The Gospel of Mark – Part 32

Faithful Follow Through – Mark 9:14-29

Mosaic Rockford – Dave Spooner – April 26th, 2020

Intro: 

Today we are reading the passage where Jesus delivers a young boy from a demonic spirit.  In it, we learn why so often we have words but without power.  Jesus teaches us where spiritual power really comes from.  My prayer is that you will understand where spiritual power comes from, not just have the words of God but the power of God so that this world would know Jesus and be free from the control of darkness.Jesus, Peter, James and John are coming back down the mountain after spending the night.  Up on the mountain, Jesus was transfigured before these men. They saw His glory and were told to listen to Him.  Jesus was greater than anyone in the Old Testament and His glory is far greater than the glory of the Old Testament. As they came down to rejoin the rest of the disciples, they came upon the following scene. 

Mark 9:14-18 ESV

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

Words without power

There was this man who was endeavoring to bring his son to Jesus so that Jesus could deal with the spirit who would take over his son seeking to control and destroy him. This man took his son where he thought he would find Jesus, only to find out that Jesus was not with His disciples.  So this man decided to ask the disciples for help.  Which made sense, because Jesus did give them authority to cast out demons (Mark 3:15) and they have been successful in doing so (Mark 6:13).  However, in this instance, they we unsuccessful in casting out this demon, and helping and healing this boy. Because of their unsuccessful attempts at helping this boy, the scribes took them to task, and they argued with one another.The logical conclusion is that they were arguing about the authenticity of their message when their words did not line up with their actions.  The critics were pointing to their failure to act as evidence to discredit Jesus and those who follow Him.  This is still true in our day.  If we only have the words of Jesus but not the actions of Jesus, we are liable of discrediting Him ourselves.  Your words must be reflected in your actions, and your actions must be reflected in your words in order for the credibility of Christ and Christianity to withstand criticism.  If our words are not backed up by our actions, we have a problem (James 1:22-27). 

Mark 9:19-20 ESV

And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 

Discouragement of Jesus

This conversation was with His disciples, not with the crowd or the man.  Jesus was discouraged and perhaps exasperated with them, that they still did not have faith or belief in Him after He had been with them for so long and had shown them many things.  He was becoming discouraged.  “How long am I to bear with you?  How long am I to be with you?  How long will you lack faith?”  He was frustrated.  Even God Himself gets discouraged by our lack of faith and our inability to do what we have been called to do. And then He told them to bring the boy to Him.  And the evil spirit knew who He was, (which is a sad commentary on the state of His disciples).  The evil spirit then immediately went into action