Flashback Episode — The Trap of Unbelief: Mark 9:14-29

As we continue moving through the gospels looking at events from Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to an event where Jesus challenges not just His disciples or the crowd present, but the entire generation living during the first century.

However, I suspect that the issue Jesus takes aim at that generation for is actually an issue that every generation has faced since Adam and Eve’s fall, and I doubt that any generation prior to Jesus’ return will be exempt.

The idea Jesus challenges all of us on is the presence of unbelief in our lives. Immediately following Jesus being on the mountain with His three closest disciples, we read about what was happening with the other nine disciples when Jesus, Peter, James, and John rejoin the group. Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read it using the New International Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “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.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Let’s stop reading here to draw our attention onto the significance of what this boy’s father exclaims. While Jesus finishes off this event by healing the boy when His disciples could not accomplish this task, too often, we jump to the end triumph and miss what we can learn during the challenging middle of this event. Also, we often jump to the end of Jesus’ wrap up discussion with His disciples that this particular evil spirit was different from most and that prayer with fasting are the keys necessary to remove it.

However, let’s focus on what the boy’s father exclaimed in verse 24. The boy’s father cries out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Our belief is powerful, and unbelief has the power to sabotage the belief we do have.

In this passage, belief is mentioned a number of times leading up to the boy’s father’s exclamation.

The first mention of belief versus unbelief in this passage is when Jesus calls out the whole generation as “unbelieving” in verse 19. It is as though when Jesus learned what happened while He was gone, His heart sank a little because the people, and specifically the disciples, seemed to miss the truth about the power of belief. It also appears as though Jesus became a little irritated at how slow or dense many of the people were.

The second mention of belief also comes from Jesus when He responds to the boy’s father by saying that “Everything is possible for one who believes” in verse 23. This is a statement that both religious people as well as non-religious have taken and held up as a banner for believing in oneself. They take the spiritual word and make it common by saying things like, “Believe in yourself and you can do anything.”

It is very possible I don’t have enough belief, or perhaps it is something else, but all the belief in the world is not going to make me a NFL football player. To most of the hulk-like guys on football fields, I look more like a malnourished toothpick than a candidate for any season game. The sarcastic part of my brain wants me to conclude that this probably is entirely a case where I have unbelief which is sabotaging me. Or, more likely, I have concluded that I have better things to do with my body type and skill-set than play professional football.

The third mention of belief in this passage is hinted at instead of being directly stated. However, Jesus doesn’t miss this hint, and He draws it out for us to focus on. Jesus knows how the words we use reveal our thoughts, and Jesus challenges the father’s lack of belief by quoting the father’s opening to his request. In Jesus’ response, He calls out the father’s lack of belief by quoting the boy’s father’s words “If you can”.

The word “if” is a word that allows for exception, and it is a word that changes a certain statement into one where certainty is the exception. By using this word, the boy’s father revealed that he didn’t have confidence in Jesus’ ability to help in this situation. When we use the word if, we reveal that we don’t have total confidence in the subject we are talking about.

For example, by starting a statement with the words “Because God is God, He will . . .” I am getting ready to proclaim a promise that I believe God will do. However, starting a statement with the words “If God is God, He will . . .” I have effectively changed the direction of the statement into a challenge, and the only reason it is a challenge is because under the surface, the implication is that I don’t believe He could or would do the next part of the phrase.

Jesus calls the boy’s father out on the language He is using. He calls each one of us out regarding the words we use. Words are powerful, and Jesus wants to keep us from letting the words we use erode our belief.

After being challenged by Jesus, the boy’s father restates his wish, and he states that he does believe, but he acknowledges that he needs help with his “unbelief”.

In the context of this passage, unbelief is not the presence of doubt. Instead, unbelief is the presence of skepticism. Unbelief is when our hearts are hardened and we simply choose to challenge an idea like a skeptic would instead of believing. Doubt is the uncertainty that is present with faith in something that is unseen. While faith and doubt are almost always mixed, it is within our power what the ratio is.

Belief is similar to but distinctly different from faith. Belief is spiritual certainty and knowing something to be true in one’s mind. Faith is trust and/or devotion to something or someone. Often both words are used interchangeably, and in the church world, we should have both mixed into our lives.

Belief, faith, and acknowledging some doubt that is present in a situation is good. Unbelief, or skepticism about something, is bad. I suspect this is one big reason why Jesus called out the boy’s father when he made his request.

As I shared earlier, this event concludes with Jesus healing the boy, and the disciples later asking Jesus why they could not cast this evil spirit out. Jesus’ response is that prayer is the key. While Jesus’ words are directly tied to this situation, I also believe that they are tied to the subject of belief: Belief without prayer is weak. Prayer without belief is futile. However, belief when combined with prayer is limitless.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally and prayerfully seek God first in your life. When tempted or challenged to give up on your faith or your belief, lean into God and trust that His plan and perspective are bigger than we can imagine. When something doesn’t make sense, seek God first and ask Him to give you understanding to what you are struggling to understand.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to grow your personal relationship with Him. When questioning ideas, beliefs, or concepts, always test them against what the Bible teaches and prayerfully seek God’s guidance and help leading you into His truth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!