Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Mark 9:14-29         

Mark 9:14-29

Our week’s readings have centered on the power of words. Good words, damaging words, even wasted words. All these are a reality in our daily lives. “Waste not, want not.” My dear grandma Adams, we affectionately called her “Gammie,” used to remind us of that truth when we would leave the crusts on our sandwiches or not quite finish the last gulp of milk. That truth can be applied to the words we speak as well. And with Jesus, never is a word wasted.

Here a man brings his son to our Lord believing there is something in the life of this traveling rabbi that is different from all others. The man goes through the front line of the apostles finding that they didn’t have the solution he was seeking. When He hears of their lack of faith, Jesus chastises them, but takes on the needed task. The father approaches, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” In the NKJV, my favorite, the response of Jesus lays the onus on the man seeking aid, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The ability of Jesus is not the issue. But does the father trust Jesus with his son? That is the issue. Jesus could say, “Do you believe putting your boy in my hands will really make a difference?” That’s the issue in this account, and it is the issue you and I face daily walking with the Savior.

Do we trust Him for all that we bring to Him? Or are we just jumping through religious hoops? We are set apart to and for God by His Word. cf. John 17:17 And His Word brings us all the blessings of the kingdom. The truth is that none of us can believe unaided. Our faith comes to us from the outside as a gift. Even our ability to trust comes from Jesus. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17, emphasis mine). Take the gift and believe.