Mark 9:14–29

¹⁴And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" ¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸And 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." ¹⁹And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." ²⁰And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. ²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." ²³And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible for one who believes." ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" ²⁵And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." ²⁶And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" ²⁹And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."

In all three of our readings this morning, there is a common theme: the tongue. In the Old Testament reading Christ himself is speaking and says that he has been given the tongue to speak words that sustain the weary. In the Epistle reading we learn that only God can tame our tongue and change its curses into blessings. And in the Gospel we just read, a boy was afflicted by a mute spirit that tied his tongue so that he could not speak. The question to ask ourselves is: Is it possible that we here at Emmanuel have a mute spirit? One that does not speak to others about Christ, or proclaim the Gospel to our unbelieving friends, and in our community and neighborhood? Is our tongue tied?

The tongue, and the faith to use it, are the theme of our sermon today. So this morning we ask: How is our tongue today? Where is our evangelism and outreach? Do we have enough faith to use our tongue? Or do we also have a mute spirit?

Let us pray: Oh, Lord, increase our faith today as we hear your word that our lips might be opened, our tongues untied, and our mouths declare your praise. Amen.

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text this morning is the gospel reading, Mark 9:14-29, and on this occassion:

Jesus was coming down the mountain, that is, the Mount of Transfiguration. That mountain where just moments before he stood in heaven and was seen in the fullness of his glory. However, when he got back to our world down below, what he found was a world of disarray and chaos. His disciples were embroiled in a raucous argument with a crowd of people. What a wonderful way to welcome him back to our sinful world!

When he asked what all this fighting was about, a man spoke up. A demon was tormenting his son. It was a mute spirit, one that made the boy unable to talk. It even tried to kill the boy by throwing him into fire to be burned and into water to drown him. So the man brought his son to the disciples for them to cast out the spirit. But, they couldn't do it.

Now, in order to understand why the man came to the disciples, we have to remember that early on in the ministry of Jesus, when he chose his disciples, he also commissioned them and gave them the authority to proclaim his gospel and to cast out demons and heal the sick. All along as we read that Jesus was healing the sick and casting out demons, we have to remember that the disciples were also there at his side helping out. So when they couldn't cast out this demon, they were confused, the people were disappointed, and an argument broke out between the disciples and the crowd. That is what Jesus found when he came down the mountain after the Transfiguration.

And right in the middle of the fight was a boy—weak, frightened, tormented by unseen spirits, and he couldn't even talk or cry out for help. So his father pleaded on his behalf, and came and begged Jesus to help him, "if he could."

Now that was a slap in Jesus' face: "If you can...please help me," he said.

"What do you mean by 'If I can?'" said Jesus. You could just hear the frustration in his voice as he sighed, "How long am I to be with you, O faithless generation? How long do I have to keep on bearing with you?" I don't know a single pastor or teacher in the Church who hasn't at one time or another had the same feelings. No matter how much time you spend, no matter how much work and effort go into preaching and teaching and forgiving sins year after year, it sometimes just doesn't seem like anyone is getting the message. It often appears that no matter how you try to explain the gospel, people don't understand it. In fact, people often refuse to listen, or they reject your message, and sometimes get angry at you for even trying to tell them.

The reality is, the constant state of the Christian in the world is one of both faith and unbelief at the same time. At the same time we believe, we also doubt. No matter how strong our faith may seem, we also struggle with the old Adam. No matter how mature we are spiritually, we struggle with temptation and sin. Yes, the new man in Christ desires to do the will of God, but the Old Adam is always present to haunt us. We are just not the super Christians we think we are, nor are we the examples of great faith we image ourselves to be. We constantly fall short of what God expects of us, and our behavior is never up to the standard God sets for his children. Our love is always lacking. We often say things we regret later. We hurt one another. We are selfish and proud. So we feel guilty and begin to doubt if God really can love the likes of me. Our faith weakens, we doubt his love.

So, too often we are just like the boy's father: "Help me, Jesus, if you can." Our prayers are usually just that: "help me, if you can." So often we just aren't sure if Jesus can do anything to help. Or if he even wants to. We know we don't live up to what he expects, and Satan uses that to convince us that Jesus won't really help us. We just aren't good enough for him. Satan tries to convince us that God doesn't love us. God is not pleased with us. God won't help us. Satan accuses us of our sin and tries to make us feel too guilty to be helped by God.

He gives us a mute spirit so that we will not witness our faith to our neighbors. He convinces us that we don't know enough to tell other people about Christ. He weakens our faith and accuses us of being just too sinful for anyone to believe what we say if we tell them we are Christians. He convinces us that our lives just don't match our message. Or he persuades us that there isn't enough money in the budget to do the job. He tells us that we are too old and tired to be able to do anything. Worst of all, he turns our hearts cold so that we don't even care if our neighbor goes to heaven or not. So evangelism stops; outreach ceases.

In the end, Satan is very effective in destroying what little faith we have and tying our tongue so we don't witness to others. We no longer expect God to love us or help us. Our prayers even show the signs of weak faith. There is a little prayer that is the highest, most noble of all: "They will be done." It is really a prayer that places us completely at God's mercy to do whatever he desires, even if it is not what we would want. It really is a prayer of faith that says to God, "even if I have to suffer or die, do what you will, not what I want." However, when we tack on, "Thy will be done," at the end of our prayers, we often mean something entirely different. Instead of asking God to do his will whatever it is, what we really mean with these words is, "I'm giving you an excuse, God, just in case you don't answer my prayer." We use this clause as a disclaimer that gives God an out if he doesn't help us in our time of need. We turn if from a prayer of faith into an expression of doubt, an excuse if God doesn't answer us. We then are praying as the father prayed, "Help me, if you can."

My, how Satan confuses us and works to rob us of even the little faith we do have! And along with it he effectively silences us from spreading the Gospel to others.

But Jesus answered the father: "All things are possible for those who believe." At that the man replied, "I believe; help my unbelief." A prayer that Jesus was happy to answer.

In spite of their weak faith, Jesus showed a loving compassion for the boy and for his father. He took time to ask the father how long the boy had the spirit and to learn all about his suffering. His love and compassion show right through his frustration. He was gentle and forgiving of his disciples who couldn't cast out the demon. He didn't rebuke them, he didn't get mad. He cared for them, and with love and kindness he answered their prayer for more faith.

Then, out of love, He confronted the spirit face to face and cast it out of the boy. Instead of anger at us for being less than perfect Christians, he has pity on us and helps us, even if it means facing the devil himself. In our Old Testament reading Jesus states: "I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting... I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame... Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me." Instead of rejecting us for our unbelief; instead of being angry for our sin and imperfect life, he has pity on us. And so he stands up to our number one enemy; Satan. He challenges Satan; "Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together, come near to me." It reminds me of someone who gets into an argument and then challenges his rival, "Step outside with me and let's settle this." "Bring it on!" Jesus challenged Satan. He wasn't afraid to give his back to those who strike, or his cheeks to those who pull out the beard. He did not hide his face from disgrace and spitting. He took all Satan and his henchmen could dish out. He took their lashes, their spit, their blows, their crown of thorns, their scorn, their abuse, their insults, and even their cross. He stood up to Satan face to face and gave his life as a ransom payment for ours. He paid for our sins. He paid for our lack of faith. He paid for our muteness and failure to spread the gospel. He paid for our unfaithfulness to him. And so by his precious blood, he made atonement for our sins and purchased us for his Father. He gave us his very own righteousness and freed us from sin and death forever.

He stood up to Satan and rebuked the demon and cast it out of the boy. It left the boy laying there like a corpse, as if dead. The people jeered. "He's dead! He's dead!" they cried. But Jesus took his hand and lifted him up, as if to say, "Even the dead shall I raise to life." And so, in spite of our failure to do his will and to spread the gospel and to trust Him when we have fears and worries, Jesus kindly and gently forgives our sins and raises us up. He gives us his life to live and on the last day promises to raise us from the dead and give us eternal life.

He casts out the mute spirit from within our midst. He unties our tongues. For with God all things are possible to the one who believes. Why couldn't the disciples cast out the mute spirit? Because of their unbelief. "This kind of spirit only comes out by prayer," says Jesus. But on account of their unbelief, they could not or did not pray.

"Lord, help my unbelief." Pray then that Jesus give us more faith and cast out the mute spirit from us. Pray that he open our mouths that the gospel we have heard and believed we might also tell to others so that they too might believe and be saved.

Amen.