting that he would be delivered. After all, Jesus had given them authority to drive out demons (3:15), and they had been successful in doing this at other times (6:13). They had invoked the name of Jesus, and people had been healed and delivered. But this time they are in over their heads. Nothing happens. They prayed; they laid on hands; they spoke the Name, and the boy’s condition remained the same. We are not sure why they were unable to help the boy. Maybe they had lost confidence in themselves since Jesus was not with them, and neither was Peter and John. Jesus had taken Peter and John with him to pray on the mountain and left these other disciples among the people. Perhaps they thought that since Jesus had given them authority to heal and cast out demons that the power was theirs permanently, without remaining spiritually connected. It is possible that they began to see the power as coming from them and not from God. For whatever reason, they did not have what it took to tackle this demon.
As Jesus approached the scene, he noticed his disciples arguing with a crowd of people. The argument probably arose over their inability to do the work of God, and therefore it cast doubt on Christ himself. If Jesus was who he claimed to be, and the disciples were not able to cast the demon out in his name, then there were those who were ready to doubt not only the disciple’s ability, but the reliability of Jesus himself. This is usually the case. And here is the first point: Christ’s work of deliverance can only be done out of an abiding relationship with him. The father of this boy was seeking to bring his son to Christ, but since Jesus could not be found he asked his disciples to cure the boy. They gave it an honest try, but they failed completely. Their failure led to many questions which they cannot answer. People surrounded them and attacked them verbally. They question them, and what was worse, they questioned their Master. Their failure had cast doubt on their Lord.
Jesus is likewise disturbed at the failure of his disciples. He spoke his frustration out loud: “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” (Mark 9:19). He is not talking about the crowd or the father of the boy here; he is talking about his disciples. Keep in mind that these are the ones he has selected to be in the inner circle from all those who wished to follow him. They were supposed to be the cream of the crop. They were to be the leaders. He had taught them to pray. He had given them authority and the power to accomplish the work he had given them to do. He had shown them by example, and as soon as he left them alone for a short while they fell to pieces. When they asked him later why they were not able to cast the demon out, he said to them: “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29).
His disciples made the same mistake that Christ’s disciples make today: they assume that they can do the work of God in their own power. They were trying to follow a formula, instead of maintaining their relationship with God. They were using the name of Jesus like it was magic. They were using the same words as they had used before, but the words fell from their lips to the ground. They placed their hands on the boy the same way they had placed their hands on so many others. They followed the example of Jesus. But something was missing. They had not maintained their relationship with God through prayer. And since they had not maintained contact with the Source of power, there was no power in their lives. Same words. Same actions. But no results. No prayer; no power. No abiding; no deliverance.
Here is the lesson for us: If there is not an ongoing relationship with God through prayer, there will be no deliverance from the things that bind us. 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 is impossible to experience the power of God without faith. It is impossible to have faith without spending time in the presence of God. Do you need more faith? Spend more time in the presence of God. It is impossible to spend time in the presence of an all-powerful God and not be moved to a higher place of faith. The more you know God, the more you understand the things of which he is capable. The more time you spend with God the more of his power you carry with you. The more this takes place in your life, the more you realize that it is not about you. You are merely a channel for his power and grace. The more of that power you absorb in his presence, the more you have to share. It does not belong to you, and it does not come from you; it comes from God, and belongs to him. You learn to live leaning on God. You hear the Scripture ringing in your head which says, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).
The second lesson we learn here is: Whenever Christ comes to do his work, he is never in a hurry. This is the really frustrating part of God, especially for those of us who live in the instant generation. We are always in a hurry — and God is never in a hurry. We often have to slow down to catch up with God. When Sue and I are walking somewhere I often find myself walking on ahead of her. When we are going somewhere, I am a man on a mission. My objective is to get there. Her objective is to enjoy the journey. I want her to catch up and she wants me to slow down. If I want to walk with her, I have to slow down. It is the same way when I am walking with God. I am often out ahead of him a country mile, but he is moving slowly, deliberately. He is never in a hurry, because he is full of self-confidence and the knowledge that he will accomplish what he has in mind. I have to make his mind my mind. I have to make his speed my speed.
We find ourselves wanting Jesus to hurry up in this story. He finally said: “Bring the boy to me.” Now we expect to see some action. We expect that things will get immediately better — but instead they get worse. The evil spirit in the boy sees Jesus and violently convulses him. It throws him to the ground. The boy is rolling on the ground in terrible convulsions, and he is foaming at the mouth. He is biting his tongue and making terrible noises that frighten those around him. He is completely out of control as this evil spirit thrashes him. Things are not better at all. They are worse.
Sometimes we mislead people by telling them that if they just come to Jesus their lives will be immediately better. In fact, their lives may become worse. Friends and family may not understand their new life. It may cause tensions on a job because you have a new set of values and ethics, and your employer may expect you to set them aside. People may misunderstand and think you have gone off the deep end. You thought that God would protect you from illness and tragedy, and you find that you are not immune from trouble just because you are now a Christian. Things get worse, not better, and you don’t understand it.
Worst of all, Jesus does not seem to be in any hurry to help. Jesus stands and watches the boy, and then begins to talk with the father. “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asks. It reminds me of going to the emergency room with our one-year-old granddaughter Rachel in the middle of the night with her parents. Rachel was in crisis because of the Leukemia, and all they could think about was asking a lot of questions so they could fill out admission forms and medical history. “Have you noticed this? Has she done that? How long has she been like this? What medications is she on?” Page after page full of questions. On and on they go until you think you are going to go mad. They are the same questions they asked the last time, and the time before that. She has a file several inches thick, why not look in there for the answers and get on with it? She needs help and they are asking questions.
The boy’s father must have felt like I felt that night. Jesus is asking questions about his medical history. “How long has he been like this? Since childhood, eh? Has it ever thrown him into the water? Oh, my! How about fire, has it thrown him into the fire? Got it. Anything else I should know?” Meanwhile, the boy is thrashing and the scene is growing tense. But something worse is about to happen. Jesus rebukes the evil spirit and says, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” But the boy convulsed even more violently, shrieked, and then went completely limp, looking as though he were dead. In fact, many began to say he was dead. The father may have thought so himself. His heart is in his throat. He is trying not to accuse Jesus of killing his son, but his head is swimming with confusion, and perhaps even anger. First the disciples could do nothing, now it appears that Jesus has killed his son. But the story is not over.
The third thing this story tells us is: Whenever Christ comes to us, he expects to find faith. Are things getting worse for anybody here? Have you come to Jesus and he seems in no hurry to help you? Have you prayed and then things really went south? Are you beginning to wonder if God cares? Do you wonder if somehow he hates you? He loves you and he is here. He is not in a hurry because he is full of confidence. In Rachel’s case, the doctors in the hospital knew what they were doing. They were slow because they were confident and were determined to be careful. In this story, the cure looked like it killed the boy, but it was in fact his deliverance. An important part of finding deliverance is waiting on God. Patience is an important part of faith. Faith enables us to wait. Things often look worse just before God brings about our deliverance. The Bible says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is being able to wait on God and have the confidence that he will bring about the answer we need.
The father responded to Jesus and said, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus responds by saying, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23). The New International Version translates this as a question: “If you can?”; as if Jesus is asking if the father is questioning his ability. But since there is no punctuation in the Greek, it is more likely that Jesus is picking up the father’s phrase of “If you can,” and turning it back on him. There is no question about whether Jesus can do what needs to be done, but there is some question about whether the father can have the faith for what needs to be done. Jesus, in effect, says, “Not if I can, but if YOU can. If you can — if you can believe. It is not about whether I am able to deliver him, but whether you are able to believe. Everything is possible for him who believes.”
At this point the father is desperate. He cries out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” What a wonderful statement of truth and faith. It is not that he did not believe; he did. He wanted to believe, but he had been disillusioned by the followers of Jesus. He was overwhelmed with the power of this evil force in his son’s life. He wanted to believe. He did believe. But he was also haunted by doubt.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been where that father was. I wanted to believe. I did believe, but I had questions. I had persistent, nagging doubts. I knew that God was able, but the problems seemed so large and powerful. Discouragement, and even despair, set in. I believed in the supernatural power of God, but the thinking of this present world seemed very real as well. It was not that I did not have any faith, it was that my faith was not strong enough. And Jesus Christ used those times of despair to teach me about faith in a way that I could have never learned otherwise. He helped me overcome my unbelief. He brought me to a place of crisis to bring me to a higher place of faith. It was not where I wanted to go, but it was where he wanted me to go. I needed to learn that everything is possible for the one who believes. Faith is important, because the Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
One of the unwritten things in this story is that not everyone wants to be delivered from what is binding them. People sometimes become comfortable with the evil in their lives. Sometimes they even make friends with their demons. Having an evil spirit may be frightening, but the thought of what life would be like without it may be even more frightening. Craig Barnes has said, “Sometimes people come to us saying that they want to be delivered from an evil spirit, when what they really want is for us to help them manage it.” I once worked with a young woman who was bulimic. She wanted to be free from the demon, but she could not stand the idea of gaining weight. I have worked with people with bad marriages. They want to be free from the demon of conflict, but they are unwilling to make the necessary changes to make that happen. They want the convulsing to stop, but they do not want the demon to leave.
I wonder if the father of the boy would have been satisfied if Jesus had merely controlled the spirit? Would he have been just as happy, perhaps happier, if Jesus simply made the demon behave itself and stop throwing his son into the fire and water? Would he have been satisfied if the demon was there, but it was no longer convulsing him? Would he have settled for that? But Jesus was after the root cause of his problem and would settle for nothing less. Sometimes people don’t really want deliverance; they merely want to control the demon. They want help. They want things to be better, but they don’t want to change. They don’t like the demon, but they hate the idea of change worse. They are comfortable with the familiar, and uncomfortable with what a change would necessarily mean. But if we are going to meet the Savior there is going to be a radical deliverance. He will settle for nothing less. . . . What are you settling for?
Perhaps there are those here today who have been struggling with a kind of bondage for a long time. Maybe it has even been since childhood. Are you ready to meet the Savior? It may not be what you are expecting. It may not be easy. It may take longer than you thought. It may take prayer. It will demand faith. But it will result in a deliverance from that which has bound you for so long. Are you ready to meet the Savior? Someone has said, “We have a great need for Christ, and we have a great Christ for our needs.” He is available here and now.
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 10, 2001
Mulberry Street United Methodist Church
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
