Pentecost 17 Mark 9:14-29 September 16, 2018 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ: When Jesus comes down off the mountain where He was transfigured, accompanied by Peter, James and John, He is immediately confronted with the situation that we have seen all through Mark s Gospel this summer: large crowds, bickering religious authorities, and disciples who still struggle to understand what s going on. So begins our Gospel reading this morning from St. Mark in chapter nine. But this text poses some really challenging questions. We see a boy who is afflicted with a demon, and he suffers unimaginably with convulsions and foaming at the mouth and all manner of other terrible things. His father has brought the boy to the disciples while Jesus was on up the mountain with the other three. They have returned, Mark says the crowd is amazed at the appearance of the Lord in their midst. Now the father approaches Jesus and says Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 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 (Mk 9:17 18). Ouch. So here is one of those challenging 1
questions: why weren t the disciples able to do this? After all, earlier in Mark tell us that Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits (Mk 6:7). What happened here? Where did this authority go? Then Jesus makes things even more difficult for us in this text. He says something that just raises more questions. He says, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me (Mk 9:19). So then of course Jesus casts out the demon and the boy is healed. But what does Jesus say? He says they were without faith O faithless generation and that is why they failed. What does that mean? Is there some secret sauce to this faith thing that the disciples didn t have? How do we get that? Where does it come from? Here is this main point Jesus is teaching us in this text today: what faith is, and where and how this true faith comes to us. In church we hear about faith all the time, but it is also commonly misunderstood. The central defining point of the teaching in this church is that we are saved by grace, through faith. Ok, but faith in what? Faith in ourselves? Faith that we have made all the right moves and said the right prayer to get right with God? Perhaps faith in our good works, faith that we have earned enough merit to get to heaven? Certainly many Christians believe that is the case, that somehow man and God work together in this faith process God does his part but we need to do our part. But true Christian faith is not found in the hearts of men and women alone. True Christian faith is the work of only one Doer who alone does the work of bringing sinful people to saving faith in Christ Jesus. That Doer, dear brothers and sisters, is the Holy Spirit. Remember 2
when we read through the Gospel of John in chapter six a few weeks ago, the disciples asked Jesus, What must we do, to be doing the works of God? 29 Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent (Jn 6:28 29). Belief is the work of God. Faith is the work of God. St. Paul tells us 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8 9). Whose work? Not ours, but God s. So in the Small Catechism Martin Luther teaches us this very simply: I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith. 1 So based on this clear teaching of Holy Scripture the Lutheran Confessions make this very plain: [W]e cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ s sake through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. 2 Further, in order to obtain all these bountiful gifts the ministry of preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted by our Lord. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given (John 20:22). He works faith, when and where it pleases God (John 3:8) in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake. 1 SC V 2 AC IV, 1-2. 3
This is what the disciples were lacking in our Gospel reading. It wasn t that they were not somehow pious enough, or that they didn t work hard enough. They were no longer looking to Christ but to themselves. They lacked true faith, and they were unable to cure the boy. The scribes berated the disciples you can imagine them mocking and arguing with the disciples in front of the crowd at their failure. We can even understand why the boy s father was so distraught the disciples failed, maybe even Jesus cannot do this! He says But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us (Mk 9:22). If you can? Jesus is indignant. If you can? But Jesus then points us back to Himself back to the source of true, saving faith: All things are possible for one who believes (Mk 9:23). This is what perfect faith can do. This is what was required to cast out this demon. Perfect faith looks to Christ alone, it looks to what God has done, is doing now, and will do for us, rather than what we must do for ourselves. Perfect faith rejoices when Christ says, 20 do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Lk 10:20). But the problem is that faith is not perfect. My faith certainly is not. The same is true for you, and it was true for the disciples. The father of the boy with this epileptic demon surely knows this. He brings his boy to Jesus out of trust and faith that Jesus will keep His promises, but still he cries out, I believe; help my unbelief! (Mk 9:24). His faith is not perfect, and our faith is not perfect, because into this world we are born sinful and unclean. Our faith is not perfect and so we daily sin and surely deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. We heard from the Apostle James this morning, that 2 we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not 4
stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man" (Jas 3:2). Well we all stumble in what we say. James goes on to say, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God (Jas 3:8 9). We live imperfect, sinful lives and our faith is likewise imperfect. Doubt, unbelief, despair this is indeed the root of the problem, the transgression of the First Commandment that we should have no other Gods, but that we should fear, love, and trust God above all things. We are not perfect, our faith is not perfect, our lives are not perfect. But we have One who stands in our place who is. Jesus takes all of our imperfections, all of our sins and defilement onto Himself on the cross and in exchange makes all things possible for us even salvation from sin and death. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts even though that faith is imperfect and at times a bruised reed and a faintly burning wick. But he will not break that reed or snuff out that wick. Christ corrects His disciples but He does not abandon them. He continues to lead them along to the cross. Even though faith is imperfect in this life of struggle and sin still we are here gathered together in the Divine Service because we have faith, which the Holy Spirit brings through these very gifts of Word and Sacrament. Here is where we are called, enlightened and kept in the true faith. Here is where all evil that would do us harm is driven away. This past Friday was Holy Cross Day in the liturgical calendar. The cross is the sign of God s favour and grace toward you. It is the symbol of salvation worked out for you. In our baptismal rite the pastor makes the sign of the cross while saying, "Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart 5
to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. Then and there we are marked forever with the sign of the cross upon which our Lord bled and died for us. In the waters of baptism the Holy Spirit comes to us and establishes us in faith, and we receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Grace through faith. Are we going to stumble and whither in this faith? Absolutely. Our faith is not perfect. But we are not without hope, we do not despair. God s grace is perfect. The Saviour who takes out place on the cross is the perfect, spotless and sinless Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So in those moments when we are bruised and smouldering remember the words of our Lord, All things are possible for one who believes (Mk 9:23), and know that in Christ even the perfection of His righteousness is ours. Amen. And now the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Soli Deo Gloria 6