When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him. “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”

Mark 9:14-29

Dear God, there is so much going on in this story. I should probably break it down into chunks and journal through it over several days.

I guess I’ll start today with Jesus’ response after the transfiguration. He’s on the road to Jerusalem. He’s scared of what’s to come and doesn’t want to go through it. He has this amazing, affirming experience on the mountain with you, Elijah and Moses, and then he returns to find a mess.

“You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

He’s not talking to the crowd here. I think he’s talking to the disciples. It’s almost like he’s saying, “How could you guys not handle this while I was gone? I’m just ready to get this over with.

I guess I can approach this from two directions. First, I’ve certainly had times when I had an amazing mountaintop experience with you and then slapped with reality when I get home. I think some of it is spiritual warfare (which, in this case, it literally involves a demon). I also think some of it is just my mind getting adjusted back to the valley. What will it be like to not have to return to the valley again one day?

Then there is the angle of how you look at me. How often do you say, “You faithless person. How long must I put up with you?”

Father, I know I let you down and I’m sorry. I know that I miss opportunities. I know that I don’t do everything you need me to do from a service standpoint and a ministering to others standpoint. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your patience. Thank you that your plan is John-proof and that you knew my failings and allowed for them, even before I was born. But don’t let that be my excuse. I want to do better, and it starts with today. Help me to see the opportunities you have for me and to embrace them with your strength and the faith and power that comes from my prayers to you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen