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S. Pentecost 17.24 Mark 9:14-29

“Jesus said, ‘If you can!?’ All things are possible for one who believes.”

So, given that, why couldn’t the disciples cast out the demon? This is their question for Jesus at the end of the episode when they’re alone together (‘If you want to be alone, come with me’ 😉 Jesus says to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer’.

But, in Matthew’s account of the same episode, Jesus says it’s ‘because of your scant faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there!” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’

The Greek for ‘scant faith’ (most translations have “little”) is ολιγοπιστιαν and ολιγος is where we get all our “oligarchs” from, the rule of the few (sure glad that never happens in America! 😉 An ολιγος faith is literally “few”; but “few faith” makes no sense in English, so “scant” is really the word you’re looking for when it’s a matter of faith—which you can’t ‘do sizes on’ as you can with things.

Man, God really is in the details, isn’t he?! Getting the Greek right (rite?) will often clear up a lot of problems right from the get-go, something my old teacher Norman Nagel was brilliant at—like another teacher of mine, Paul Holmer, Nagel realized clarity in theology (and thinking!) often comes from simply getting the language and grammar straight and conceptual clarity follows like a happy puppy—who, hopefully, isn’t surrounded by those people St. Paul mentioned who think they can eat anything—even our pets! Well, I’m not going to worry about it. All dogs go to heaven. And some cats 😉

Anyway; Nagel didn’t like Holmer very much—something I only (sadly!) discovered after admitting (confessing?) to Nagel that Holmer had been a mentor of mine. It’s too bad. I think they’d have discovered, as C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot, did, after snarking at each other for decades, that, working together late in life, they actually got along famously. Ah well. I like all 4.

Anyway, this question of why the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon I think is really worth unraveling, because I believe it gets to the very heart of Xn faith. So, we need to start with this business of scant faith. As Jesus goes on to clarify in Matt. 17 that “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed (basically the smallest possible thing imaginable at the time) you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there!’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you’—proving scant faith is a nice way of saying no faith at all! Who says Jesus isn’t a nice guy?! 😉

OK… I did, last week. But what I meant is that even when he’s being kinda mean and snarky, Jesus does it in a nice and fun way!

So, we see, moving back to our Gospel account of the same episode in Mark, that scant faith must mean no faith at all! Because, when Jesus comes down (from the mount of the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John) and finds a hostile crowd rebuking his 9 other disciples as they’re flailing around unsuccessfully trying to cast the demon out of the boy…

“I tell you Thaddeus, it’s all in the wrist! You’re not using enough wrist when you wave your wand and go ‘Be gone, demon!’ The wrist, and the tone in your voice, lets ‘em know you mean business buster!’”

When Jesus asks what the fuss is all about, and the man says he brought his lunatic son to the disciples and they’ve been… unsuccessful in their exorcism attempts, and Jesus says: “O FAITHLESS generation! How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” he’s clearly talking about the whole bunch: the crowd, the man, the lunatic, and his 9 apostles when he says faithless generation! Scant faith in Matthew is simply a nice way of saying no faith at all! No bueno!

This is confirmed when they bring the boy to Jesus and he starts convulsing, falling to the ground, rolling around, foaming at the mouth, maybe his head spinning all the way around? and Jesus goes, “Wow. That looks really bad.” And the man is like “It is real bad, Jesus!” And Jesus, very laconic, great bedside manner goes, “How long has this been going on?” And the dad is like “A long time! Since he was a toddler! And it often casts him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, help us!

Jesus’ stern reply, surely delivered with heat: ‘If you CAN!!?? All things are possible for one who believes!’ simply must mean everyone in his audience lacked the mustard seed sort of faith that exorcises demons and removes mountains. In a similar spot in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus wonders aloud (disturbingly!): “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The man’s line “I believe, help my unbelief” sounds lovely, is often quoted. But notice: Jesus doesn’t commend his confession as he did that Canine-ite woman’s, nor acknowledge his faith as he did that sinful (but lovely 😉 woman’s who washed his feet with her tears…

The disciples say they believe and understand Jesus, all the time! and Jesus is like… “Really? OK… 😉

Jesus ignores the line. To an experienced eye, it looks like the only one with faith in this scene is Jesus. He just commands the demon to get gone and the demon (after practically killing the kid), goes…

When the disciples ask: “Why could we not cast it out?” Jesus shoots back: “this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” Is Jesus saying that if you pray harder, really earnestly, that will do it? Uhm. Well…

I think this is like one of those Zen koans Jesus seems surprisingly fond of, like: “anyone who believes in total depravity can’t be all bad”. When Jesus says: “If you want to come after me, deny yourself and take up the cross,”—self-denial, cross-bearing, aren’t being presented as something you can do, anymore than rich people can get into heaven. That’s impossible, for us, all those things! It’s what we receive from Jesus that defines us; and faith is pure passiva, nothing we do, but simply the non-rejection of Jesus the Spirit gifts us.

Because; the demon that needs to come out is the one that lives in you; there’s this guy who worries me because his faith seems scant, sometimes. I see him in the mirror, shaving.

Praying really hard doesn’t give you anything more than faith already has! Prayer doesn’t cause, but results from faith. Jesus knows this, maybe checking to see if you do, too?

Jesus alone has faith to share. When we start praying, we stop thinking, trying, wand-waving—thus distracted, all defenses down, Jesus sneaks rite in, his Word going in our ears, his baptismal water soaking our heads, his body and blood going into us, his Spirit gifting us that impossible faith that alone grants Peace, surpassing all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.