Him Who Believes...And The Rest Of Us

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24

"If you can believe, all things are possible." That has been used to pad quite a few pockets and stomp on some heads on the way up the ladder of worldly success. However, grab just a tiny bit of the context of the story and we find the man who represents all of us when it comes to belief and doubt. That great, earnest, and appropriate for you and me, prayer comes with tears from the father of a child the disciples could not set free of an evil spirit. "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" It says all we need to know of that battle within us between the newborn faith in Jesus we have and the old crusty doubts of worldly experience. What we think we know is easy and right here; who we believe in is up there, somewhere, invisible. We think how much it would help if Jesus were back right here. But for the man in the story, Jesus was right there - and still he begged for help with his unbelief.

So, you and I are not alone in this fight of faith versus doubt that prevents us from doing those great things Jesus promised. Let us pray together for help with our unbelief.

Bucky

Faithless Generation

He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. Mark 9:19-20

After the disciples had their failure that we read of last week, Jesus has a commentary on all of them. "O faithless generation...how long shall I bear with you?" A comment of exasperation comes from our loving Lord Jesus. The Good Shepherd has sheep who are acting like sheep. The problem is not with the Lord, of course, it is with unbelief in the whole of His chosen generation. We might think it would be a treat to be with the Lord Jesus as He healed and taught in those days, but this should give us a nudge to reconsider. Unbelief or faithlessness was huge in the time of Jesus. Praise God we were born into that age when the good news went out to the Gentiles and we were called to believe in Jesus the Christ.

Rejoice this week in Jesus our Savior,

Bucky

A Scribe-ish Dispute

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”  Mark 9:14-16

When Jesus disputed with the scribes, it was shutdown city. The disciples appear to be having some difficulty with that. When the multitude and scribes see Jesus though, the disciples are dumped like a creepy first date. The dispute might even have been dropped as well except that Jesus asked what was going on. And as the story goes in our next reading, the disciples had a massive fail. So what was the dispute? In some cases the scribes would have been ecstatic to see the disciples of Jesus fail at something. We can easily guess the dispute; the failure happened and then a scribe or two opened their mouths and criticized, or mocked, maybe even scoffed. But Jesus arrives for the disciples, and all will be alright now. Or, will it? 

We continue the glorious story of our Lord next time,

Bucky

Encapsulated

But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him. Mark 9:13

Yesterday we read how Elijah will come, but today he has already come? It may be that Jesus refers to John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and also to that witness of the two from Revelation 11. Prophecies have been seen to have both past and present, or past and future fulfillments. However, yesterday it was foretold (sorry, prophecy pun) that we would look into that bit Jesus encapsulated between His Elijahs. That part where the Son of Man must be treated with contempt.

With the advantage of the Gospels as history, we can see what the disciples in that moment could not yet see. Jesus was indeed treated with contempt, and executed by the Romans on the cross. We know by this advantage what the disciples should have recalled from many prophecies available to them including, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and many others. Well ain't we just the learned uber-disciples! Without the enabling of the Spirit of God, faith in Jesus, and the study of His word, we would be facing the same difficulty as those disciples of our Lord's. We enjoy a little distance and a lot of scripture; they had to learn on the spot.

Praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

Elijah Coming First

Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? Mark 9:12

Elijah comes from the Old Testament for us, but does not get his own book. From his story though, this prophet may be more famous than many of the others. We see that among all the prophets, Elijah gets a special mention here in our verse for today by Jesus. The disciples had asked Him why the scribes said that Elijah must come first. And part of the response Jesus gave them was interesting to say the least. "Restores all things"? From his story in 1 Kings, Elijah was a restorer sent by God to bring Israel back to the worship of their one God, Jehovah. So...will it be Elijah who returns and brings back the temple worship in the Revelation? Entirely possible as Revelation 11 tells of two witnesses, that is prophets by another name, who will stand against the man of lawlessness.

Then, what about that next part with the Son of Man? Tomorrow, the Lord willing, we will get into that.

Love and joy to you in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Learning From Their Confusion

Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. Mark 9:9-10

This is not the first time that Jesus did a marvelous thing, and then said to keep quiet about it. This time He does give them a time for bearing witness, a condition once met that will allow them to tell what they had just seen. But then He goes and baffles them with that same condition. Rising from the dead? We may recall that it was these same three disciples who went with Jesus to restore the life of Jairus' daughter. Yet they were left confused by what Jesus said of Himself. It is easy to laugh at these befuddled disciples.

However, we only know what they do not because of the witness they wrote down for us later on in their respective missions. These three disciples told their stories enough after Jesus rose from the grave that we have four gospels to study and learn what they could not understand at that time. It is always tougher for the one in the spotlight to see what is going on. Laugh? No sir, we are grateful to God to learn from their witness, and their confusion.

I pray that you enjoy a lovely and loving Memorial Day weekend,

Bucky

Never A Moment Like This

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  Mark 9:5-6

Jesus standing there in His glorious attire, now Moses and Elijah show up. Of course the disciples were a little overwhelmed by this. Didn't know what to say? Oh, like you and I have never had a moment like that. Peter said something anyway. And God makes intercession for him by speaking from above and letting the disciples know that it was a listening time. Yes, a time when it was perfectly alright to not speak. 

Pastors, known themselves for a certain yak-ability, often emphasize the speaking part of our great mission. But there are times for listening as well, as I often try to remember to remind myself during my prayer time. For a known quiet person, I can in prayer produce quite a torrent of words toward the Almighty. Listening in prayer may be an overlooked portion of our daily walk with the Lord. Some of us might even think that a contradiction. Prayer, be quiet and listen? How can that be? Perhaps the Lord has something to say, if only He could get a word in edgewise. 

Pray and listen,

Bucky