I Believe; Help My Unbelief
Mark 9: 14-29
Pentecost 17 (Proper 19)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Mark 9. David Hume was a well-known philosopher. His mother was once a believer in God. Misled by the philosophy of her son, she followed him in the ways of unbelief and rejected her faith. Years passed, and she approached the gates of death. From her deathbed she wrote to her son. “Dear son, my health has forsaken me. I am failing rapidly; I cannot live much longer. My philosophy affords me no comfort in my distress. I have lost the hope and comfort of religion, and I am sinking into despair. Can you offer me something that will replace the hope of God that I have lost? Hurry home, I beseech you, to comfort me, or at least write me what consolation you can afford in the hour of death.” But her son, the philosopher, had no such comfort for his dying mother. Such is the bankruptcy of unbelief.
Human ideas and philosophy could not give comfort or hope to the woman. Only God can truly give us comfort and hope. As Christians we may not understand everything about God, but we do know that we can trust Him. With that said, the Lord has revealed Himself to us in the Bible, so we do understand what is most important. It has been reveled to us that God is one God in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It has been revealed to us that God is all knowing and all-powerful. It has been revealed to us that God is holy and just. It has been revealed to us that God is filled with grace and love. We know that God has given to us life and salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. God has revealed to us that the gift of eternal life has been given to us through faith in Christ. God has made known the way of salvation.
God has told us much in His Word, but we don’t know everything about God. In this life we don’t fully understand the ways of our Lord. The same could be said about the world that we live in. No matter how hard we try it is impossible to understand everything around us. The person with the highest IQ does not understand everything. The person with the most education is ignorant about many subjects. The person with the most experience in life has not seen everything. We could live a thousand years, and we still would not have all the answers to our questions. Why does God allow things to happen in our life that are hard to understand? What kind of future does God have planed for us? In this life we will never understand everything about God. We will never fully understand the world around us. But we know that we can trust in our Lord. We know that God is good.
That is what our Gospel reading is teaching us. Mark tells us that a man brought his son to Jesus to be healed. He was a father, and he loved his son. But the young boy was severely disabled. The boy was overtaken and tormented by a demon. The demon robbed the boy of his speech. It would often throw him down and cause the boy to grind his teeth and become rigid. The condition only worsened. The boy’s father was desperate. Who can help his son? What was he going to do? The father did not understand why this was happening to his son. All was out of his control. There was nowhere to turn. Not even the disciples could help. When Jesus returned to the village, the man was exhausted. He turned to the Lord and cried out to Him. The father said these words. “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us”. And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief.” We can relate to the father in our text. We believe in the Lord but sometimes doubt creeps into our mind. We have saving faith in Christ but because of our sinful nature there are times when we doubt God’s Word. Our new nature trusts in the Lord but in our sinful nature lurks doubt. The father in our text believed in Jesus. He came to Jesus because he knew that the Lord was the only one who could help his son. But he also had some doubts.
We can certainly experience doubt. Burdened Christians carrying heavy crosses sometimes struggle to believe. We can grow weary when sickness affects us. We can grow tired of a condition, circumstance or situation in our life that only seems to be getting worse. We get tired and worn out. Sometimes we lack patience. Like the father we worry about our loved ones as well. We worry about our children, our aging parents, and anyone we care about who is suffering. Sometimes we doubt the Lord. We can relate to the father who cries out the words. “I believe; help my unbelief”. Mark tells us that the father turned to the Lord for help because the Lord was the only one who could help. Christ took command of the situation. “Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit I command you, come out of him and never enter him again”. Our Lord healed the boy. Christ took him by the hand and lifted him up.
Only Jesus had the power to remove the demon from the boy. It is the Lord that has delivered us from the power of Satan and demonic forces through his death and resurrection. Our text does not teach us that God will remove every burden and bad circumstance in our life. Remember there are many things that we don’t understand in this life. But our text is teaching us that we can always trust in the Lord. Our text reveals to us that God’s love is greater than the evil of this world. We see God’s great compassion for us all through His Son, Jesus Christ. In our Old Testament reading Isaiah the prophet said these words. “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God”.
We don’t always understand the things around us. We can’t always see the obstacles in front of us. But we know that we can trust in the Word of the Lord. We know that God is with us in this life directing us through this sinful world and bringing us to be with Him in heaven. Doubt sometimes enters into our heart because we don’t always see things clearly. In contrast, our Heavenly Father does see things very clearly. He saw that we needed a savior from sin and death, so He sent His Son to be our savior. He knows that Satan attacks us, so He never leaves our side. He understands that the fallen world can wear us down, so He gives us comfort, peace and eternal hope in His Word. “I believe; help my unbelief.” Help is at hand. The help is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who takes command, who is believable, and who acts powerfully and graciously. We once again go back to the words of Isaiah. “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the Name of the Lord and rely on his God.” Amen.