A Crisis Of Faith

Introduction

            One of the benefits of being a pastor is the opportunity to sit and talk to people about the condition of their faith. If you’re a pastor for long enough, you eventually have the opportunity to see the same people go through many cycles of their faith—from strong to weak and back to strong again. I used to think that faith traveled along a linear trajectory—from weak and immature to strong and mature. However, after a lifetime as a Christian and countless conversations with Christians who have traveled through the peaks and valleys of faith, I realize that faith ebbs and flows as God works to reveal more and more of Himself to us and continually shatters any illusions we have about Him. I’ve watched my daughters go through the process of having to shed some of the things they learned in their youth group, not because what they learned was wrong, but because what they learned was a truncated version of who God really is and how He operates in and through our lives. Unfortunately, too many youth programs and many church programs in general emphasize one particular aspect of God and how he operates in and through His creation generally and in our lives more specifically. As a result, many young adults, and churchgoers in general for that matter, think they have God all figured and have Him all boxed up in a neat little package. However, when God operates outside the box and allows something unexpectedly painful in our lives, our world is rocked and we begin to question what we were so certain we believed. We believe God is the great provider and then we lose our job. We believe God is the great sustainer and then we’re diagnosed with cancer. We believe that God is the great healer and then the person we love so deeply dies. We believe God has blessed our marriage and then our spouse is unfaithful or leaves us. We believe we have followed God’s direction in raising our children and then they rebel against all the values we’ve instilled in them. We believe God is always with us to comfort us and then we experience a painful dark night of the soul where God seems completely absent. We’re certain that we know how God will behave in a given circumstance in our lives and then He behaves contrary to what we were so certain about. It can be very frightening when God turns out not to be the person we thought or wanted Him to be. It can leave us searching and wondering who God is. Is God real? Is God good? Is God loving? Is God actually in control? Some people simply brush these issues aside but for those who have placed their full hope and faith in God, it can be a very difficult time; it is a very real and often frightening place to be; it is A Crisis Of Faith. And it is in exactly this place that God does His greatest work in our hearts by transforming who we think God is or wish God to be into who He really is. God is interested in an intimate relationship with you but He wants you to be in a relationship with who He really is not some imitation god who is nicely wrapped up in a box with a bow tied on top. In this week’s Subject Text we will meet a man who experienced just such A Crisis Of Faith when he met Jesus.

Subject Text

Mark 9:14-29

            ¹⁴When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. ¹⁶“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. ¹⁷A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” ¹⁹“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” ²⁰So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. ²¹Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. ²²“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief !” ²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. ²⁸After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁹He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Context

            At the beginning of chapter 9 we find Jesus high up on a mountain alone with Peter, James, and John. While they were there, the three disciples were witnesses to something magnificent. In a moment, Jesus was transfigured! Jesus’ clothes became perfectly white and both Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Suddenly a cloud appeared the enveloped all of them and in the cloud they heard a voice (it is inferred to be God’s voice) affirming that Jesus is the beloved Son of God whom they should listen to. Don’t go so fast as to miss this important image. If you’re like me, you’ve read this text countless times and tried to visualize the events. However, for just a moment, listen to the story in your mind with the ears of a Jew. Think about it—what is the first thing that would have come to your mind as a Jew when you heard those words? That’s right Exodus!

            By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. (Ex 13:21)

And

            As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. (Ex 33:9)

            Then, just as quickly as everything appeared, everything returned to the way it was; the cloud was gone, Elijah and Moses were gone; and Jesus was no longer glowing in perfect white garments. The disciples’ minds had to be swimming when Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they saw until after Jesus had risen from the dead. In fact, it seems they were having their own not-so-minor crisis of faith as they discussed what rising from the dead really meant. If Jesus was the Messiah then how could it be that the religious leaders taught that Elijah would have to appear first in order to herald the coming of the Messiah? Where was Elijah? They must have made the connection in their minds that if Elijah didn’t herald the coming of the Messiah then was Jesus really the Messiah? But, as is always the case with God, Jesus reassures them by transforming what they believed was true in their limited understanding to what was really true. And the truth was that one like Elijah did come first and he did herald the immediate coming of the Messiah—it was John the Baptist (cf. Mk 1:1-11; Mal 3:1; Isa 40:3; Isa 44:3; Isa 11:2). They still associated the coming of the Messiah with Israel being re-established to its national prominence. They still did not fully grasp that Jesus’ primary mission was to provide the means for humanity to re-establish its relationship with God; a relationship severed by sin. There would be more crises of faith in the disciples’ future as Jesus continued his march to the cross.

Text Analysis

            Jesus, Peter, James, and John reunite with the other disciples in v. 14 where they find the disciples among a crowd of people and the religious leaders. Not surprising whenever the religious leaders are involved, an argument ensues. It is difficult to determine from the text if the argument is between the disciples and the religious leaders of between the religious leaders and the crowd. It is probable that there was some of both. However what is important to note is that wherever we find the religious leaders, confusion, conflict, disharmony, and division are close by. Also not surprising, Jesus’ presence in v. 15 introduces a stark contrast to the presence of the religious leaders; confusion gives way to clarity; conflict gives way to resolution; disharmony gives way to harmony; and division gives way to unity. As we will soon learn, something has occurred that no one seems to have a good answer for. The text reads that the crowd is “overwhelmed with wonder.” As usual, Jesus shows up at just the right time and the people, who are clearly distressed, run to greet him. “When Jesus unexpectedly arrived on the scene, the people ran to greet him. Usually the people were in awe of his teaching and miracles; here they are in awe at his very presence with them.”[1]

            When Jesus asks in v. 16 what they were all arguing about, a man from the crowd steps forward and explains in vv. 17-18 that his son is possessed by a demon and that he brought the boy to the disciples for healing. The father explains to Jesus that the demonic activity in his son has robbed him of his speech and regularly tries to kill the boy by throwing him into the fire or into the water. The father goes on to explain that the boy experiences seizures that cause his body to become rigid while foaming at the mouth and gnashing his teeth. Wait…that seems like a perfect description of an epileptic episode yet it is described in the text as a demon possession. That makes me wonder—was this psychotic episode described as demon possession because the ancient world lacked the expertise to diagnose the boy in modern psycho-analytic terms or do our modern psycho-analytic terms seek to explain a condition that is rooted in the spiritual realm? This is another one of those biblical examples of both/and not either/or.

“King Saul was controlled by an evil spirit toward the close of his reign. The record speaks of ‘an evil spirit from the Lord’ that came upon him. [Author] Ellen White says that Saul ‘gave himself up to the control of the wicked spirit that ruled over him,’ and she speaks of him plunging ‘into a fury of passion’ and then passing ‘into a state of despondency and self-contempt,’ when ‘remorse would take possession of his soul.’ If he were alive today he would likely be labeled a manic-depressive personality. Manic-depressives display impatience and intolerance when their wishes are not immediately gratified, and they indulge in impulsive and ill-considered actions. A patient can be ‘transformed instantly to the most vicious anger if he is crossed or ignored.’ But the fact that symptoms can be given a name does not mean that demons were not involved in causing them…The most fully recorded example of demon possession in the New Testament is the story of the boy from whom the disciples were unable to drive out a demon…Dr. John Wilkinson goes so far as to make a diagnosis: ‘The boy suffered from the major form of epilepsy. This, however, is not the final diagnosis, for epilepsy is a symptom, not a disease. It is due to a sudden disturbance of the nerve cells in the brain and may have many causes.’ Dr. Frank Ervin describes epilepsy as ‘that state of impaired brain function characterized by a recurrent, periodic, paroxysmal disturbance in mental function with concomitant alterations in behavior or thought processes’… Was the boy suffering from epilepsy as the NIV suggests, or was he possessed by a demon? If one accepts the New Testament evidence there can be no question that the boy suffered from demon possession, but it is also clear that the demon had worked upon the nervous system to produce what could be clinically diagnosed as epilepsy…‘the various manifestations of physical and mental disorder that marked the demon possessed, were, in and of themselves, no different from similar manifestations attributable to natural causes. Apparently the difference lay, not in the nervous and physical symptoms displayed, but in the agency that caused them.’”[2]

            Jesus seems to have an odd reaction to the circumstances when he opens v. 19 with what seems like a rebuke. He calls those present an “unbelieving generation” and seems genuinely agitated and impatient with their persistent unbelief. It is true that Jesus was often exasperated by those who demanded miracles to prove his divine authority but this doesn’t appear to be the case here. In this particular case, it appears that Jesus’ reaction is a direct result of the peoples’ inability, not necessarily unwillingness, to recognize that God’s kingdom was in their midst. “The implication is that this generation is not simply a generation of skeptics but a generation that has failed to respond to the good news of the presence of the kingdom, a presence attested by Jesus’ power over Satan and his unholy allies. Because of a lack of faith in Jesus’ proclamation, gaining freedom from Satan’s oppression is hindered.”[3]

            When the boy is brought to Jesus in v. 20, the demon that possessed him reacted in generally the same way all the other demons reacted when they were confronted by Jesus—it freaked out. The minute the demon sees Jesus, the boy goes into another epileptic episode. You can look long and hard but you will not find any time when Satan or any of his demons encountered Jesus and didn’t know exactly who He was. And in the case of the demons specifically, they knew exactly who was in charge—Jesus! “The knowledge the demons have of Jesus may be supernatural or it may indicate—as the names used for Jesus suggest—he was recognized to be an exorcist in the Jewish tradition where healers such as Jesus often relied on God as a source of power-authority…One of the questions addressed in Mark’s Gospel is the identity of Jesus. Mark asserts from the beginning, and has God confirm, that Jesus is the Son of God…Mark shows the human characters ignorant of Jesus’ true identity. Yet through the cries of demons, Mark is able to remind his readers of who Jesus is…In confronting the demons Jesus is empowered by the Spirit and is doing battle against Satan. Through the exorcisms and confrontations with the demons and the demonic the Jesus of Mark is shown to be the Son of God.”[4]

            When Jesus asks in v. 21 how long the boy has suffered from his condition, the father explains in v. 22a that his son has endured the malady since he was a child. Then, in v. 22b, comes the plea; the plea of desperation; the plea that says I’ve tried everything else; The plea that says you’re my last hope; the plea that cries—I need a miracle! When you’re at the bottom with no other options, it can be hard to be courageous or confident in your faith so I can completely understand why the father seeks Jesus’ help with some trepidation. I mean the disciples probably invoked Jesus’ name in an attempt to heal his son and that didn’t work so can you really blame the father for having some doubts? “The Master forced the father to acknowledge that Jesus was his only hope. While the man knew this, he did not know whether this hope was enough. After all, the disciples had been unable to do anything for the son. Perhaps this had shaken his faith somewhat.”[5]

            The father’s apprehension is not lost on Jesus in v. 23 when Jesus notes the uncertainty in the father’s plea that begins with the word “if.” To which Jesus responds with a statement that has been used out of context so many times that its real truth is hardly recognizable. Jesus tells the father that everything is possible for someone who believes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that God did not intervene miraculously in some particular catastrophic illness or injury because the people involved, the miracle workers and those seeking a miracle, did not possess the requisite faith. Ugh! May God spare us all from such biblical ignorance! Jesus didn’t say that as long as you believe, you’re guaranteed to get whatever you ask for. Jesus said that all things are possible for anyone who puts their trust in God. However, nothing, regardless of the level of faith exhibited by those involved, is possible unless it is first God’s will. Let me illustrate: I believe that it is possible that God will always grant me good health. However, God does not guarantee my good health if that is not his will. Nevertheless, perpetual good health is a very real possibility. “Faith in God means for Jesus being open to the possibilities that God presents. It also involves a reckoning with God which is not simply content with the thing given and the events that have come about…[Jesus’] teaching was quite distinct from wild enthusiasm, because it was not divorced from the constant wrestling with God and speaking with him.”[6] The implication being that as imperfect humans we often find ourselves living on the razor’s edge between belief and unbelief as we constantly seek to understand God’s ways as well as His will for our lives and the lives of those we love.

            The father finds himself on that razor’s edge in v. 24 as he confesses that he believes Jesus yet pleads with Jesus to help that part of him that doubts. This man is experiencing A Crisis Of Faith right before our eyes—he believes yet he also doubts. Let me just say that if Jesus expected perfect faith from us before he engaged with us positively, he’d have to wait a long time. Jesus is not looking for perfect faith in imperfect humanity. Jesus is looking for daily surrender to the will of God in spite of our doubt. “The father belongs to the unbelieving generation, but we see him straining to have this faith. Unlike the people at Nazareth, who refuse to believe, the father’s belief is repentant. He is unable to believe but is desperate enough to ask for a miracle and for a faith that expects the impossible. He has not been privy to any vision on the mountain, and his poignant cry, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief,’ has resonated with those fighting the same battle across the centuries. He pleads for help just as he is, a doubter.”[7] Jesus understands that with each episode of surrender to God’s will our faith grows stronger and stronger. However, that surrender is often not without sorrow, pain and suffering as prayers for God’s miraculous intervention in our lives or the lives of those we love appear to go unanswered.

            Although perfect faith on the part of humanity is the ultimate objective of Jesus, He recognizes the limitations of imperfect humanity as we see Him heal the boy in vv. 25-27 in the presence of the growing crowd which no doubt includes a cross-section of people like the religious leaders who refused to believe the Truth, people who were only interested in being entertained by Jesus’ divine power, and certainly some who were desperately trying to believe even as they were burdened by doubt much like the distraught father. Jesus expels the demon from the boy and commands it to never re-enter him. At this command, the demon violently attacks the boy one last time before it leaves him apparently so exhausted that he appeared to be dead. Yet Jesus took the healed boy by the hand and helped him to his feet; free of the evil spirit. “The spirit went out at the end of each attack, but returned again. [V. 26] describes a final fit, apparently worse than the preceding. It was evidently an aggravated type of epilepsy, fit following on fit and producing utter exhaustion.”[8] In the rest of Mark’s gospel we learn that the religious leaders refused to believe to the end and the spectacle-seekers were forever only interested in a good show. However, there were certainly some whose faith was strengthened whenever their doubt collided with Jesus during his earthly ministry. The primary purpose behind Jesus’ miracles wasn’t for the purpose of satisfying the immediate needs of those seeking his help even though that was certainly a by-product of his miracles. Remember that there were many who were not beneficiaries of Jesus’ healing miracles. Furthermore, those he raised from the dead, nevertheless died eventually; those he healed also died at some point; and those he fed would become hungry again. Therefore, there must have been a primary motive behind Jesus’ miracles beyond the miracles themselves. Jesus’ primary purpose behind his miracles was to authenticate his divinity. The miracles were only important insofar as they pointed people to Jesus not as a miracle-worker per se but as the divine Son of God. “The focus on the power of God to fix problems or provide material assistance is presented as off-focus from the true significance of the miracle as a sign of who Jesus was.”[9]

            Let’s not forget how this all started. A desperate father brought his son to the disciples to be healed and they were unable to do so. There hasn’t been any mention of the disciples since this all began but can you imagine what they were feeling? I’m sure they did the same thing that worked in the past so they had to be wondering what they did wrong. They had to be going through their mental checklist to see what they had missed. Remember, all the disciples were Jews and if Jews were anything, they were meticulous about following rules and lists so I can imagine they were making sure they did everything by the book. What went wrong? Why didn’t what worked before work on this demon? They had if figured out, or so they thought. Jesus had given them the power to drive out demons in his name (Mt 10:1) so how could they fail? So in v. 28 when Jesus and the disciples went inside and were alone, they asked Jesus why they failed. Jesus explains to them in v. 29 that the evil spirit they encountered can only be overcome by prayer. Simple enough right? Let’s not make another mistake and think that prayer is just another box added to long list of boxes to be checked off. Prayer is many things but primarily it is the act of being in communion with God. It is a form of surrender; a way of saying to God ‘I want to be in relationship with you because you are the way to life—without you I can do nothing.’ Prayer is not a formula. Prayer is a form of humble submission to God’s authority and an admission that any spiritual power we may have comes directly from God. Prayer is our way of saying we believe that all things are possible with God. Prayer is the language of our relationship with the creator of the universe and demonstration of our faith in Him. The disciples failed because they forgot that their source of power originated from God and not by their own strength. “Jesus, however, spoke only of prayer as the source of faith’s power and the means of its strength. The disciples had been tempted to believe that the gift they had received from Jesus was in their control and could be exercised at their disposal. This was a subtle form of unbelief, for it encouraged them to trust in themselves rather than in God. They had to learn that their previous success in expelling demons provided no guarantee of continued power. Rather the power of God must be asked for on each occasion in radical reliance upon his ability alone. When faith confronts the demonic, God’s omnipotence is its sole assurance, and God’s sovereignty is its only restriction. This is the faith which experiences the miracle of deliverance.”[10]

Application

            What do we do when what we once believed about God and the way He operates changes? Some don’t really care because they’re not that invested in their relationship with God anyway. If God fits in their life the way they’ve constructed it then fine but if not they’re not going to lose any sleep over it. However, others are left wondering what to do; where to turn. They’re left wondering if everything they believed about God is wrong. Some people think that God creates these events at rare times in our lives in order to aid in the maturity or our faith. But I don’t find this to be the case as is evidenced by my own life. Maybe it’s just me but I find myself having to examine daily what I believe about God and how he operates. For me, every day is A Crisis Of Faith. Over the last ten to fifteen years, God has used what seems like daily events in my life to destroy all my illusions about who I thought God was or more accurately wished God to be. In place of those illusions, God has been building, brick by brick, a new house of faith that will be able to stand the test of time; A house not built on illusions, fantasy or wishful thinking but a house built on the Truth that was revealed in Jesus Christ. It is hard to accept that anything associated with “crisis” can be good but I submit that unless we examine our faith daily, unless we submit to the lordship of Christ daily; unless we relinquish control of our lives to Christ daily; unless we seek a growing relationship with Christ daily through prayer, then God will be left with no choice but to introduce an event (or daily events in my case) that will force us to cry out to Him either in confusion, sorrow, pain, suffering, or whatever will force us to abandon our own way of doing things in our own strength based on our own understanding and seek Him for all things; for all strength and for all understanding. Jesus described the life of faith as a narrow path that not everyone will be willing to travel. If we are committed to traveling that path then we will inevitably be faced with painful and frightening struggles along the way as a result of our imperfect nature and God’s desire for us to mature in our faith and grow closer in our relationship with Him. Often the process will be difficult and painful; confusing and hard to understand. Often it will require A Crisis Of Faith.

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[1] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 186.

[2] Lyndon K. McDowell, “Demons and Deliverance,” Ministry: International Journal For Pastors, April 1987.

[3] Craig A. Evans, Mark 8:27-16:20—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), p. 51.

[4] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), pp. 166; 169-170.

[5] Rodney L. Cooper, Mark—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), p. 149.

[6] Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 600.

[7] David E. Garland, Mark—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 356.

[8] W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 403.

[9] David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 414.

[10] William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), pp. 335-336.