The Book of Mark
All Things Possible
Mark 9:14-29
Text
Obviously the section that catches our attention in this passage is found in verse 23 when Jesus says, “All things are possible to him who believes” and the response that is given in verse 24. There we discover this is about faith and believing. To put it more precisely, I would call it a lesson on the power of faith.
We are called to live by faith. We trust in and believe One Whom we’ve never seen. In that regard, the early disciples had an advantage over us because they walked and lived with Jesus 24/7. They heard what He taught as it came out of His mouth. They witnessed the miracles with their own eyes. When He raised the dead, they were there. They lived by sight. But soon they would have to live by faith.
The power was always in their midst because Jesus was always there. There would never be a time when they didn’t have the power because the very power itself was present. But here in this incident there is a lesson on the power of faith that they really need to learn because it just so happens in this incident that Jesus is not there.
So how do you access His power when He’s not there? They needed to learn that because that’s the way they were going to have to live.
In a few months He would die, rise again, ascend to heaven and be gone and they would have to live by faith, like we do. So this is where the lessons begin to prepare them for life after His ascension.
By the way, there is another lesson on faith in chapter 10 and in between there are lessons on humility, offenses, the seriousness of sin, marriage and divorce, children, riches, wealth, leadership and service. But the bookends to all the lessons are lessons on faith.
Now through these first 8 chapters, we’ve got to know the apostles pretty well and to be honest, I don’t think at this point I would call them men of great faith. In fact, as recently as chapter 8, the Lord has confronted them about their lack of spiritual insight and understanding.
It seems no matter what He did or said, they had a hard time grasping it. They are definitely a work in progress. And here, faith is the issue they need to understand. It is critical that they learn to grow in their trust and dependence on the Lord because soon they will not be able to have them in their sight.
The setting for this particular event is the deliverance of a boy who is possessed with a demon. And as Jesus and His followers come off the Mount of Transfiguration and find the rest of the disciples, a crowd has gathered. Apparently they thought Jesus was with them and they came looking for Him.
At the same time, the scribes have been in a debate with the followers of Jesus. They’ve been on their own, and no doubt were being mocked and ridiculed by the scribes.
But when Jesus shows up, everything changes.
Verse 15
That illustrates two things. First the amazing draw of Jesus. Some say, “Well it’s because of the transfiguration and the glory of God showed on His face like when Moses came off the mountain when he received the Ten Commandments.
I don’t think so. Remember, he told the disciples not to say anything about what happened up there. The issue is simply that He was the healer. He was the miracle man and the crowds were always attracted to Him.
They also ran to Him because the disciples had disappointed them.
Verses 16
I find it interesting that neither the scribes or the disciples offer Jesus an answer to His question.
We don’t know why the scribes didn’t answer, probably because they would much rather have had a debate with the disciples than with Him. They learned they didn’t fair well when they engaged Jesus in a debate.
But why didn’t the disciples respond? Maybe it’s because they didn’t do so well with the scribes and in their embarrassment, they kept their mouths shut. They not only had lost the argument theologically but they hadn’t been able to deal with the demon either.
Either way, someone in the crowd finally speaks up
Verse 17-18
Now Jesus had delegated power to them to cast out unclean spirits and they had been doing it. In fact, chapter 6 says they had cast out many demons. So what’s going on here? Why do they now fail?
Well Jesus answers that question in
verse 19
The problem is they didn’t believe. And He uses the same description He’s previously used of the nation of Israel to now speak to the disciples.
They had trusted before and had victories, but not here. So what made the difference? I think the difference is seen in the absence of Jesus and when Jesus was absent, they struggled to believe.
They need to learn how to believe when He’s gone because in a few months, He’ll be gone permanently. They need to learn how to believe.
And His words are very harsh! Not only does He call them faithless and unbelieving, He asks how long He’s going to have to put up with this kind of attitude and behavior. It’s like what He says is with holy frustration.
And then He says to the man, “Bring him to Me.” At this point, the man would get what he wanted and the demon would get what he didn’t want. They would both come face-to-face with the power of God.
verse 20
Here we see the reaction of this demon as Jesus comes into view.
Verse 21
Why does He ask that question? Does He need the information? No. He knows everything. Does it matter according to His power, like, you know, if it’s more than five years, the statute of limitations has run out and He can’t do the miracle? What’s the point?
I think the intention of Jesus is to make this encounter personal. The father was not bringing his son to a power. He was bringing him to a Person. And if the miracles of Jesus demonstrate anything, it is the compassion of God for hurting humanity. He cares! And Christ cares!. He cares about your pain and suffering and He cares about the struggles you have with your children.
He cares about the things that break your heart and He wants to hear. He doesn’t ask the question for the benefit of the crowd and for His own information. He just wants this daddy to know He cares about him and his child.
The father responds in
verse 21b
It’s been this way his whole life. We don’t know why. There’s nothing in the story about why. There’s no reason given for why this boy is in the shape he’s in, other than the outcome makes the reason obvious.
verse 22
He admits that the demon was trying to destroy the child, then he says this, “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
That is a pretty weak statement of faith, wouldn’t you say? “If You can do anything. . .”
He’s not asking about His willingness. I think He’s convinced Jesus is willing. He’s asking about His ability. Earlier in Mark 1 the question was, “Since You can, will You?” But here it is, “Since You will, can You?”
Verse 23
Now again, as we did Sunday morning, we need to fix the punctuation in our Bible. To accurately understand the response Jesus gives, we need to put an exclamation point after the word “can”, then Capitalize the word “believe”.
The phrase, “If you can”, is in response to his request. In modern language, He might say, “Can I do anything? Are you kidding me?”
It’s a response of surprise. “How can you be questioning My ability? The very fact that you’ve come looking for me indicates you know about my power! If I can!”
And then Jesus gives the lesson. “Do you want to see what I can do? Then believe because all things are possible to him who believes.”
By the way, that statement wasn’t just for the man, it was for the disciples also.
Soon He’s going to be gone and the disciples are not going to have Him around but the power will still be available to them if they will live by faith.
They needed to learn how to access the absent power and make it present by faith. So the principle is for them. And it’s for us also. Christ isn’t here and we are called to live by faith. And I love the application of that statement. “All things are possible to him who believes. No limitations! It wasn’t just for men in the first century with troubled children. It wasn’t just for the original disciples. IT is for “him who believes”.
Well the father responds in
verse 24
That is the response of an honest man. I believe. I believe in You. I believe in Your power. But I have a lot of doubt and I admit it.
So is that enough faith? Jesus just said, “All things are possible to the one who believes.” SO how much believing does it take? How much faith do you have to have?
This man says, “Lord, I believe but I need help with my unbelief” and he uses the same word to request help for his unbelief that He uses to request help for his child.
And the word means to come quickly! Run to my aid and help me keep believing. Come and dispel my doubts. By the way, all any of us can offer is imperfect faith. It is always a mixture of faith and doubt.
The Lord never expects perfect faith, that would be pointless, though he is worthy of it. He only expects imperfect faith because that’s all He’s ever going to get out of us and all of us are going to believe with a measure of doubt mixed in.
verse 25
While Jesus is having this conversation, the crowd starts to swell. They are running to see what will happen.
Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit and in an instant, this lifelong problem was over.
Verses 26-27
Well, that was a pretty good illustration from which to teach a lesson, don’t you think? So let’s go to class. That was the story, here’s the instruction.
verse 28
Obviously the disciples want to know why they couldn’t handle this situation. We did it before, why couldn’t’ we do it today?
Verse 29
I think more than a classification of demons, He’s talking about spiritual warfare in general and what He says is, “You will never be able to do this kind of thing on your own. You’re going to have to depend on Me and prayer is the highway that faith takes into the power of God.”
They obviously had tried to do it on their own and had failed. And what Jesus is telling them is, “You’re going to have to learn to trust me and not do it with their own strength. You’re not going to be able to live like that. When I’m not here, you’re not going to be able to think that you can pull it off. You need to be dependent on Me.
For every spiritual victory the Lord ever does, we have to depend on Him. That includes preaching and evangelism and prayer and every part of the Christian life. It’s only going to happen by prayer.
Well that’s all that Mark says and it really leaves our question unanswered. How much faith does it take to access God’s power? And that is the lesson from this text. It’s not about raising the dead or casting out demons. It is about accessing the power of God through faith. So how much do I have to believe to see the power of God go to work?
Let’s go to Matthew 17 and let Matthew help us with the answer.
Matthew 17:19a
It’s the same old song and dance, right? The problem with you is your faith is so small.
Then He goes on to say, “I’m not asking for a lot out of you.”
Verse 19b-20
He’s not talking about literally changing the landscape. He’s simply saying life is full of insurmountable things and you will never have the power to alter those things. But if you have the faith of the size of a grain of mustard...that is the smallest seed used in agriculture in Israel, you can get something done.
Now there are a lot of ways to teach that. I’ve heard people say that Jesus is teaching by comparison. The grain of mustard seed is so small compared ot the mountain, so this is great faith.
That’s not what it says. That might be the case if He had been commending them for their great fiath. But He’s rebuking them for their little faith.
He’s telling them they don’t need much faith to get things accomplished. All it takes is the faith of a grain of mustard seed. And there stands this father in the story as an example fo that.
What’s he saying? “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” And in response to his request, Jesus says, “Little faith is Ok. Just start there and you’ll see some amazing things happen!”
And what the Lord is showing His apostles is that here is a brand, new believer who had a very limited, beginning kind of faith. But if he put it to use, if he exercised that faith, then he had enough faith to activate the power of God.
That was a pretty tough lesson for the disciples to learn. They’ve been hanging around Jesus for two and a half years or so, and He’s telling them, if you could just be like this stranger who has never walked with Me or talked with Me before, you would be farther down the road in accessing the power of God.
. You need to exercise only the simplest faith, that’s the grace of God. But persistently, like Luke 11 and Luke 18, you remember the stories of prayerful persistence? You have not, James says, because… what… you ask not. If you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, and you take that faith on the highway of prayer into the highway of God, you will see God do mighty things.
And unfortunately, it indicts us as well. Some of us have been walking with the Lord a long time and never learned the secret to turning the power of God loose in our lives.
But the truth is a very small amount of struggling faith can cause God’s power to be released to do His will even through our lives. It’s an incredible lesson for those of us who live by faith.
Let’s pray.
