Can & Will

June 29

Read: Mark 9:14-29

Can & Will

“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!” (v.23,24)

It seems so odd to think of “belief” and “unbelief” living together in the same person. I would not believe it if I had not experienced it myself. I am afraid to say it, but I think I live like the father from this story more often than not… “I believe; help my unbelief”. The platitudes from the Sunday morning earlier in the week and the confidence I started the day with on Wednesday are so easily shaken by the circumstances of the world and my own fear. I come to Jesus and cry out for help… I ask him “if you can”… and his reply? “If you can! Believe”.

Jesus is asking us to participate with him… to be a part of the work that he is doing. It is not that we are the source of what happens - look at Jesus’ own words: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4,5) Yet, somehow our participation matters… we are not simply bystanders having something happen to us. We see this played out a couple of other times. In Mark 1:40 this happens between the Leper and Jesus:

“If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, (Jesus) stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”

In Matthew 9:28 with a group of blind men:

“When (Jesus) entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

What we see worked out is this - we must wrestle with two questions… CAN Jesus really do what I long for / need and WILL Jesus really do it… does he care enough or even want to do whatever it is? In short, “CAN & WILL”. In all of three of these instances we see Jesus answer in the AFFIRMATIVE - “Yes I CAN, and yes I WILL”. In fact, I cannot think of a time that someone approaches Jesus and speaks with him that he doesn’t answer “Yes & Yes” to the “can you & will you?” question. It is who Jesus is. Nevertheless, Jesus does not simply walk through town and all of these people are transformed… no… they come to him, they wrestle, the ask the “can & will you” questions, they face the potential ridicule and embarrassment of the crowds in their humble and weak state… I think all of these sorts of actions are an example of “believing in the midst of unbelief”.

The leper asks the “will you” question because he is struggling to trust Jesus’ character and mission… yet he came to him because he thought there was a chance! (He was right by the way.) The father here in Mark comes to Jesus int he same way. Imagine how disappointed he must have been when Jesus’ disciples FAILED at casting the demon out of his son!?! I am sure he started to doubt! How in the world do we come back from failure and disappointment into belief and trust?

We must cry out with the father from this account: “I believe… help my unbelief” ! Jesus brings us the “belief” that we need - it comes from him - but it is exercised and used by us. There is nothing wrong with asking the “can & will” questions… and there is something moving about the humility to admit both that “I believe” and that “I need your help with my unbelief”. In essence, we come to Jesus and ask, “can you help my unbelief?” and “will you help my unbelief?” - And Jesus says, “YES”.

What is interesting is that Jesus does the same thing here with the Father. What we see - behind the scenes - is that Jesus was having to trust the Heavenly Father to work in the same way. It is NOT that Jesus ever lacked faith, but simply he was trusting the “can & will” of the Father to cast this demon out of this boy (and maybe even raise him from the dead!). Look at what Jesus said to the disciples concerning this particular demon possession: “And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (v.28,29) What are we to make of this? My guess is that Jesus had to trust his own prayers to the Father to work in terms of casting this demon out! This tells me that in that moment while talking with the Father and seeing the crowds… Jesus was praying! He saw the mounting attention. He saw the inability of the disciples. He saw the desperation of this earthly father concerning his boy. IN all of that, Jesus was praying! Praying to the Heavenly Father trusting his “YES” answer to a “CAN & WILL” question. There are plenty of things in this world that are out of our hands and can only be accomplished by prayer. But prayer will always be fueled by trust and belief. Prayer starts by embracing the truth that God can and that he will… he will listen… he will work… he will grant you belief in the midst of your doubt… he will answer. God does not leave his children in our “unbelief”. It is ok to ask for help. It is normal to face doubt and fear. Jesus is calling us and enabling us to move in the midst of that unbelief. May we trust God to “cast out our demons” and to “raise us up from being seemingly dead” just like the boy in this story. May we admit our unbelief as much as our belief… and know that the Heavens Father and Jesus will meet us right there in the midst of it all. Love you guys. - JDP