faithfulness, wisdom, & prayer...when the miracles don’t come.
Mark ch9v14-29 (to open in a new window, hold control down as you click the link)
Faithfulness (& Prayer):
From a blog using the matrix as a parable (more than 10 yrs ago)[1] we hear: “…through prayer we can commune directly with him who loves us and desires all good things for us. Through faith we can rest assured that we will be saved from the final destruction. Through our real and living relationship with a real living God we are given the means to stand against and defeat all manner of evil. Considering with the faith of a mustard seed mountains can be moved (Matthew 17:20). Is this exaggeration? No, for he says greater things than these will you do. (John 14:12) Did anyone see Neo move mountains? Consider Philip's apparent teleportation. (Acts 8:39) The raising of Lazarus from the dead. (John 11) What do all these things have in common? They are all done by the power of almighty God, and accomplished by faith in Him.”“There is one thing that stands against this faith. It is the lie, the Deception, the matrix. We begin to believe in it and not in God. Our faith is destroyed and we are separated from God. His power can no longer operate in our lives. We are literally trapped in the matrix. Our only hope of escape is the realization that it is a lie, that God's word is true, and He is who He says He is.”[3].
Some other contexts:
Jesus had
had 3 similar situations of apparent impotence in his own healing ministry in
the past, & his response was not to “back down”, but to continue, or to hit
harder.
a) the legion of demons in the man “over the lake”, didn’t
immediately jump, but begged etc.
b) the time at his home town,
c) the time with the blind man who
was brought to Jesus & when he rubbed the mud on his eyes & asked him
if he could see, the man could “half see”, so Jesus did it again.
Part of
Jesus’ response to the time at his home town, (according to Mark’s telling)
seems to be to go elsewhere & give his authority to 12 others too, then
follow through the places they went. (presumably to fix up any difficulties -
like with this situation after the mountain-top experience). So, before the
above instance with the spirit in the epileptic boy, Jesus had already given
the apostles authority to drive out demons (& heal sick people):
Mark 6
5-6a
And he could do nothing miraculous there apart from laying his hands on a few
sick people and healing them; their lack of faith astonished him.
6b-11
Then he made his way round the villages, continuing his teaching. He summoned
the twelve, and began to send them out in twos, giving them power over evil
spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff—no
satchel, no bread and no money in their pockets. They were to wear sandals and
not to take more than one coat. And he told them, “Wherever you are, when you
go into a house, stay there until you leave that place. And wherever people
will not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, leave them and shake
the dust off your feet as a protest against them!”
12-13
So they went out and preached that men should change their whole outlook. They
expelled many evil spirits and anointed many sick people with oil and healed
them.
Matt 10
1-4
Jesus
called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to expel evil
spirits and heal all kinds of disease and infirmity. The names of the twelve
apostles were:...
5-8
These
were the twelve whom Jesus sent out, with the instructions: “Don’t turn off
into any of the heathen roads, and don’t go into any Samaritan town.
Concentrate on the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go proclaim that
the kingdom of Heaven has arrived. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the
lepers, drive out devils—give, as you have received, without any charge
whatever.
Luke 9
1-5
Then
he called the twelve together and gave them power over all evil spirits and the
ability to heal disease. He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to
heal the sick, with these words, “Take nothing for your journey—neither a stick
nor a purse nor food nor money, nor even extra clothes! When you come to stay
at a house, remain there until you go on your way again. And where they will
not welcome you, leave that town, and shake the dust off your feet as a protest
against them!”
6
So
they set out, and went from village to village preaching the Gospel and healing
people everywhere.
Since then,
Jesus had extended his commission to his apostles, from heralding, healing,
expelling demons, (even raising dead - according to Matthew), to feeding 5,000
people (with enough to feed a boy), [they fail initially, though he helps them
to do it anyway] then he gives them a second shot it it with 4,000 people &
7 loaves & a few fish.. [again they fail initially, though again he helps
them to do it anyway] . Then he had let (only) them see him walking on water
too, kind of to get them to lift their eyes to higher horizons & allow for
greater possibilities. And just before
this incident with the epileptic boy & father with not enough faith, the
inner 3 had “witnessed” Jesus’ communion with Moses & Elijah (& God),
as they slept on, & off (instead of according to Luke, praying).
Matt 17:20f says
20 ὁ δὲ [q]λέγει αὐτοῖς· Διὰ τὴν[r]ὀλιγοπιστίαν ὑμῶν· ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ·[s]Μετάβα ἔνθεν ἐκεῖ, καὶ μεταβήσεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀδυνατήσει [t]ὑμῖν.
which is
translated by more literal English translations (look at the footnotes):
NASB:20
And
He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to
you, if you have faith [i]the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be
impossible to you. 21 [[j]But
this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]
ESV:
20 He
said to them, “Because of your little 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.”[e]
Luke 17:5f
5 Καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ κυρίῳ· Πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν. 6 εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος· Εἰ ἔχετε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐλέγετε ἂν τῇ συκαμίνῳ ταύτῃ· Ἐκριζώθητι καὶ φυτεύθητι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· καὶ ὑπήκουσεν ἂν ὑμῖν.
which is
translated by more literal English translations (look at the footnotes):
NASB:
5 The
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”6 And the Lord said, “If you [e]had
faith like a mustard seed, you would say to
this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would [f]obey
you.
ESV:
5 The
apostles said to the Lord,“Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith
like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be
uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
“Faith
like a mustard seed”, obviously a small
thing, but the key is that it is a small living thing & will eventually grow to be
massive - if it persists, it will take over! A very appropriate simile for the
Australian setting might nowadays be “If you have faith like the minute gum
seed in a small gum nut …”
James, Jesus’
little brother speaks, like his big brother, with a shrewd country down-to-earthedness & he also makes a distinction between two kinds of “faith”, the
only one worth anything in his estimation is a faith that is “living” as
distinct from a “dead” faith. The amount is irrelevant if it is a living growing thing.
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