The Gospel for March 27, 2004
Mark 9:14-29
As they were rejoining the disciples they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them. At once, when they saw him, the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ A man answered him from the crowd, ‘Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to drive it out and they were unable to.’ In reply he said to them, ‘Faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ They brought the boy to him, and at once the spirit of dumbness threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ ‘From childhood,’ he said, ‘and it has often thrown him into fire and into water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ retorted Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who has faith.’ At once the father of the boy cried out, ‘I have faith. Help my lack of faith!’ And when Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. ‘Deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.’ Then it threw the boy into violent convulsions and came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors, his disciples asked him when they were by themselves, ‘Why were we unable to drive it out?’ He answered, ‘This is the kind that can be driven out only by prayer.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y.
A Study
Jesus, Peter, James, and John are walking back down from the mountain where Jesus had just conversed with Moses and Elijah, and they had all four heard the voice of God expressing pleasure in Jesus, telling them: "Listen to Him!"
Luke, alone, tells us that Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about his upcoming death in Jerusalem.
When he and the three return, the crowd were "struck with amazement." Why? Was Jesus' face still glowing from his encounter? Or is it just Mark, again, being enthusiastic as only Mark can be. We will know some day....
We are given the tantalizing tidbit about "the kind that can be driven out only with prayer." What does that mean? Why leave us hanging, again? Go, and study the Word harder, we must assume, to tease out perhaps not the answer to that question, but to discover the answer to one that has real bearing on our lives at the time we find it.
That, typically, is the answer to faithful prayer.
A Study
"I have faith. Help my lack of faith!"
How many times have we cried out this plaintive plea? Waiting for a miracle, a sign, some indication that the Master has heard, that we will be made whole or that our loved one will be healed?
Perhaps it is the translation. The cynic in me sees God looking at my picture with a real-time bar-graph underneath, labeled, "Faith-o-meter." And mine is always moving around inside the red range, sometimes nudging into the yellow, but never leaping into the solid green part marked "FAITHFUL." The red range is labeled, "EXTRA GRACE REQUIRED."
But there is the surety given in Matthew 6. The first ten words may be the most important:
"... your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One."
6:38:47 PM 
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