+ 17th Sunday after Pentecost - September 16th, 2018 +
Series B: Isaiah 50:4-10; James 3:1-12; Mark 9:14-29
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
So often in life we find ourselves feeling helpless. Everyday things, like weather, politics, or school strikes. And in life-altering ways too: hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes, a diagnosis of cancer or an untreatable autoimmune disease, or the sudden death of family or friends.
In many ways our Gospel reading from St. Mark this morning is a story of helpless people, and our Lord who came to bring hope to the helpless.
When Jesus came down the mountain following his transfiguration, he saw the crowds gathered around his disciples. He heard the scribes arguing. He saw the confusion. The fear. They were helpless. “What do we do about this boy? He’s plagued by a spirit? You’re the disciples of Jesus. We’ve heard about you and your Rabbi. We’ve heard the reports. Heal him. Cast it out. Do something!”
The disciples, however, were just as helpless as the crowds and scribes. “We saw Jesus’ heal the deaf-mute man and countless others. We saw the demons flee and tremble before his Word. Jesus gave us his authority to cast out demons. Where did we go wrong? What’s different this time? Why couldn’t we cast it out?”
At the center of this rather chaotic scene is the helpless father and his helpless son, tormented by an evil spirit. “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
The crowds, the disciples, the father, even the boy, they were all helpless. And in this way, St. Mark does us all a favor in telling this story the way he does. Mark is a down to earth Gospel writer. He’s not going to give us a spoonful of sugar; he tells us like it is. Here’s a man who knows what real life is like. Not kittens riding on a unicorn skipping across a rainbow. Life in this fallen world is messy. Full of arguments. Fear. Doubt. Anxieties. Worry. Disease. Death. Life often leaves us feeling like the crowds, the disciples, and the father. Helpless.
As St. Mark tells us this story he reveals our own helplessness. We’re not spectators; we are players on the field, fellow travelers through the valley of the shadow of death.
When they brought the boy to Jesus he saw this boy’s helpless state. Rather gruesome I imagine. Convulsions. Foaming at the mouth. Rolling around on the ground.
“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked. “From childhood.”The father replied.
The same is true for us too. From the day we’re born, and then born again in Holy Baptism, we’ve a target on our back. Hunted by the devil who prowls like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. Hated by the world for the name of Christ placed upon us and his cross we confess. Hounded by our sinful flesh. Helpless in our trespasses and sin. And helpless when the fallen world comes crashing down around us.
When temptation is creeping at the door of our heart and mind; when we fall into sin we so foolishly thought we had under control; when guilt and doubt over our fears, failures, and faithlessness overwhelms us like a thundershower.
Perhaps, then, at those times, you’ve prayed that same little prayer that boy’s father prayed. It’s a good prayer. An honest prayer. A prayer of faith.
Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
You can’t say it any better than this. Like this father, we are simultaneously believer and unbeliever. I believe, help my unbelief.This is no self-credentialing, self-justifying, self-referencing “faith.” This is the real thing. This is how faith sounds – I believe Lord, and only you, the author of my faith, can deal with my unbelief and sustain the faith you’ve given me.
As we confess in the Catechism: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but the Holy Spirit calls be by the Gospel, enlightens me with his gifts, makes me holy, and keeps me in the true faith.
Being helpless can feel terrifying. And yet blessed are you who are poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are we who are weak, for our Lord is strong. Blessed are we who are helpless, for our help is in the Name of the Lord.
The same Lord who stood before that father and his son also became a helpless infant born for us and our suffering servant on the cross. Jesus didn’t come to save people who have it all together or have everything figured out. That old saying has it backwards: God doesn’t help those who helps themselves; God helps the helpless. The Lord is near the brokenhearted. The bruised reed he will not break; the smoldering wick he will not extinguish. While we were still helpless sinners, Christ died for us.
What Jesus did for that boy and his father, He does for all on the cross by His death and resurrection. Jesus cast all of our doubt, fear, worries, anxieties, helplessness, sin, and death upon himself on the cross. And he cast out the devil. His cross is the exorcism of the world. Our Baptism is our exorcism too. Depart unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit in the Name of the Father and of the Holy spirit. His holy absolution does for us what he did for that boy, he raises us from the dead with his Word: I forgive you all your sins. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus places his body and blood into our helpless mouths, forgiving us, healing us, and feeding us his Bread of eternal life.
And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, the spirit came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
Arose. Anestiin Greek. The Resurrection Word. In that word Jesus gives us hope in our helplessness. Joy in our sorrows. Comfort in our grief. Life in our death. Forgiveness for our all sin.
Later, in the house, the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”
“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”It’s a reminder to His disciples that power lies not with them but with Him. Jesus alone is our help in the darkness. When other helpers fail and comforts flee. Come, friend of sinners, thus abide with me.
It is for us as it was for the father and his boy. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who came from heaven to earth to help the helpless, to save, forgive, and raise us from the dead.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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