#DailyDevotion Unbelief Can Be Contagious, Be On Your Guard

Mark 9:14–20 ¹⁴When they got back to the other disciples, they saw a big crowd around them and some Bible scholars arguing with them. ¹⁵Then the whole crowd was amazed to see Jesus, and they ran and welcomed Him.¹⁶“What is this argument about?” He asked them. ¹⁷ “Teacher,” someone in the crowd answered, “I brought You my son. There’s a speechless spirit in him. ¹⁸Wherever the spirit takes hold of him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and gets rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”¹⁹“O you unbelieving generation!” Jesus answered. “How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰They brought the boy to Him. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into convulsions. He fell on the ground and rolled around and foamed at the mouth.

So Jesus and the three (Peter, John and Andrew) just come down from the mountain where they had see Jesus transfigured before him in all his glory, saw Moses and Elijah and heard the voice of the Father commending Jesus. When they get down they find the rest of the disciples arguing with the Scribes aka Bible Scholars. But what were they arguing about?

Mark doesn’t tell us. Jesus wants to know what they were arguing about and ask but neither the disciples nor the Scribes get a chance to answer for a father pipes up, “Teacher,…I brought You my son…I asked Your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” We might guess that they were arguing on the best way to drive out a demon i.e. do an exorcism since the disciples were not getting the job done. Perhaps there was an argument over the disciples authority to do exorcisms. The father doesn’t seem all that concerned about it. He wants his son to be free from being in bondage to this demon. He had brought his son to Jesus but all he had gotten was his disciples. The disciples had the authority of Jesus to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead.

When Jesus hears this he exclaims, O you unbelieving generation!…How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” Now who is this directed at? The disciples? The Scribes? The father? Did the father not believe the disciples had the authority to cast out demons and that is why the child wasn’t restored? The Phoenician mother believed in Jesus and her child was restored. The Scribes most certainly didn’t believe in Jesus but they probably thought they had the authorities to perform some sort of exorcism ritual, but they weren’t being asked. I generally think he is referring to his disciples but also to the father. You can picture it, the father brings his son to Jesus to be healed and all he gets is his disciples and his face becomes downcast. The disciples see the father become downcast as he has no faith in their ability and/or authority to cast out demons so they lose faith. In a spirit of unfaithfulness they then try to cast out a demon not relying on their faith in their Master, Jesus. Unbelief can be contagious.

Well Jesus asks for the boy to be brought to him and when he gets there the demon starts to throw the boy into convulsions. We know this, the demon in seeing Jesus knew who he was and believed in what Jesus could do. When others doubt, what do you do? Do you rely all the more on Jesus or do you turn to your own power, reason and strength? Do you draw closer to God or let the doubters cause you to doubt as well? Rely on the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

Heavenly Father, when others doubt do not let our hearts fall into despair but draw us closer to you through the promises and give us a stronger faith. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.