Mark 9:14-29.  Jesus and the three disciples who were with him returned from their rip up the mountain to the place where the other followers were waiting.  A large crowd had gathered and some religious leaders, scribes, were part of this group.  Evidently the scribes were arguing with the followers of Jesus.  When the crowd spotted Jesus they were very excited and ran to greet him.  The whole situation must have been very intense and the crowd was excited because they knew Jesus was the one who could deal with what ever was going on.  And that is just what Jesus does, righ away he starts questioning the crowd about what they are arguing with his followers about.  Remember that this section is about the spiritual journey of Jesus’ disciples.  He has started to deal with their lack of understanding about who he is and what he is doing.  In this section he is going to continue to instruct his followers about being his followers.

The problem was because one of the people in the crowd had a son who was demon possessed.  Evidently the demon was causing a lot of harm to the boy.  The dad wanted the disciples to force the demon to leave the boy.  Remember back in Mark 6:13 that Jesus had sent the disciples out and that they had caused many demons to leave people and also that they had healed people of physical problems.  Here in this story they have not been able to cast the demon out of the boy.  In verse 19 it appears that Jesus is scolding the crowd for not really believing in him.  Some scholars think he may be scolding just his followers but in light of what happens in the next few verses it seems like everyone is getting the lecture.  After asking for the boy to be brought to him you would expect that Jesus would immediately command the demon to come out, but he doesn’t.  While the boy is flopping around on the ground Jesus proceeds to have a conversation with the boy’s father.  I can just imagine the dad standing there answering Jesus’ questions but watching his son rolling around foaming at the mouth.  I’m sure he was getting a little anxious.  Finally he blurts out, “If you can do anything help us!”  This is the moment Jesus has been waiting for, “What do you mean “if”?  Of course I can do it but you must believe.”  And immediately the father cried out that he believed in Jesus, or at least wanted to and was trying to.  Remember that the word “immediately” in Mark means that something happened in the most direct way, it mostly means “right away”, but also has in it the idea of the most direct or best path.  And so Jesus causes the demon to leave the boy.  The boy had been controlled by this inhabiting spirit for so long that when it left him he appeared to be dead.  Jesus took him by the hand helped him up.

Notice that Mark tells us that Jesus caused the spirit to leave the boy “when he saw the crowd running to watch.”  They were there to see the boy flopping around, or maybe to see what Jesus would do about it, or maybe to see why he wasn’t doing it right away.  It’s interesting that back in Mark 6:13 when the disciples were out healing and casting out demons that it was while they were telling people to turn their lives back to God (Mark 6:12).  Remember that in that first section of Mark that Jesus main focus was on teaching the people.  Jesus’ miracles were used to support what he was saying, the power proved the preaching.  Here we see Jesus focusing on believing in who he is and what his real mission is, as the crowd gathered he gave evidence of his power.   A miracle may fix an immediate problem but if we do not really understand who Jesus is and put our faith in him we are still stuck in the bigger mess that sin is in our lives; we are still separated from God by our rebellion and disobedience.  All of the problems of life are small in comparison to eternity, especially and eternity separated from God.  In verse 24 the father proclaimed his faith in Jesus and also asked for help in continuing to believe.  It is interesting that Jesus not only gave him proof by healing the boy but also commanded the demon to never again enter the boy.  I think Jesus was giving a bigger picture by saying that.  He was sort of pointing the man’s thoughts beyond the boy flopping around here, today.  The wording of verses 26-27 make some bible experts think that Mark is hinting at resurrection; the restoration of our bodies to our dead souls.  Although the boy was probably not dead there might be that sort of hint here, another way of pointing out the long term effects of faith in who Jesus is and what he is doing or can do for us (if we believe).

In keeping with the purpose of this section Jesus privately instructs his followers.  They have gone in for the night.  The disciples are probably pretty concerned that they were unable to help the boy.  After all they had been able to cast out demons before when Jesus sent them out.  And they had been in a big argument with some strong opponents about it all.  I’m sure their pride was pretty wounded, or perhaps they felt abandon and powerless.  Jesus’ answer?  “You guys need to pray.”  If you want power in your life to accomplish what God wants you to accomplish you need to stay connected to God through prayer and you need to be acting according to what God wants done (see John 14:13-14).  Remember it’s all about connecting people back up with God and we can’t do that unless we stay connected ourselves.

I think that this passage would have been pretty helpful to those believers in Rome who were being chased and hurt because of their faith in Jesus.  This passage shows that Jesus cares, not just about our lives here and now but about the bigger picture of our lives, our eternity.  Thy also would have learned that they needed to stay connected to God and could stay connected to him through prayer.  God always answers the 911 prayer line and always sends the right help.  But remember sometimes the right help means that we will flop around on the ground for a while until the crowd gathers to see what God can really do.  That’s not saying we can be demon possessed if we are believers, we can’t.  It means that sometimes we will go through unpleasant things.  Our assurance is that God will never leave us, nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8:32-39) and he will cause all of life’s pain and trouble to have meaning if we live for him (Romans 8:28).  We need to believe and act and allow God to help us when we don’t believe.

God thank you for using you power for my benefit and for the benefit of all in light of eternity.  Let me be living for your purposes.  Let my life have eternal importance in the lives of those I meet.  When I lack faith help me believe.  Let me stay connected to you through prayer.  Help me see your will and promote you through all my actions.  Let me be called according to your purposes.