The Problem of Belief, Part Two

ACT 3 Weekly

April 26, 2010

The Problem of Belief, Part Two

John H. Armstrong

What we saw last week is that Jesus regularly called people to believe in him and follow him. (He did not separate believing from following.) But he also understood what was in the human heart and thus knew that we find it difficult to believe. It’s as if he is saying, “I know a phony when I see one but I also know how hard it is to truly believe.”

Another Great Story of Belief

In the synoptic Gospels we have another story about belief in Jesus. In this case the account is about the healing of a boy possessed by an evil spirit; cf. Matthew 17:14-19, 22-23; Luke 9:37-45; Mark 9:14-29. A father comes from the crowd of people and tells Jesus that his boy is often seized by a spirit who throws him to the ground. (Modern exegetes suggest this was epilepsy, which might be true, but to dismiss the power of the evil spirit is a mistake. I have seen such things happen in non-Western cultures.)

Jesus refers to an “unbelieving generation” in his public response to this interruption (Mark 9:19). This reference to an “unbelieving generation” should probably be understood as a reference to the disciples of Jesus themselves. Again, most commentators agree. These followers of Jesus often questioned him and revealed huge doubts at times. He seems particularly provoked by their response here when he asks, “How long shall I put up with you?” (Mark 9:19). It seems to me that his great disappointment in his own disciples was rooted more in their complete failure to actually listen to what he had already revealed to them than in their weakness of faith.

In Mark 8:14-16 they also seemed to miss his reference to “yeast” as a symbol of evil or corruption in the human heart. For this he rebukes them in Mark 8:17-21. He then asks the most penetrating questions, such as: “Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?”

Everything Is Possible for the One Who Believes

In the account of the demon possessed boy in Mark Jesus asks the man how long the boy had been like this. The man’s answer was “From childhood” (Mark 9:21b). He then says to Jesus, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). (I love the “us” here. What a great dad!)

Jesus answered this earnest and desperate father who asked that he take pity on his son by a question: “If you can?” (Mark 9:23a). This question of Jesus is not rude. He was never rude to earnest people, never. He treated the smallest glimmer of faith with the deepest amount of respect. The question he asked is plainly pointed to the father of this boy. It should be understood, I believe, like this: “Do you have the faith to believe I can heal your boy?” If the father has such faith then there are no limits on what Jesus can do if he wills to do it. Jesus loved people, but he particularly loved men like this father. If he will believe in Jesus then what he requests will be done.

“I Believe, Help My Unbelief”

The boy’s father responded, the text plainly says, “immediately” (9:24). There was no hesitation. Think about this with a grain of imagination. This man had undoubtedly heard about Jesus. He had likely seen him work signs and wonders, given the “large crowds” (Mark 9:14) and the “wonder” that people saw and felt (Mark 9:14). Jesus routinely caused people to be filled with awe when they encountered him. People in the crowd either turned away from him in unbelief or if they were already deeply religious they often grew to despise him. Sinners, who knew they had a deep need generally moved toward him to touch him and be touched by him. This is still true down to the present time.

I believe this father’s answer is the classic answer for all of us who now believe in Jesus. He encountered Jesus, in his person and words. We do the same. Our encounter is not in the flesh, face-to-face. We encounter him in our spirit by the ministry of the Holy Spirit but encounter him, just as personally, we must. He is not a set of propositions to be believed with the mind alone but a person to be believed and loved for who he is and what he says. This man truly encounters Jesus and it is in the same power (Holy Spirit) that he allows us to encounter him in true faith. His answer then provides the answer that I have always come back to in my own questions and fears: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

In response to this man’s belief, admittedly mixed with unbelief, Jesus healed the father’s son. Luke says that Jesus used this occasion to create amazement at the greatness of God (Luke 9:43). Matthew adds this striking conclusion:

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith, as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:19-21).

Conclusion

Human faith is never perfect. The best and strongest of us will never believe as fully and completely as we should. And such faith is not the same as having answers and being sure of that all your answers work. Admittedly, faith is not irrational. But faith cannot be reduced to rational certitude. Believing is a work (of God) that is in process. We see, much like the man who was healed of blindness in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26), in stages. We ask questions, raise our doubts, wonder about what we do and do not understand. We see people/events that “look like trees walking around.” This man had bumped into a lot of things in his blindness. Now he sees, but not perfectly. Jesus touched this man again and his eyes were opened more fully. It is not by accident that the early church saw this unusual two-step healing process as more than a historical accident. It was a teaching tool, a kind of parable inside this miracle. As the blind man saw in two stages, both brought about by the power of God, so we see things and then see other things more clearly.

I am therefore convinced that by asking my questions, and by “thinking outside the box,” I am living faithfully. I admit that sometimes I see people/events/providences/ideas like “trees walking.” I also have questions that challenge me deeply. I sometimes get a little more light and see some things more clearly. But sometimes I do not, at least until I have asked and knocked for a long, long time. I am encouraged that Jesus is not like some of the Christian teachers I once admired. When I say to him, with all the honesty of my troubled mind and soul, “I do believe; (but) help me overcome my unbelief” he doesn’t blow me away as a cynic or as an unbeliever but welcomes me as one of his own.

I learned a hymn chorus as a boy and still believe these words: “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.” And I learned, as another hymn put it that faith has found a resting place, “not in (human) device or creed.” I do trust the ever living one, the Christ who saves all who come to him in humble dependence upon him as the Savior of the world.