I Believe; Help My Unbelief

In Nomine Iesu
St. Mark 9:14-29
September 13, 2009
Pentecost 15

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

The man’s prayer was short and sweet. When your child is rolling around on the ground, convulsing uncontrollably, foaming at the mouth, under the control of a dark and demonic predator—you don’t mince words. You don’t craft your words for theological correctness and poetic piety. You simply lay it on the line: “I believe; help my unbelief.”

But what exactly do those words mean? Lots of people have taken that prayer and proceeded to run with it in a wrong direction. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” It’s really not the prayer of the liberal skeptic or the “almost atheist” who wants to believe in Jesus but whose intellect won’t accept all of the supernatural, miraculous things that Jesus did—like rise from the dead. It is not the prayer of those who want Jesus on their own terms—terms dictated by their reason and intellect. That’s not what this prayer is about.

Nor is this a prayer that Jesus would bolster the man’s faith so that his faith would be “strong enough” for Jesus to help his son. We hear that kind of thing all the time: If your faith is strong enough, if you banish all doubt, if you pray hard enough and often enough, then you can expect a miracle. But that’s nothing more than works-righteousness wrapped up in phony religious jargon. You supply the faith in sufficient quantity and then God rewards your faith with a miracle. Watch out! That idea has a certain appeal to it, especially for people who feel desperate and helpless.

No, this prayer is just the opposite of works righteousness. This prayer is a confession—an admission that faith is lacking. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” This desperate man was confessing his weakness, his frailty, his helplessness. He was asking that his tormented son would be healed anyway, despite his own weak and wobbly faith. He was asking for a healing grounded not on merit, but for a healing grounded on grace and compassion. And Jesus proceeds to show that the man’s weak faith was no obstacle for Him.

Ultimately, the question posed by this episode is simply this: Can Jesus help us or not? That question hangs in the air throughout the story. Jesus was just coming down from the mountain top where His transfiguration had been witnessed by Peter, James and John. When Jesus arrives the situation seems to border on chaos. A large crowd had gathered, including the teachers of the Law. There was the man and his son. And then there were the other nine disciples who had apparently been unsuccessful in their attempts at exorcism. For the desperate, fearful father, it must have seemed like another set back, another disappointment. It must have led him to wonder, can Jesus help us or not?

The boy’s condition and symptoms sound suspiciously like epilepsy. But there was more than epilepsy going on here. There was an evil spirit, a messenger of Satan, sent to torment a little boy. It is sad but true that Satan has designs on people of all ages, children included. He is, in every sense, a shameless predator who delights in victimizing children. And in this case, as the father reported to Jesus, the predator “often” threw the boy into fire or water to try to kill him. And by all appearances that evil predator was the one who was in control. The father must have wondered, especially after the disciples struck out, can Jesus help us or not?

All this talk about seizures and shrieking spirits of Satan might seem far removed from your situation today, but it’s not. For at the heart of today’s Gospel reading is a desperate and helpless man who needs to know, can Jesus help me or not? And I suspect that that question is never far from the lips of any one of us. We may not know much about demon possession, but we certainly do know what it is to be helpless. Sometimes the situation is not of our own doing. And other times the situation has our fingerprints all over it, along with the devil’s finger prints, only it’s hard to tell whose prints are whose. But how it happened and why it happened and who’s to blame are questions that fade away compared to the question of this day: Can Jesus help me or not?

When you’re standing in the emergency room . . . When your marriage appears to be disintegrating . . .When the job and the paycheck and the benefits are suddenly gone . . . when a trusted friend becomes your enemy . . . When there’s an addiction that controls you . . . When your child is sick and no one has the cure . . . Do you believe that Jesus can help you or not?

For the father in today’s text, whose beloved son was reduced to thrashing on the ground and foaming at the mouth, the answer was, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” He didn’t try to hide his weakness; he confessed it. He wasn’t concerned about keeping up appearances. He wasn’t afraid to be real. And Jesus is inviting you to do the same with your weakness—with your need—to place it into Jesus’ hands—because Jesus can help you!

He’s there for the helpless. He’s there for the weak. He’s there for the desperate, the scared, and the demonized. Jesus is there for sinners like us, living in a fallen world. He has come to help you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re just an innocent victim, or whether you’ve made your bed of shame and now you have to lay in it. Jesus makes it clear today that all things are possible for Him. His whole ministry revolves around helping the helpless. The father initially asked Jesus to help his son “if” He was able. To which Jesus responded, “If!?” When it comes to the Savior’s help there are no ifs, ands or buts. His compassionate help extends to all who call on Him.

How can I be so sure? How can you be confident in believing that Jesus will help you? Beloved in the Lord, the Savior has a holy history of helping. He has a track record of deliverance—a record written in blood. His crucifixion and resurrection—His dying and rising—are the unwavering testimony that with God all things are possible—that He is always ready, willing and able to help those who wait for Him. Would He undergo suffering and death for your sake, only to abandon you when you are most helpless? He is an ever-present help in time of trouble!

But know this: The Savior’s help may not be exactly what you were hoping for. It may not come according to your timetable. It may not materialize according to your exact design and plan. And if you find that discouraging or troubling, then pray. Pray. Lay it on the line and say, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” The Lord will answer.

Amazingly, some people choose to reject the Savior’s help. Some are too proud to ask for it. Some will not admit their weakness. Keeping up appearances is more important for some. Some prefer to take matters into their own hands. But wouldn’t it be infinitely better to place your troubles into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus?

Those nail-scarred hands mean this: They mean that your sins, no matter what they are, cannot separate you from God. Jesus Christ has done away with them, as surely as He became a crucified corpse, and rose again on the third day. That means that your weakness, your troubles, your sorrows, your demons—they have but a short season to live. They do not reign. The Lord Jesus reigns! And best of all, the Lord who reigns is your Lord. He is for you and not against you. He is working all things for your good. He can—He will—help you. And you, for your part, can believe it. Amen.