Faith

Faith

Mark 9:14-29

            The first dictionary definition of faith is “unwavering belief.”  Later in the definition we find the word “trust.’  If you look up the definition of “trust,” eventually you come to the word “faith.”  No, this isn’t some sort of circular definition, nor are faith and trust exactly the same thing.  The definitions of both words are much richer than that.  Still, there is a relationship.  We might even go so far as to say that faith is unwavering trust, and trust is unwavering faith—but that might be too circular.  For now, let’s just say that faith is unwavering belief and leave it at that.

            If only it were true.  We Christians have faith, surely, but too often it is not unwavering.  We are frequently like the father in Mark’s story.  We want healing to take place.  We want answers to prayer.  We want situations resolved and people’s lives changed.  We know they can happen, but we’re not completely convinced they will happen. 

            I think Jesus understood the father from their first words to each other.  He was desperate to receive help for his son.  The boy had suffered the effects of epilepsy from a very early age.  No one had been able to find a cure.  The disciples, try as hard as they could, weren’t able to stop the attacks.  They had just returned from a mission trip where they had healed the sick, cast out demons, and brought people to repentance, but this time they were stymied.

            Now everyone turned to Jesus.  After expressing his exasperation with his followers he asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?”  This sounds like the kind of question a doctor might ask today:  How long has the disease been present?  How much time has it had to work its destruction?

            The man’s answer lets us know the level of his desperation.  He is at the end of his rope.  There is nothing left to try.  If Jesus can’t help him, no one can.  Yet the years of failure have taken their toll.  He cannot summon unwavering belief.  He says, “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

            Jesus sounds incredulous:  “If I can help him!  All things are possible for one who believes.”  Jesus knows he can heal the boy—but does the father have the faith to support the cure?  His answer is one we have all given, in one way or another, many times in our lives.

            “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”  It sounds as if he’s saying, “I believe.  I have no choice but to believe.  Please take away that lingering doubt that keeps nagging at the edge of my faith.”

            And Jesus heals.

            Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”  Jesus met the desperate father at just that point.  He’d taken the first step, but was in pause mode.  I believe Jesus’ words gave the man the courage to move up the staircase.

            Don Osman has said, “You never find God until he becomes your deepest desire.”  We see this kind of faith at work in this story.  God has been called the Hope of the hopeless.  The father was without any other recourse.  He was truly hopeless.  At the moment of deepest distress, God came to him and provided healing for his son.

            “Some things have to be believed to be seen.”  Rudolph Hodgson might have had this story in mind when he made this statement.  We are used to the phrase, “Seeing is believing,” but with God it often happens the other way round.  We have to trust before we have sight.