Mark 9:19-20

Passage

Jesus spoke aloud to the crowd.  He said, “Oh faithless generation, how long am I going to be here on this earth?  How long will I have to continue to bear these people?”  Then Jesus orders the boy to be brought to Him.  The boy was brought to Jesus and the spirit within saw that he was being brought to Jesus.  The spirit convulsed the boy and the boy rolled on the ground and frothed at the mouth.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus asks two really poignant questions to start this passage.  The first is, “How long will I be with you?”  Jesus sees the complete and utter lack of faith in all the people around Him and wonders how long he’ll be able to continue to do everything for them.  Nobody can deal with this evil spirit.  Nobody has the relationship with God through which God could heal this boy.  Yes, God can do it on His own; but He sent His Messiah to reveal Himself to us and to invite us into a relationship.  The reality is that this story and this question from Jesus demonstrate that none of the people standing around the boy is close enough with God to discern God’s will and His direction.  We know the disciples had tried, but they hadn’t been able to do it.  Jesus wonders how much time He has left to train these disciples in the faith.

What does this say about Jesus’ disciples?  What can we learn about those times when we fail?  Why is our relationship with God important not just for ourselves but also for the people around us?  Why is it important to make the most of our time with people who are closer to the Father than we are?

Second Thought:

The second really profound question that Jesus asks is how long He will have to bear with the crowd.  In the first question, Jesus is worried that His time is short and worried about how little the people are in relationship with the Father.  In this question Jesus demonstrates the wearing effect that the crowd is having upon Him.  Although He wants to legitimately train His disciples, the reality is that always having to perform these miracles is tiring and wearing Him out.  Jesus wants to do something other than perform for a people who just want to see the spectacle.  Jesus came to this world to make disciples, not be some kind of sideshow act.

When can it be difficult to continue doing things over and over again?  What do we need to do to keep doing things repeatedly and still feel productive and satisfied? 

Third Thought:

The boy is brought before Jesus and immediately the spirit within him convulses the boy.  We don’t know why the evil spirit did this.  Perhaps the spirit did it to try and scare the father, the disciples, or even Jesus Himself.  Perhaps the evil spirit did it to try and get Jesus to leave it alone.  Whatever the reason, when the evil spirit convulses the boy the evil spirit proves its existence to everyone.  Now, everyone has seen that the evil spirit is present.  The fact that the evil spirit convulses the boy will actually add to the credibility of Jesus’ demonstration of God’s power.

Why is the healing more credible because the evil spirit convulses the boy?  How does this point tie in to the point we spoke about yesterday regarding seeing God even in bad circumstances?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 9:21-24