March 28: Everything Is Possible

Jesus Predicts His Death for the First Time

Mark 8:31-9:1

Matthew 16:21-28

Luke 9:22-27

Jesus Is Transfigured on the Mountain

Mark 9:2-13

Matthew 17:1-13

Luke 9:28-36

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit

Mark 9:14-32

Matthew 17:14-23

Luke 9:37-45

One of my favorite miracles of Jesus recorded in the Gospels is found in our reading today: “Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit”. I’m actually going to preach on this passage this coming Sunday in a message entitled Facing Faltering Faith. But there’s one point in the message that is from Mark’s recording of this miracle that must be mentioned before Sunday.

The NIV translates part of the exchange between Jesus and the father of the suffering boy this way (dialogue from Mark 9:21-23a)…

Jesus: How long has he been like this?

The father: From childhood. 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.

Jesus: “If you can”?

I love words. I like to listen closely to the words people use. The old saying goes something like this: “The eyes are the windows to the soul”. But the Word offers this truth: “What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45b NLT).

Jesus listened closely to words as well, and he catches the boy’s desperate father in a moment of unbelief. His response can almost be interpreted as offense: “If I can? Do you know who I am? And you’re questioning what I can do?”

Allow me to draw a comparison…

I have been playing the piano for 35 years. The first song I ever played in a recital was When the Saints Go Marching In. If someone asked me today to play that song but did so with uncertainty in their voice and a lack of confidence in my abilities, I would surely be offended and honestly quite upset.

“Can you play When the Saints Go Marching In?”

“Can I play it? You obviously don’t know who I am!”

I’m certain that Jesus approached the boy’s father with a bit more care and compassion than that. He finished that statement with these powerful words: “Everything is possible for one who believes.”  He is able! He can do it! There’s no need to question him…just believe.