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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Saturday, 22nd day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 9 verses 14 through 32. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd with them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him, and he asked them, what are you arguing about with them?
Jeffrey Heine:And someone from the crowd answered him, teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were not able. He answered them, oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?
Jeffrey Heine:Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy and he fell to the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood, and it has often cast him into the fire and into water to destroy him.
Jeffrey Heine:But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately, father of the child cried out and said, I believe. Help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.
Jeffrey Heine:And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. They went on from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him and when he is killed, after 3 days, he will rise.
Jeffrey Heine:But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. In our passage today, Jesus encounters both crowds and disciples who fail to understand Him. The father of the mute boy hesitantly asks Jesus if he can do anything, and the disciples are baffled about what resurrection Jesus is talking about.
Jeffrey Heine:Reading through the Gospel of Mark, we can see that it is not always easy to understand Jesus, his words, or his actions, but Jesus replies to their confusion saying, all things are possible to those who believe. In desperation, in striking honesty, the father of the mute boy cries out, I believe. Help my unbelief. Few people in the scriptures cry out to God with such humility and confidence. He was not afraid to ask for help believing because he knew that he would only believe through help.
Jeffrey Heine:Augustine wrote that we must pray to believe and we must believe to pray. In this, the Lord draws near to us and strengthens us to believe. Lord, hear our prayer and let our cry come to you. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting god, who in the blood of Christ established a new covenant of reconciliation, this Lent, grant us the faith to trust in Jesus above all else.
Jeffrey Heine:Strengthen our hope in our resurrected King, and fill us with your blessed Holy Spirit. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.