"Help Me Overcome My Unbelief" - Luke 9:37-43

Parallel Passages:
Matthew 17:14-21
Mark 9:14-29

Continuing yesterday's thought, why do you think that the disciples could not heal the boy? The disciples asked Jesus that very question and in the Matthew and Mark accounts Jesus responds: He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20). In the Mark account it adds: This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer (Mark 9:29). It sounds as if the disciples may have either started believing in their own abilities a bit much, or in His absence, were wavering in their faith in the One that had sent them. What insight do you think is given by the addition of "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer"?

Do you think that what happened next was a lesson for the disciples as well as for all of us: Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:21-24). Every time I read this part I get a weird image in my head. I believe it is from the movie Space Jam when Michael Jordan is asked a question that is an innocent challenge to his "greatness" as a basketball player. Jordan's response is my image - he smiles as if to say "are you kidding me?" Do you not get the sense that Jesus felt like that when he said: "If you can'?".

Do you ever find yourself asking Jesus "if you can". Maybe you do not say it but do you ever express it with your life or maybe in your heart? Jesus asks the boy's father how long has he had this infliction. Jesus did not need to know the answer - he already knew. Jesus needed the father and His disciples to know that the situation was hopeless without Him. All things are hopeless without Jesus. Jesus asked the father to examine his faith and in doing so was teaching the disciples the same.

Where is our faith? I find it to be a hard proposition to quantify. However, I did read one man's impression of four levels of faith. John Westerhoff, a professor at the University of Duke School of Divinity described these levels as: (1) Experienced faith is the faith of children. Faith that they experience from their parents and others. (2) Affiliated faith is the faith of older children and many adults, the measure of faith that comes from affiliating with those that have faith. (3) Searching faith is faith asking questions, faith struggling to become a personal faith. (4) Owned faith is personal faith, faith that has developed successfully beyond level three. John H. Westerhoff III, Will Our Children Have Faith? (Harper Collins, 1976), 88-99. I do not know if I buy into these four levels but I definitely agree that faith is a growth process; and, as his theory continues - if one does not progress his faith beyond a certain level then there is a high likelihood that something will ultimately shake his faith and cause him to abandon his relationship with the Lord.

Lord help me overcome my unbelief! Our continual prayer for one another should be like Christ's prayer on behalf of Peter: "But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail...." Luke 22:32.