Mark 9:14-29 (The Message)
14 When they came back down the mountain to the other disciples, they saw a huge crowd around them, and the religion scholars cross-examining them. 15 As soon as the people in the crowd saw Jesus, admiring excitement stirred them. They ran and greeted him. 16 He asked, "What's going on? What's all the commotion?" 17 A man out of the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn't." 19 Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here." 20 They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth. 21 He asked the boy's father, "How long has this been going on?" 22 Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!" 23 Jesus said, "If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen." 24 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!" 25 Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: "Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you - Out of him, and stay out!" 26 Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, "He's dead." 27 But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.
This is one of my favorite confessions in the New Testament: the farther of the boy who says honestly, out of the depths of his heart, “I believe; help mine unbelief!”
It’s like it is too much to swallow so fast yet it is so vital to his deepest needs that he lets Jesus know that he does have faith, even though he still has questions.
Don’t we all!
Faith is always accompanied by doubt, questioning, wondering, speculating, even uncertainty.
Contrary to the Message translation of the text, there are “ifs’” among believers. That’s being human which is something none of us can shake.
I think this is the most honest expression of faith in the New Testament! And much more true to the human condition then blind certainty can ever be. Listen to these words from Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race.
“I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
Something to wonder about as we wander out under the stars.
‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty
but certainty’.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, I believe….with lots of uncertainty. With the leap of faith (and love) I confess more then I can ever understand or be certain about. Walk with me and love me with all my uncertainties.”
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