New Thoughts (11/22/08-11/30/08)
One of the first things that must be wrestled with as I consider these events is how Jesus reacts. I find it impossible to construe His first reaction to news of what has failed to happen in His absence as anything other than frustration. And yet, Jesus is sinless. This ought to tell us something: Either frustration is not a sin at all, or under certain circumstances it is actually the righteous response. I am inclined to believe the former statement is correct: it is simply not a sin. We tend to view it as such, but it becomes sin only when it is allowed to build to anger, for anger leads almost inevitably to vengeance, and vengeance usurps God’s authority.
Here, there is no usurpation, there is no anger. Jesus is not angry at the disciples for failing – disappointed, perhaps, but not angry. He is not angry at this man for seeking healing for his son, nor at the son for being stricken. I don’t think He’s even angry at the scribes in this case. It is more an overall anger at the symptoms of the fall that continue to plague creation in general, and that is indeed a righteous anger.
Given that I must accept that Jesus, though clearly frustrated on this occasion, remained sinless throughout His earthly life, it behooves me to consider more fully how His example should inform my own behavior in like circumstances. I would like to say that what Jesus is frustrated about is not a matter of His personal circumstance, but really His words say that it is. Might it be that what makes this appropriate is that He is responding to the necessity of remaining in the world when He could be in heaven?
It seems that for many of us, we are not sufficiently sick of this present life to have that great a longing for the next. It takes more than the sorts of daily aggravations we experience to really convince us that this is not, after all, as good as it gets. Oh, we hear the talk of heaven, and it’s nice and all. But really, we have as much difficulty accepting the reality of heaven as we do the reality of healing and deliverance, by and large. It’s just not something we can prove conclusively to ourselves. We cannot assess the empirical evidence and determine that yes, miracles do indeed happen and yes, there is indeed a heaven in our future. We may have some evidence, but it always seems to depend on a degree of subjectivity. It is always a matter of interpretation.
Yet, there are those times in the Christian walk when we are able to step away from the day to day of life and really focus on the God we worship. We tend to speak of them as retreats, but not in the sense of running away from the battle of life. Rather, they are times of recharging our sense of real life. They are a time to reassess our priorities. They are a time to really draw near to God in the way He really expects we ought to be doing daily. But, we don’t. These times are for us what the Transfiguration was for Jesus, if on a much lesser scale. They are times when we really sense the nearness and the goodness of heaven and heaven’s God. They are times when this present life loses its cheap luster. It is when we have soaked in that immediacy of our Father that coming back to the daily grind of life becomes such a crushing shock.
You see, we have laid all those concerns over getting ahead, over providing for ourselves and our charges in a cruel and uncaring world, over trying to walk upright in a crushingly sinful world; All those concerns have been put away for a day, two days, however long. This is beyond the relief we feel when we take a vacation. This is a deeper thing. We have been vacationing not just from our labors, but from the spirit of the world in general. So, when we come back to the world, as we must do eventually, it is that much more disappointing and frustrating to discover that the world has not been changed along with us.
Returning from a typical vacation, we discover that while our companies did not fold because of our absence, neither did the work we are responsible for get done. We have had a break, but we return to an amplified workload. There is a price to pay for rest. It is that much worse returning from retreat. We have been zeroed in on God, focused on His ways, and we come home to discover that the children are still children, still incapable of sharing that focus, so far as we can discern. We discover that the house and its needs, our spouse and his or her particular foibles, the neighbors’ little idiosyncrasies; none of it has improved while we were gone. If anything it all seems worse. But, that’s just the contrast.
This is something of what Jesus experiences. Except, He has not just been more attuned to heaven, He has been given a brief reminder of His true nature. For us, it is never a reminder, just a foretaste. We have no prior life in heaven to remember, only the coming life to anticipate. For Jesus, this really was a brief recall to the joy of His former and future state. It was both foretaste and remembrance. It is entirely probable that in that brief transfiguration period, He truly was standing in heaven even as He stood upon the mountaintop. And, then, being a sound leader and wonderful teacher, He sets the example for His own. He comes back down. He goes back to the world, being in it but not of it, just as He has called us to do.
Our biggest problem is that we tend to lose that sense of otherness. We have a bad habit of rejoining the world in full, or at least more fully than is wise. But, in those initial moments of reentry, frustration with the way of the world comes easy. In those initial moments, we realize how cheap and tawdry is this life compared to the intended design. We want to be back on the mountain, back home in heaven, and our cry becomes, “how long, Lord? Take me now!” The reality is, though, that we are half-hearted even in that moment, even in that cry. We don’t want so much to be taken home as to have home come to us. We don’t want so much to move into the next life as to have this life be a whole lot easier than it is.
The underlying reality, though, is unchanged by our more base desires. The underlying reality is that when this world is set so directly alongside our homeland of heaven, it cannot compare favorably. Heaven is the obvious choice, and the fact that it is not presently available to us is a frustration – the more so as we have been so near to it. That frustration lies close to the surface and may well bubble over at the least provocation from the world around us, even as we see happen with Jesus in this situation.
“How long must I be with you? How long am I going to have to put up with you?” There is simply no other way to hear those words. “I’m sick of this!” That’s the undeniable sentiment. So, how is this not sin? How is this not rebellion? Somewhere unheard, there is the inclusion of that same sentiment we hear from Jesus in the garden: Nevertheless, Father, Thy will be done, not mine.
Listen! This is the thing: It is no sin to speak of your will, your desires when you call home to heaven. What better place to express your disappointments, your frustration, your anger? It’s not that these attitudes have any real business being addressed heavenward. But, our Father is just that: our Father! He is willing and able to listen to our outbursts. He is a save haven in which we may vent for that moment we need to. He is also the voice of sound counsel that restores us to right thinking once we have blown off that steam. The key to righteousness is not found in trying to maintain a perfect outward appearance of unflappability. It’s not even found in that servile submissiveness that puts up a façade of having no opinion in regard to anything at all. The key to righteousness is to be honest with God, to hold nothing of ourselves back from Him. But when our interests do not align with His, the key to righteousness lies in that nevertheless clause. I’d rather not, were it up to me, Father, but as You desire it, so it shall be done.
Notice how swiftly Jesus moves from one to the other. Dad! I was just back in our house, back where I belong, and now You have sent Me back into this mess. I really don’t much care for mucking the stalls, Dad! That smell! It really gets to one, You know? But, if this is the assignment. Let Me get to it. And with that, His attention is on the task. Bring the boy. How long has he been like this?
This is not some new behavior that we are seeing in Jesus. David understood the same thing about his relationship with God. Honesty is always acceptable. Frankly, it is when we try and put on our holy face with God that we are in greatest danger. We try to present ourselves in the way we think He wants us to do, and we think this is somehow doing a good thing. In reality, especially when our reality is upset with the direction He is taking in our lives, what we are doing is setting up resentments in ourselves which will inevitably boil over, and having boiled over will most likely lead us into a rebellion we never should have had to deal with. By being honest, David was able to unburden his heart before the Lord and with heart unburdened, to hear what God ministered to him. Thus it is that we so often see the psalms of David moving from darkest desire for vengeance upon his enemies to a real devotion to God’s purposes.
Jesus follows the same course. God! I really would rather be coming home now. This assignment is getting pretty depressing, and that end game We fashioned: You know, now that I’m in this fleshly body, I’d really prefer I didn’t have to experience that part. Nevertheless, though. Say the Word, and I AM on the job. Of course, the Word knew that the Word had already been said. Of course, He was already on the job. Like us, though, it was helpful to be reminded of His own character.
So, I have been equating this in some ways to that feeling we get when we return from a time of spiritual retreat only to discover that the world wasn’t won in our absence. While we have had that opportunity to change, the things around us have not changed. It is a harsh awakening, to be sure! Anybody that’s been through it knows this is so. Honestly, those who do the awakening generally know the situation. They know what it’s like to come crashing back down to reality. They are even doing their best not to be the cause of such a crash. And yet the crash comes.
It seems that a major part of our problem is that we have, for that brief window of time, begun to experience something like true fellowship with God. We have drawn that little bit closer to heaven, and being forced to return to our former condition hurts. Face it: who willingly comes back from such events? Given the opportunity to remain indefinitely, I suspect most everybody would do so. Being closer to God, being undistracted by the cares of the world, it’s ideal inasmuch as we know what ideal is. But, it’s not ideal as far as the plans and purposes of the God we draw close to is concerned. His ideal is that all should be saved, not that we who have been saved should enter into some permanent vacation.
What hurts, then, in coming back is that we must, it seems, reduce our fellowship. We must suffer something of an attenuating of our relationship. I see this amplified and exemplified in what Jesus is going through just now. On that mountaintop, He had been perhaps not His true self, but much nearer than He had been to His true self since coming here. He had felt His eternal fellowship without that weakening of the signal that He had willingly submitted to in coming on this mission. Remember that He willingly emptied Himself. He willingly limited Himself to the simple capacities of mankind. He had not felt heaven as He felt it on that mountaintop in a long time. Oh, it was brief measured against the span of eternity. But, for One who had known that eternity, it’s interruption was an eternity all its own.
Then, He comes down the mountain. Tea break’s over. And, what does He come back to? Squabbling. His disciples, rather than ministering to the needs around them are tied up arguing with lawyers. The lawyers have apparently latched onto this one failure on the part of the disciples and are trying to build a case on that failure by which they might declare Jesus Himself a failure. By proxy, they are declaring God a failure. So, we’re back to business as usual. He’s between a religious order that sets rules for a piety they don’t even understand and a people hungry for God but incapable of recognizing that they are truly God’s chosen, incapable of realizing all the benefit that is theirs in that simple statement. And in this all but impossible field, He must continue His labors, knowing that it’s going to prove all but futile so far as this people, this nation is concerned. Knowing that centuries of unbelief will continue to unfold after what He must do. Worst of all, perhaps, He knows that the sinfulness of man will continue all but unabated in spite of the penalty He is about to pay. Talk about frustration!
But again, He is not the first. It is the prophet’s burden. Go and tell the people what I have said. But, know that they won’t listen to you. Yet, should you fail to speak, their punishment shall be upon you. You didn’t warn them. If, on the other hand, you have warned them, then on their own heads be it.
Turning briefly to another aspect of the prophetic experience, it occurs to me to wonder just what it was that the people found so amazing when Jesus first arrived. Some translations reduce this reaction to a matter of being surprised to see Him, but that strikes me as odd in itself. After all, if they had come expecting to find Him why would it surprise them to discover He is there with His disciples? It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me. But, then, neither does it make a great deal of sense to me that they are beyond surprised to see Him. They are amazed; so thoroughly taken aback at the sight of Him as to border on being terrified. Why? Just because He showed up?
With questions such as these, my thoughts go back to the parallel of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, Law in hand. There is that parallel, of course, of the ‘down from the mountain’ shock at seeing the people not only unchanged, but actually in a retrograde spiritual orbit. But, that is not where my focus is at the moment. Recall that Moses, like Jesus, had been in the presence of God in a most stunning way. For Moses, He had been in the cloud of God’s glory for how many days? And then, he had managed to beg for himself a view of God’s glory for real. Granted, it was but a look at the backside of glory, but it was more than any man since Adam had been granted to see.
Just so, Jesus has been on that mountaintop. Just so, the cloud of the glory of God has been on that mountaintop with Him. Just so, He has been granted the privilege of a brief glimpse of the full reality of heaven and heaven’s God. Like Moses, that presence fairly glows upon Him. Of course, with Moses it had just been a reflection of God’s glory whereas with Jesus it had been the very glory of God within, a return to His true essence for a brief moment in time. Well, what happened to Moses in those times of reflected glory? His face shone. Jesus, in that brief transfiguration had shone not only in face, but in entirety, a shining so bright that even His clothing could not contain it. Then, when Moses returned amongst the people, that glow on his face remained, to the point that he had to cover his face to keep from scaring people by the strangeness of it all. Well, what of Jesus? Do you suppose that as He came amongst this crowd there was that same sort of residual glow about Him, of glory recently encountered?
Admittedly, the silence of the accounts in this regard, and His command to the three who when with Him to keep quiet about that vision on the mountaintop would argue against such an understanding, but is it just possible? I suppose not, really. After all, the crowds in their amazement still run to greet Him. Such a residual glow would be likely to incite a much different response in them, as it had when Moses had that glow about him. I am returned to the recurring realization that where there is a real and true presence of God such as we so often claim to seek, there is no dancing and laughter. There is bowed down in worship. There is a very real fear as sinful flesh recognizes the nearness of perfect holiness. In such recognition, apart from the assurance of salvation, there can only be an assurance of destruction. Woe is me, for my eyes have seen God, and I am such a sinful and unworthy man. Depart from me, Lord, for I am not fit for You. That is the response of belief! That is the response of the self-aware when the presence of God is truly made manifest. So, I shall have to dispose of this particular curiosity as no more than a mental exercise.
I don’t know why the crowds reacted with amazement. Perhaps they thought that, He being a man such as themselves, He would avoid the conflict that was clearly brewing in the camp. But, then, if they thought Him to be but a man such as themselves, why had they gathered to see Him in the first place? Something in them recognized something more in Him. That much is certain, whether they understood that impression or not. Beyond that, I suppose this shall have to remain a mystery to me unless God chooses to reveal the reason later.
I turn now to another interesting detail of the story, one which only Luke takes note of: this child whom Jesus heals and delivers is an only son of his father. They have something in common, this child and Jesus. Nor is this the first time that Jesus has reversed the curse upon an only child. And, it is Luke who brings us that other occasion as well. That time, it was a widowed mother who remained behind, and Jesus had come across the funeral proceedings (Lk 7:12). One could argue whether Jesus was more concerned with healing the child or making sure the widow would have the provision her son could provide for her. Here, there is no such ambiguity. It is solely the son’s health that is in question. The father is hale and can still take care of himself should the child die.
What struck me most, in this current case, is that Jesus must have felt a profound sympathy for both father and son, for they so reflect what the Devil is trying to do to the Father and Himself. I think I could expand that scope just a bit and say that Jesus takes the attacks of the enemy upon the children of His own very personally. Of course, I could say the same of the attacks upon His own directly, for He is the Great Shepherd. But, there is something specific about the attacks that come against the children. He’s been there. He faced that temptation in the wilderness. He faced the very particular attentions of the Devil throughout His earthly years. He faced them and He won. But, He also saw to what extent that enemy of His was willing to go in hopes of cutting off the plan of God.
He may not have seen the scourge of Herod, ordering all the children of Bethlehem to be murdered lest he lose his crown, but He certainly knew about it, and certainly saw the impact on the lives of those parents who remained. More to the point, He knew that this had come about because of Him, because of His purpose. He understood this not in a way that took on a false burden of guilt, but one that took on a particularly sharp anger against an enemy who would do such a thing in hopes of getting at Him. I have to say, for a purported genius, Satan really should have known his plan must fail. But, then, if he were that wise, he would never have crossed God to begin with. I suppose even geniuses have their blind spots.
My point, though, is that throughout the ministry period, we see a particular affinity for children shown by Jesus. His disciples do not really share that with Him, at least not yet. But, when they would chase off the children as being no more than a nuisance, Jesus says, no! These are the kingdom. These are your teachers, for their faith is far more pure than your own. Let them come. So, too, when there are children involved, it seems the compassion of the Lord is that much quicker to assert itself. Your daughter is healed. Talitha cum! He restored the widows son to her. And again, here.
Oh! Make no mistake! Jesus rejoices to thwart the work of the evil one whenever and wherever. But, as an only Son who would fall prey in the end, (willingly and in control, but prey nonetheless), He Who experienced the greatest victory over that one’s plans thrills to rescue those who like Himself are sons attacked. For He takes it very personally.
This is my Jesus. No, this is Jesus, period, mine and yours alike. This is the One whose concern for that one young sheep that strays is so great that He will set aside the rest of the flock and their needs to go chase down that one and return it to safety. This is the One who has never lost a one that the Father has entrusted to Him. No, and never will! When we sing that old children’s song about how Jesus loves the little children of the world, I think we fail to realize just how strong that love for them is. They are the apple of His eye, as close to a sore spot as He has ever had, for He has been hurt as they are hurting. He has been targeted as they are targeted. He has been destroyed for no other reason than being the Son. And, we in our limited wisdom know better to mess with the kid who has a big brother. What a Brother we have in Jesus, Firstborn of all creation! The one who would bully and bludgeon His kid brother or kid sister does so at their own eternal peril.
This morning I feel I must jump to the end of the story briefly, as a thought occurred while I was reading the text again. This section of the text closes with the disciples asking Jesus what they had done wrong, why they couldn’t deal with this demon themselves. Now, the reply Jesus gives is apparently in some debate, different versions adding or omitting the closing statement. But, there is this clause at attributed to Jesus in some of the supporting manuscripts in which He declares that ‘this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting’ (Mt 17:21, Mk 9:29).
Now, I will confess a certain penchant for wanting to see this reduced to only praying part, as it often is reduced in translations of Mark’s account. I’m not particularly keen to be parted from my meals. But, let me allow, for the sake of argument, that these words are accurate, that Jesus truly did tell His disciples on this occasion that prayer and fasting were necessary precursors to this particular sort of deliverance. It remains to be asked what exactly He meant by that. Is it really to be taken at face value? Is He truly advising His disciples that if they run into such trouble again, they should have the victim come back in a few days so that they can have a chance to fast and pray in preparation? Silence may not be much of a testimony, but I have to say there is no sign of either Jesus or His disciples ever taking such a course, either before or after this event. Indeed, as often as not, we find Jesus going off to pray after these sorts of events, as if to recharge Himself.
So, the thought I was having this morning, doubtless triggered by something I picked up from RC Sproul in the last few days, is that this could be an oblique reference to that original temptation that Jesus had passed through before starting His ministry. Way back there at the start we are given to know of events that occurred at a point when Jesus had been fasting for some forty days, at the behest of that same Holy Spirit which had just anointed Him at His obedience to baptism (Mt 4:1). Now, it should be pretty obvious that Jesus was not simply fasting from food in that time. He was in a place and circumstance to focus His whole being on God’s kingdom, God’s purpose, and God’s plan for Himself.
We know that this is a seemingly ubiquitous preparation for the prophet of God. It was certainly seen as such during that period of Israel’s history. The major mouthpieces God had appointed to proclaim His warnings and His instructions had always had this wilderness preparation as a prerequisite for service. Priests might come from comfortable environs, and the Levites were always well provided for. But, the prophet required a particularly stringent testing to serve in his position. His faith required sterner confirmation before he could be trusted to refrain from exceeding the bounds of the words God would give him to say, and the actions God would give him to do.
Jesus, as the ultimate prophet, the final Word if you will, required sterner testing still. Forty days of fasting! We don’t know if that consisted of a complete abstinence from food and drink, although it seems doubtful that such a total fast could be indicated. It might have been as simple as being required to live off the land, as it were, as such a lifestyle requires a certain faith in God’s Providence, does it not? Particularly in wild and relatively desolate places. No, it’s no desert. There are plants and there is occasional water to be had. But, it’s hardly the breadbasket of the plains, is it?
So, what struck a chord in me, in thinking about that temptation in conjunction with this deliverance, is connected to a point that was made about this being where the battle for the kingdom was effectively won. In that moment when Satan did his best to lead Jesus off course, to cause the last Adam to sin like the first had done, that Satan was vanquished. Thinking on that scene of temptation in those terms, it struck me, as well, that the replies Jesus gives to Satan’s temptations are not only sound basis for His own rejection of Satan’s offers, but are actually words of profound conviction upon Satan himself. Consider: “It is written that ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Mt 4:7). Well, just who was Satan testing at that moment? He may not have been willing to confess Jesus as Lord, but the fact of the Lordship and Godhood of Jesus remains! Guilty as charged. Then comes the closer, “Begone! It is also written that ‘You are to worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only’” (Mt 4:10). And, whom as Satan been serving but himself, at least as intentions are measured. Guilty as charged!
Bringing this back to the events at hand, it strikes me that this is the time of prayer and fasting which Jesus is really referring to. This is where that powerful faith of which it seems Jesus was sole possessor was established. This is where His authority was proclaimed in ironclad terms. Satan learned in those moments that he could not hope to corrupt the last Adam, and that last Adam simultaneously found His own office and authority confirmed in no uncertain terms. Remember that in spite of His being wholly God in His incarnation, He was simultaneously wholly man. He had willingly emptied Himself of His rights and capacities as God. He did not walk in omniscience or omnipotence. He walked in the frailty of flesh. It is entirely believable that He needed confirmation from on high just as much, if not more, than we would. In that moment of Satan’s conviction by the Judge of the whole earth even as the Judge faced the worst temptation He would ever face, the Judge was made certain of His position, His mission and His success. In that moment, His enemies were given notice that His Lordship over all, themselves included, was not open for discussion or debate. They had tried to undermine His authority and failed. His Word was and is Law. When He commands departure, you depart. You can seek terms, if you will, but if He demands outright surrender, surrender you shall!
So, then, what is He teaching His disciples in this? Matthew connects the famous ‘faith like a mustard seed’ with this same lesson, and that should, I think, give us a sense of where Jesus is going with the prayer and fasting thing. Look: these guys knew about that temptation He had faced. They understood, at least in some degree, the significance of that temptation. Now, they were wondering why they couldn’t get the same results as the King, even though He had authorized them. Oh, He had authorized them, to be sure, but they had not established the degree of confidence in God that He had. That time of prayer and fasting, that preparation for prophetic office, was a time of sealing the confidence in God that would carry the prophet through a lifelong drought of correct response from the people. Pity that one who was sent out with the encouraging word that he would speak as God gave Him words, but those he spoke to would not listen to him. Gives real meaning to your labors, doesn’t it?
But, the utter dependence of man alone in the wilderness, the utter lack of distraction from attending to God, from seeking God, from being honest with God; these things establish faith that knows its authority. We get some very small, very weak sense of this on retreat. We are granted an opportunity to really focus on God, to set aside the majority of life’s distractions for a few days. Truth be told, we will by and large do our best to go find some distractions to fill the void, because facing God so directly is fearsome. It will require us to face ourselves directly, as well, and that is something we are most loathe to do. But, we get a taste of it, watered down though it may be. We cannot avoid Him entirely in those days and so, we do indeed find our faith strengthened even as our sense of dependence upon Him is bolstered. Facing ourselves, we are forced to acknowledge our need. Facing His love, His willingness to forgive us still, we are forced to acknowledge His Christ, His ultimate Provision on our behalf. Indeed, if He has given this, what will He not give?
Many today like to speak about our need to be certain of God’s Love for us, and they simply cannot be budged from contemplating that one facet of God’s essence. They will not have us look upon His Wrath, have limited use for considering His Holiness. Just focus on Love. It’s as if the supposition is that when He caused it to be written that God is Love, He was somehow eliminating every other attribute from Himself. But, no! He is Love and He is Wrath. He is Righteousness and He is Jealous. He is Holy, Perfect, Just, Merciful, Forgiving and True; all of these things, and all of them simultaneously, all of them equally. He is our Provider, our Healer. We can claim these are just the outworking of Love, but consider: He is the God who declares, “Esau I have hated” (Mal 1:2). God? Hated? How can that be? He is the God of Love! This does not compute.
Indeed, just this morning I read of our President-elect saying he could not fathom a God who might condemn those whose belief was on the wrong god. What sort of loving god, he posits, would condemn a poor little Hindu boy for not acknowledging Him properly? Again, the man proves the fallacy of any claim he might make to being a Christian, quite frankly. He may have a god, but it is not the God who has revealed Himself in creation, Who justly declares that all men are sinners and deserving of death, and Who proclaims that He has provided the sole means of having that sentence revoked in the Son Who died on our behalf. Sorry, but there’s no room in the Scriptures for supporting this, ‘all paths lead to heaven’ pap. There is one road. It is narrow, almost impossibly narrow. But, God… God has made a way, one Way, and only one Way to heaven, and few are those who walk it. By contrast, wide is the way of deception, and varied, for the enemy of our souls knows our penchant for novelty. But, the end thereof is inevitably the same: an eternity of separation from the one and only God Who Is.
How can faith in a god who doesn’t care about himself hope to vanquish so much as a flea? How can a faith that doesn’t really believe a damn thing expect to stand against the least little challenge? It can’t. Indeed, such a faith as that couldn’t be bothered to try. It is as malleable as mud, and just as incapable of having any firm and lasting impression.
But, faith that has met the test of facing oneself in one’s real and utter unworthiness, faith that has simultaneously seen the reality of God’s provision while we were yet enemies! Faith that has seen God act on its behalf, that has known utter dependence and found God utterly dependable, that faith already knows its authority. It speaks without question, and when it speaks, there is no question but that the word spoken, being God’s Word, will not fail of its purpose. That is the faith that moves mountains, that rebukes demons and they stay rebuked. That is the faith that does not worry about backlash, because it knows its authority, and when it knows its authority, so do those against whom that authority is required to move.
We seem to have some sort of creaturely need for process. There must be forms to fill out, or rituals to perform, else we simply don’t see how anything could be accomplished. Oh! How often I hear it! God is a god of order. True enough, so far as that goes. But, it inevitably seems to be given as an argument for some need to follow proper forms and procedures. Really? Is that what we see in God? A proper civil servant, a petty, powerless tyrant intent on making sure we check all the boxes right, use the precise and particular titular forms in addressing our superiors, and so on? Watch the average deliverance ministry in action today, and this is the sort of conception of God you will see on display! Oh, you must include these words, you must make certain to add this clause. The enemy’s a legal expert, you see, and he’ll jump on any least error in the contract we’re writing up here. Feh! This ain’t business! It’s Kingdom! There’s no contract being negotiated here. There’s not negotiations at all! God has decreed it. You are His representative. Frankly, if you grasp that, the enemy has absolutely no say in the matter and he knows it. Every knee shall bow. Period. It’s not a question of preference. It’s a like it or not fact of reality.
Prayer and fasting, periods of throwing oneself, as it were, upon the provision of God, establish this in us. What I hear Jesus saying, then, is that unless we have that experience as a backdrop for our faith, faith is just a watery concept, a vaporous idea, a wishful thought. It is faith that has seen and experienced reason for itself that stands. It is not enough to have maybe seen a few things happen in response to our prayers. It is not enough even if we have seen miraculous occurrences in response to our prayers. These guys had that much happening already. “We chased of demons, Jesus! Just like You!” That was their history at this point. They had done it already. But, they hadn’t established their position in God’s eyes, not fully. They had not firmed up in themselves the fact that God really had authorized them to represent Him, to labor for Him, and that He was orchestrating their ministry to suit His purposes. They didn’t know their own authority of faith, and so they couldn’t exercise it.
Faith is clearly a central matter in this whole event, and Jesus makes certain that His students don’t miss that point. It begins with His reaction to the scene at the bottom of the mountain. “You unbelieving generation!” Who, exactly, is He talking about at that moment? Is it His disciples? I don’t really think so. If it were, then I don’t suppose He’d have used so general a term. Is it the crowd at scribes? Not alone, no. His dealings with them show that He is more than willing to address them more directly. The crowds in general, then? Perhaps, but something about that seems wrong, as well. Is He really blaming them for His disciples’ failure? There is some small support for that in the Gospel record. There are those notes of how Jesus did not do terribly much on certain occasions because of unbelief in the crowds. But, whether this was to be taken as somehow limiting His ability is highly questionable. More likely, He found such a people more wholly undeserving of God’s favor, and so, chose freely not to do anything of note. Yet, even there, He made exceptions, and I would suppose those exceptions were made where a real and earnest faith was shown by one or another of those gathered.
So, who is He speaking of? After all, if this generation is so perverse, where shall we look for the cause? Yes, each man holds responsibility for his own sinful ways, it is true. Yet, is there not that work of the enemy of God lying just beneath the surface? Was it not thru the work of the evil one that sin and death entered the world in Adam’s failure? We must grant that man allows the perversion of himself to continue, but it would not have started without that first temptation being presented. Wherever, then, there is unbelief and wherever there is a perversion of the purpose of mankind, we can see the hand of that enemy of God at work, keeping his victims blind and misguided. It is there, first and foremost, that I think we see Jesus’ anger directed. It surely encompasses the failings of man, for He as man has withstood the same assault, but He is mostly angry at the source of the corruption. Thus, looking at this stricken child and his sorrowful father, He is not primarily angry with them, but with the issue that plagues them.
So, He addresses the issue of faith. He first addresses it when this father expresses an honest doubt. If nothing else, we should see in this exchange the foolishness of thinking that our unbelief has some sort of power over the power of God. This man has doubts. He has come in some nascent faith, having heard of the miracles this Man can do. But, he has encountered failure and disappointment. The One was not there, and His co-workers proved incapable. So, yes, whatever faith was growing in him has been stunted and withered by events. Thus, when he begs Jesus to help, he is not in a state of mind to worry about whether Jesus is willing, only whether He is able.
This presents Jesus with a first teachable moment. “If You can!” Brother, there’s no if about it! That is not the question at all. For, all things are possible to one who believes. Notice that this thought is echoed when He answers His disciples’ question later, as Matthew covers the event. “Nothing shall be impossible to you, when once your faith is established.” Now, I can question whether this man has heard rightly, whether that ‘him’ of ‘him who believes’ was addressed to him or gave reference to Jesus Himself. But, either way, that man’s blindness is cleared up in a flash. Yes, I believe! Just not as well as I should, not as fully as I could. So, where my faith is lacking, help me, Lord!
What is that belief that is so central here? Is it a belief in the magical powers Jesus shows in His miracle working? No! That is hardly the point, it is but an outward evidence of the point. Our faith is not in the miracles, not in the healings. Our faith is in the certainty of a God Who Is, a God Who Provides, a God Who is Himself Faithful and True to His Word. Faith is, in one important sense, a moral conviction as to the truthfulness of God. He is Who He says He is. When He says He is Love, He means it. When He says He is Mercy, He means it. When He says, I will preserve Myself a remnant, He shall do exactly that.
That said, it seems clear to me that there are indeed degrees or types of faith which must be distinguished one from another. There is most certainly a salvific faith, a faith which comes solely by the grace of God, apart from which all other exercise of religion is made futile. Yet, this is not the end-all of faith. If it were, there would be no point in urging the disciples to a greater, stronger faith. There would be a correcting of the error in this man’s response. He would either have faith or not have faith, and there could be no point in between. But, he is not corrected for his confession. Arguably, he is rewarded.
The disciples, we learn, had a faith insufficient to the task at hand. As we have seen, when they ask Jesus where their failure lay, He first and foremost attributes it to this lack of faith, but then adds the rather cryptic footnote of needing to fast and pray before this sort of demon can be cast out. What? But, faith is the key, is it not? As I have attempted to show, there is not real conflict here. Prayer and fasting, done rightly and with right motive, are the foundation upon which faith is made firm. It is not a matter of stopping to prepare more properly for the deliverance mission. Where there is true faith, I should expect one is always properly prepared for kingdom work. Jesus is not imparting some secret of the mages here, He is imparting the truth of the ages. When you come to the place that you really and completely believe what God has said of Himself and what He has said of you as His child, nothing will be impossible to you. Nothing!
Of course, He is not giving the believer carte blanche to go do whatever he likes with this newfound power. No way! That nothing rather necessarily excludes using the power of God against God’s own purposes. Just as delegated authority does not extend to the point have having authority over that one who delegated it to you, so the power inherent in faith does not extent to the point of having the power to thwart the will and purpose of God. Can that power even be abused? It can certainly be counterfeited, and the counterfeit put to bad use. But, no, I do not suppose that God will allow His delegated power to be misapplied. The prayer that runs counter to the will and purpose of God is not one He is required or inclined to answer, at least not as the one praying has desired.
It is interesting to contrast the reaction of the disciples to that of the father. The father, hearing the problem, cries out to Jesus to fix whatever unbelief is in him. The disciples, seeing their failure, scratch their heads and wonder what they did wrong, for they are convinced of their belief, that it is full and complete. But, Jesus says otherwise. I am forced to believe that Jesus says otherwise about myself, as well. For that matter, I expect He says otherwise about all the saints.
Our faith, strong though it may be, is never complete here. We are beset by doubts. Were it not so, we should be safe in assuming that all disease should have long since been eliminated. We should assume that the world ought to be growing brighter rather than darker, as we see it. If nothing is to be impossible to the one whose faith is solid, however small it be, then how are we to explain that everything seems to remain impossible to us? The problem is not with God, and it is not with faith. It is with us, for we are still disinclined to confess to unbelief, and so, we seek no cure.
Was there ever so honest a man as this poor father. “I believe, but help my unbelief.” That is the most down to earth, honest declaration of faith ever to be heard, I dare say. Nor was it said with the least bit of guile. It is the earnest cry of a heartbroken realization that his belief was not as he had supposed it to be. It is a clear recognition that the problem was not with the disciples, nor with Jesus, nor with God, but with himself. It is also a clear recognition that the solution is utterly beyond him to provide for himself. Jesus, if You help not my unbelief, then there is no help to be had. I am stuck as I am, and my son as he is, and the enemy has won. But, this is not to be the case! If you confess your sins, He is faithful to forgive! That is the earnest hope of the Christian. That is the earnest truth of God in heaven. If you will but own up to how you really are, how hopeless and powerless, He will provide the hope and the power. He is Yeshua, God who Saves. The way is made! Lord, help my unbelief!
Looking through the cross references to this text, I notice a certain progression which, while is recorded of separate events, is a necessary progression for each one of us. The order in which things progress is subject to change, it seems to me, but the necessity of owning both aspects is not. The first pole of faith, we might say, is planted in knowing that He is able. If we are not certain of God’s ability to address our need, then we will find ourselves with no interest in seeking His aid. What would be the point of petitioning a god who can’t? We have plenty of those at our beck and call already! So it is that when Jesus encounters the blind men, his question to them is whether they believe He can do what they need done (Mt 9:28). Their reply indicates their certainty that yes, they do indeed believe He is capable of restoring their sight.
Yet, this is only the first pole. It displays only the most rudimentary recognition of God’s nature, really. It recognizes the omnipotence of God, and recognizes that it is God’s omnipotence which is in action when Jesus acts. But, to know God’s power does not necessitate knowing God’s character, and really, this is far more important. Any claimant to godhood, any least idol in all of pagan history would lay claim to a power greater than man’s. That is as nothing. What is the character of that claimant? Is he or she worthy of respect as well as deference? Power demands deference. Character deserves it. This is why God emphasizes character.
Think about it! He repeatedly chooses the most powerless of individuals to accomplish His purposes. Generally, we tend to think that this is done so that His own power will be more manifestly obvious in the results, and there is doubtless some truth to that conception. What we tend to miss, though, is that it is not just any ninety pound weakling He has chosen. His choice is one who, while weak, remains strong in character, and whose character is fashioned after His own, however flawed. He does not await the perfect hero, even measured by this yardstick of character. But, He will gladly pass on the brawny, might makes right, sort of hero in favor of the one who steadfastly seeks to do what is right. Character counts with Him, more than anything. As such, He is far more concerned that mankind know His character and trust His character than that they know His power and fear it.
So, the second pillar of faith is established in the confession of the leper: “If You are willing, I already know You are able” (Mk 1:40). Yes, this is a confession that is as yet incomplete, but its lack is identified in its own phrasing. The first pillar is established, and the second is now crying out for a firm footing. Give me faith to know (I do not say believe) that You are willing as well as able. Increase my faith! It is the same cry, isn’t it?
You see, a faith that only knows His power has no confidence to approach Him for an application of that power, because it doesn’t know His character and therefore cannot know His will. By the same token, a faith that only knows He is willing has no great reason to petition Him, because it doesn’t know His capability, and therefore cannot know that His will is indeed heaven’s command. It will be done. But, we cannot establish that truth in our thinking until we are fully and incontrovertibly confident that He is both willing and able.
It must be said, though, that these two poles are as yet insufficient, as important as they are. I commented above that I do not say ‘believe’ in regard to these poles, because it is not enough to believe. When I was young, I believed in many things that turned out to be mere fable and fantasy. I believed Santa Claus was willing to bring presents, and had the power to do so. I believed the Tooth Fairy was willing to pay for lost teeth and had the power to do so. Did that make my beliefs reality? Nope. It made them cheerful delusions. It was not enough.
I had initially supposed that the third pole that we need for establishing faith is to know that God is indeed with us, and that is perhaps correct. But, it occurs to me that all of this leaves us with a belief that may not really know. It is that knowing, not merely believing, that determines real faith. Jesus pronounces a particular benediction on those who believe, not having seen (Jn 20:29). Again, I have to say this belief is something more than simple acceptance of the record. Many believed the myths of the Greeks and Romans, but it did not make them true. Many today believe in various gods and movements, but it doesn’t make the gods real, nor does it make the movements righteous.
Faith doesn’t simply believe, it knows. That doesn’t necessarily mean that faith can provide concrete evidence to back up its knowledge, at least not such as will withstand the inquiries of a skeptical court. The same could be said, though, of the bulk of mathematics and therefore, of all science. For, science is but mathematics applied, and mathematics is inevitably grounded on certain theses that, while never disproved cannot be proved absolutely.
You cannot put together a bulletproof defense of the identity theory, which declares that any number multiplied by one remains likewise unchanged. In a system containing an infinity of numeric values, real and absolute proof of this theory would require an infinite number of validations. However, the overwhelming testimony of our own experience settles the question for us without need of such complete proof. It is accepted as knowledge in spite of that small possibility that somebody might someday discover a case where it no longer holds true. Yet, anybody who has been through a reasonably solid training in algebra will recognize that if that theory is someday knocked down, the whole of mathematics must fall with it, because this is, as it were, the cornerstone of algebraic math. If we cannot trust the additive power of zero, or the multiplicative properties of one, then the whole system is rendered untrustworthy and worthless.
Faith falls largely into this category, or more properly, those things upon which faith stands. We cannot prove these foundational principles beyond every possible shadow of doubt. Yet, the weight of evidence that we have gathered has yet to turn up so much as a single example that cannot or will not conform to the dictates of those foundational principles.
Can I take you back to what I was saying about prayer and fasting? What is it about these activities that is so important? I would suggest that it is their utility in establishing the knowledge upon which faith is made firm. In those periods of prayer and fasting, such as Jesus is describing, we are brought to a place where the power and willingness of the God Who Provides had better be real or we are about to become no longer real. It is no longer a matter for intellectual exercise, but a matter for existential survival! And, what is the fallout from these times? We have survived. God has provided. Faith is established on real evidence, evidence that is part of our own experience – beyond the eido and into the ginosko; indeed, beyond the ginosko and into the epignosis.
When we come to this place of knowing, really knowing, both the character and the power of God, faith has begun to approach that mustard seed level that Jesus tells us is already powerful to change the natural order. Why is that? Well, because part of knowing God’s character and power consists in understanding that through the work of Himself in His Son and in His Spirit He has so willed it that we should wield that same power and authority which is His own, if in somewhat lesser degree. We are able to wield so long as He has willed. We are not given to abuse that power, though our sinful inclination might lead us to try. We are not given to set that power against His purposes. We are not given such free access to the throne room of heaven that we can expect to receive from His hands those things that He abhors.
But, that knowing faith also trains us up in the way of His court. Our prayers are answered precisely because we are thoroughly disinclined to pray in any fashion that would displease our Father in heaven. We approach that place that Jesus walked, our words only what we hear from Him, our actions only what we see in Him. Oh, we are ever imperfect in so doing, but we learn, we grow, we improve. Faith increases. Knowledge increases. And, with the experience of each new day in Him, the evidence that supports our knowledge of faith is increased, and so, our confidence in walking His path is increased.
So, then, are those right who say that our failures and our illnesses are to be attributed to our lack of faith? In degree, perhaps, but not in absolute terms. Look at what Jesus has just told His own. Where faith is, all things will be possible to the believer. Nothing is beyond you! Greater things than these you shall do. You have but to ask, and I will do it. Wow! That’s power unstoppable! That’s the new world order established in a moment. That’s every disease and sinful proclivity of all mankind wiped out in an afternoon’s prayer session. And yet, it is not so, is it? The world has continued in its corruption even until now. Has all of church history, then, failed to produce so much as one man of faith, or one man who could hold faith for even that hour or so that might have been needed to seal mankind to righteousness?
Ah, but Jesus adds to this point. “This kind requires prayer and fasting.” Well, I have certainly explored the significance of that point already, so I need not return to it in any great depth here. But, if there is anything incontrovertible in that statement, anything that the translators seem to have determined is beyond question, it is this: this kind require prayer. Fasting we might debate, but prayer is not subject to any debate. It is necessary. It is non-optional. It is part of what makes all things possible, what transcends every impossibility. Why is that? Well, I have already established that prayer is a part of the system that establishes faith.
Of even greater importance, though, prayer is that thing which establishes the lines of communication with heaven. The Word and the study of God’s Word are absolutely, undeniably necessary. They are the lifeblood of the believer. But, they are insufficient to keep communications open. It is not even a matter of prayer being a secure line to heaven which, even were he able to intercept the messages, the devil could not decode them. That’s just stuff and fantasy. No, it’s the fact that this keeps us in touch with our true home. It keeps us in touch with our Father, our King, our Brother and our Lord. It keeps us attuned to His plans and purposes. It gives us that avenue to hear His direction.
Oh, believe me, I know how hard it can be to hear clearly even then. We must battle through the confusion of whether we are truly hearing Him or only our own thoughts. We must even question whether we are hearing Him, or some false message. But, we are His sheep, are we not? And, He has told us that His sheep will not listen to any other voice but His own. “Do you believe this?” It’s not enough to take Martha’s tack and say, “Yes, I know that’s our heritage.” If you believe it, you will walk it, live it, accept it as so self-evident as requires no further questions. And, if you believe it, then you must accept that whatever weeding of messages you may be inclined to do are done under His direction and will rather inevitably lead you to His will and purpose. This is not, though it may sound like it, some futile acceptance of fate, it is confidence established on rock! If I am His, He says I hear Him only. If I hear Him only then this is Him I am hearing. If it is Him I am hearing, and I am doing as I hear, then it is well with my soul. All things are possible and it shall be according to His Word.
Our failings are more reasonably attributed to lack of prayer than to lack of faith. It is because we are not listening, not because we no longer believe what we hear. Faith, even this faith that must be exercised, even this faith that apparently knows growth over time, remains a gift of grace, a product of God alone in us. It is His power that is in us to will and to work for His good pleasure (Php 2:13), and His good pleasure includes a faithful child of His adoption. Of course, this is no license for us to do as we please and leave it to Him. Quite the contrary, it is that much more reason to resolve in ourselves to pursue His good pleasure with all that is in us, knowing He is there within us (Php 2:12). He is faithful, and He will do it! How much greater our joy to know that we joined with Him in this labor of love, giving our all to His plan, however little it may have changed the outcome.
Prayer keeps faith strong. It does so by keeping us in touch with home. If, then, we find our faith feeling a bit weak and iron-poor, there is one solution. It is not to study more. It is not to go to church more often. It is not to gather together in fellowship whenever opportunity arises. All of these are good things, and necessary. But, they do not get at the root of the problem. Prayer does. Real prayer. Not the toss-offs. Not the stuff for public consumption or family consumption, but real prayer poured out of a heart that wants to hear Jesus, to know Him and to please Him for love of Him.
It is not the ATM sort of prayer, the Christmas wish-list prayer. It is simply a pouring out of honest fellowship with Christ, even as this man’s simple prayer (for that is exactly what it is) pours out: “I believe! Help my unbelief!” It is of that same quality of prayer that Jesus has offered upon encountering this scene, “How long, o Father? Nevertheless, I am about Thy will.” It is of one body with the Psalms, those places where we repeatedly hear David pouring out the reality of his state, warts and all, but always coming back to the perfect peace of knowing God and His Christ. Yes, David knew. He knew it as a future security, but He knew. Such is faith. It knows its security and it knows its frailty. It knows God’s greatness and man’s weakness. It knows utter dependence and absolute confidence. It embraces the paradox of this life in the world but not of it.
Consider these passages in which Jesus speaks of the power of believing prayer. “Whatever you ask in prayer and belief, you will receive” (Mt 21:22). “If you can pray it with no doubt, only belief that it shall be as you have said, it shall be granted you” (Mk 11:23). Well, that certainly sounds like I can do whatever I want with prayer, doesn’t it? So long as I can convince myself to believe it beyond any least shadow of doubt, He says He’ll do it. Just believe and you receive. So the message gets twisted, and just so, many take the meaning. To such as these, if a word comes that sounds particularly promising for them, they will pipe up with a quick “I claim that,” and if it is perhaps a more negative thing, they will refuse to receive it, as if that had some meaningful impact on the truth or falsity of whatever the message was.
But, such behavior is not justified by Scripture. I dare say that the only way we can hope to pray without the least shred of doubt is when we have the absolute assurance that what we are praying is wholly of an accord with what God is seeking to see done. In other words, it is no prayer that seeks to change God’s mind, but prayer that seeks to reflect God’s mind. We must, absolutely must, recognize that the belief of faith is something far more than opinion. It is founded upon truth, and truth is not subject to opinion.
Truth is true whether one believes it or not. The belief of faith is merely an aligning of one’s opinions with the Truth God has revealed. Faith and belief are not the power, they are the authorization, or better still, the badge of office for the believer. They are the proof that the believer is a legal possessor of that power. Thus, we find those sons of Sceva being successfully challenged for attempting to use the power of God unauthorized. They had no faith, no papers they could show that gave them the right to do as they did, and so, those they sought to hold power over successfully rebelled against them and abused them. Yet, the apostles, and even those who believed the apostles’ testimony, were able to manifest that very power unchecked. What made the difference? Was it that they believed the power? No. Those seven sons believed the power as well, else they would not have been playing with it. The key is that the apostles believed God. They took Him at His word, and the sought to serve His purpose. They had learned from the Son, the Master. And, so, if they spoke, they spoke what they had heard from God. If they acted, they acted as they had seen from God. If they exercised authority, it was with a clear sense of Who had given them the authority.
So, coming to the end of this event, we see that the crowds are left even more astonished than they were found. If they had been surprised that Jesus showed up, they were all but out of their minds that God had showed up, for they were very clear on the fact that He had. “They were astonished at the majesty of God,” Luke says. That majesty: what is it? It is the ‘conspicuous favor’ of God, as Strong’s puts it. That is a marvelously apt definition, I should think. What had just happened before their very eyes was undeniable. They had seen the boy’s seizures. It seems likely that they had seen them repeatedly by this point, for they had been around to witness the failure of the disciples to resolve the issue, and they had been around listening to the scribes arguing the significance of that failure.
One can easily imagine those scribes pointing to what had not just happened and laying out the case for God not being in the ministry based on that evidence. But, Jesus turns the evidence against them. If the lack of a cure was evidence that God was not in it, what then was the cure but evidence that He was. Indeed, these scribes who had sought to undermine the authority of the Christ have tuned the thoughts of this crowd to see the evidence for exactly what it is: the “conspicuous favor of God.” That the child was healed was not a questionable matter. They did not need a doctor’s confirming report to prove that this was no hoax. They did not need to take into account whether perhaps the whole thing had just been staged, and the child never really epileptic to begin with. Unlike so much of what passes for miracle today, the event was beyond questioning. Further, had there been questions, and doctors capable of providing answers in that time, they would only have confirmed the obvious: the boy was cured.
Therefore, we hear from Peter so many years later, “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2Pe 1:16). That is so very important to realize. Even in the earliest days of the Church, the story was being questioned. Even then, there were many who did their best to cast doubt on the historicity of the whole thing. They tried to assault the character and honesty of those witnesses Jesus had sent out into the world. But, they were not bearing clever stories. They had not been conniving together in Jerusalem to weave together a pack of lies into some sort of international movement. The very thought of something like that was probably beyond the conceivable for such simple people in such a time as they lived.
Furthermore, there were too many others alive who could easily provide the evidence against any lies they might have attempted. And, we know from our own experiences that given enough time, any web of lies must break down and become inconsistent. It is the foundation of justice that sufficient inquiry directed at the witnesses before a panel of peers will notice any such inconsistency in the testimony thus received, and where there is inconsistency, there will be doubt. No such inconsistency was found in what the apostles related. In spite of the differences we see in their accounts, those who first read them, those who first heard them, found these not as reasons for disbelief, but rather clear evidence of the first-hand nature of those accounts. Luke, when he researched the history of that ministry, found many more witnesses than just the twelve. And those witnesses, far from refuting what the twelve had said, confirmed their words most thoroughly. Indeed, they were eyewitnesses of God’s conspicuous favor, just as the apostles were, for they had been the ones who crowded around this Jesus as He walked the earth.
There is a foundation for faith. There is a solid basis for belief.
