The Disciples Are Helpless And Ineffective
September 23, 2019
Commentary
A great multitude of people surrounds Jesus who have been disputing with the scribes (vv. 14-16). When they see Jesus they are amazed and come running to greet Him. This is a very touching scene as you see a father watch his boy being torn apart by evil forces and he begs Jesus for help (vv. 17-22). Jesus had come down from the mountaintop to find His own chosen followers baffled, helpless and powerless. The father had gone to the disciples asking them to cast a demon out of his son, but they couldn’t. What a tragedy. These words could be written over many churches today – “and they could not.” We are living in a world that is sinking in sin and desperately needs Jesus, and the world looks at the church and says, “They could not.”
The man had now come to Jesus with, “Help me if you can” and it was as if Jesus said, “The cure of your boy depends not on me but on you” (vv. 23-27). It sometimes happens, people get disappointed in some church or some servant of God, just as in this case. When that happens they need to go beyond the church or the servant to the Master of the church who is Christ Himself. When the disciples were by themselves they asked Jesus the cause of their failure (v. 28). In essence His reply was that they didn’t live close enough to God (v. 29). He answered them quite simply by saying that this kind of cure demanded prayer. (The added words, “and fasting,” are omitted in the oldest manuscripts). God may have given us a gift, but unless we maintain close contact with Him we may become only a person of words and not a person of power.
Application
To approach anything in the spirit of hopelessness is to make it hopeless, but to approach it in the spirit of faith is to make it a possibility. If I am going to be a person who has God’s power in my life I certainly need to be a person of prayer. I need to consider what specific steps I can take this week to improve my prayer life.
Mark 9:14– 29 (NET)
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law arguing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran at once and greeted him. 16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so.” 19 He answered them, “You unbelieving generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him to me.” 20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 Then, after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 29 He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”