Advent Devotional for Dec. 6
Saturday, December 6 Mark 9:14-29
Healing requires faith.
I have always enjoyed passages of the Bible that show Jesus’ human side, and this is certainly one such passage. Exasperated at his disciples’ inability to cast out a demon in a boy, Jesus says to them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” And Jesus looks at the boy, and Jesus asks his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” The father gives him the history and then says, “If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus says in essence, “If you are able! Anything can be done with faith.” The father says, “I believe; help my unbelief.” And Jesus heals the boy.
Seems to me that the human side of this story still connects today. Still today Jesus’ followers feel incapable of actually healing, just like his disciples way back then. Who among us hasn’t looked at the world or just our town and felt totally incapable of bringing real healing? We see racial segregation struck down in the law books but still practiced in many communities. We see financial difficulties threatening many folks, and we think, “How can we be the Body of Christ in the midst of this? With our limitations and imperfections, how can we help to heal the world really?
And the disciples only worried that they couldn’t do it; like the father, we sometimes worry that not even Jesus can do anything about it. We lift these issues to Jesus sometimes as a catharsis for us, not daring to hope that he really will do anything about it. It just feels better to talk it out, like we would to a therapist or a friend. Yet the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus is more than a therapist, more than a friend. He heals—broken spirits, broken bodies, broken minds, broken relationships, broken communities, broken churches, broken nations. In fact it is when we are most broken that we can know Jesus the best.
But to believe all this takes faith; in a culture where even those friendly to Jesus hold him up as a personal self-help guru, or a champion of personal freedom, it takes faith to believe that he is more, that he is a healer. And this is where healing starts—in our faith.
Healing requires faith.
I have always enjoyed passages of the Bible that show Jesus’ human side, and this is certainly one such passage. Exasperated at his disciples’ inability to cast out a demon in a boy, Jesus says to them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” And Jesus looks at the boy, and Jesus asks his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” The father gives him the history and then says, “If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus says in essence, “If you are able! Anything can be done with faith.” The father says, “I believe; help my unbelief.” And Jesus heals the boy.
Seems to me that the human side of this story still connects today. Still today Jesus’ followers feel incapable of actually healing, just like his disciples way back then. Who among us hasn’t looked at the world or just our town and felt totally incapable of bringing real healing? We see racial segregation struck down in the law books but still practiced in many communities. We see financial difficulties threatening many folks, and we think, “How can we be the Body of Christ in the midst of this? With our limitations and imperfections, how can we help to heal the world really?
And the disciples only worried that they couldn’t do it; like the father, we sometimes worry that not even Jesus can do anything about it. We lift these issues to Jesus sometimes as a catharsis for us, not daring to hope that he really will do anything about it. It just feels better to talk it out, like we would to a therapist or a friend. Yet the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus is more than a therapist, more than a friend. He heals—broken spirits, broken bodies, broken minds, broken relationships, broken communities, broken churches, broken nations. In fact it is when we are most broken that we can know Jesus the best.
But to believe all this takes faith; in a culture where even those friendly to Jesus hold him up as a personal self-help guru, or a champion of personal freedom, it takes faith to believe that he is more, that he is a healer. And this is where healing starts—in our faith.
posted by Michael Jordan at 6:00 AM
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