It’s lovely to have you join us for the podcast this Wednesday.

Our theme for today is ‘Dealing with Difficulty’ and the Bible passage is Mark 9:14-32.

REFLECTION:

In 1859, Charles Dickens published ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’ It begins with one of the most famous opening sentences in literary history:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us……”

We’re going to use these words to help unpack today’s Bible passage:

Peter, James and John have just been up the mountain with Jesus and witnessed the Transfiguration. They have seen Christ revealed in dazzling splendour and they have heard the voice of God. Everything that happened up on the mountain was amazing. Peter even suggested that they remain there, and construct tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah to stay in. It was the best of times.

But after this awe-inspiring mountain top experience, they walk back down into the valley, and straight into a large agitated crowd of people arguing with each other. It could not be further removed from what they had just experienced. From a place of blessing, they walked straight into a battle. It was the worst of times.

In Mark Chapter 6, Jesus sent the 12 disciples out in pairs, and had given them authority over evil spirits. They had gone to different towns and driven out many demons. They knew what they were doing, and how to do it. When the father in Chapter 9 asked the disciples to free his son from an evil spirit, they obviously felt confident enough to respond to his request. It was the age of wisdom.

But then, in front of the crowd, in front of the teachers of the law, they tried to drive out the demon; but to no avail. Nothing happened. The disciples had failed, and in verse 28 we see that they just couldn’t understand why. It was the age of foolishness.

The father brought his son to be healed by Jesus. He has obviously seen or heard of the miraculous healings that Jesus was doing and wanted the same for his son. It seems likely that he also knew that the disciples had been driving out demons, since when he discovers that Jesus is up on the mountain, he doesn’t walk away and take his son home. Instead he asks them to free his son from this torment. It was the epoch of belief.

But it seems his belief has been misplaced. The disciples could not do it. And so his belief falters to the extent that in verses 22 and 24, the father says to Jesus, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us……I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” But it is not just the father who is being challenged. In verse 19 Jesus says to the disciples. “You unbelieving generation, How long must I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” Jesus’ response expresses his frustration at the slowness, helplessness and inability of the disciples to deal with the task in hand now, let alone in the future. It was the age of incredulity.

And this is where we come to the focus of today’s podcast – ‘Dealing with Difficulty.’

So far in this Bible passage, we have seen a series of difficulties:

There’s difficulty for Peter, James and John leaving an amazing encounter with God, and having to return to normality. There is the difficulty of facing conflict. There is the disciples’ difficulty at feeling a failure. There is the father’s difficulty of feeling unsure in his faith. And there is difficulty for Jesus – his feeling of frustration.

What can we learn from Jesus’ response to these many difficulties?

The first thing to learn is that the longer we walk with Jesus, the more we will encounter difficult situations that challenge our faith,