+Points to ponder

1. Why do you think that God has made faith the fulcrum for life with Him?
2. Can you think of a specific time/incident of struggle that brought your faith into focus?
3. Have you had a time (or times) when you related to the father in the Gospel reading as he cried out ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’?
4. ‘Jesus holds on even as we let go,’ says the sermon. What do you make of that assertion?

+Sermon Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Let us pray: God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit upon Your Church in the burning fire of Your love: grant that Your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the Gospel that, always abiding in You, they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.

Have you ever noticed how struggles in our lives can bring faith into view?

When everything is going well, our faith can run on autopilot. Church and prayer can become merely part of a routine. Because things are going well, we fail to even notice. We simply do what we normally do. But, when things start to fall apart, faith comes into view. Like shining a flashlight into a dark room, the troubles we face, and the circumstances that challenge us can illumine our faith. They bring it into view.

Normally, we could describe this experience as painful but positive. Tony, who had stopped going to church, suddenly comes again. Why? Because his daughter left home without leaving a forwarding address. Katy’s prayer life has increased dramatically. Why? Because the doctor found a spot on her lung. Troubles, challenges, like a flashlight, illumine our faith. And if we are paying attention, this is sometimes, a good thing. We see faith renewed.

Other times, however, we see a darker picture. Instead of faith getting stronger, it wanes. When trouble comes, when challenges arise and illumine the darkness, we find our faith huddled in a corner, shrinking, and seemingly in the throes of death. Yes, many people have come back to the church during a family dispute, but just as many have walked farther away. Yes, illness has led some to pick up their Bible, but it has led others to look elsewhere for hope and for healing.

When troubles reveal faith, the experience is not always positive. Instead of a strong and vibrant return to Christianity, we see a deeper questioning of God and a growing reluctance to believe in anything at all. Faith wavers. Prayers are questions filled with resentment. Hope is just a dreamlike fantasy from which people are starting to awaken.

Today, Mark helps us see and name these situations. He calls us to stop pretending faith is always going to get stronger and recognize that sometimes it gets weaker. Mark wants us to come face-to-face with this ugly reality, so he can bring us face-to-face with Jesus, our beautiful Savior.

The beauty of our gospel reading today is how it reveals Jesus as the One who comes not only for the strong in faith but also for those who are weak and walking away.

Consider the moment when the father stands before Jesus. At first, the father’s heart was filled with hope. He brought his child to the disciples for healing. They had cast out spirits, and his son has a spirit. Yet, they were unable to do anything. Then, his heart was filled with disillusionment and frustration as the religious leaders began to argue. While his son suffers, all they want to do is argue and debate about the situation: “Who actually can cast out demons, where, when, and why?” By the time Jesus arrives, the father has had it. His confidence has been sapped. His heart is nearly empty of faith.

They bring his child before Jesus and the spirit, as if to demonstrate its power, throws the child to the ground. The man’s son rolls at Jesus’ feet, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asks how long this has been happening and the father tells his life story. For years, his son has been tormented by this spirit. Sometimes, the spirit throws his son into water to drown him. Other times, the spirit throws his son into fire to burn him. Always, the spirit seeks to kill him. This spirit has taken the joy of childhood and replaced it with suffering, the joy of fatherhood and replaced it with fear, and the power of faith and made it seem foolish.

So, the father reaches down deep into his heart and brings out his very last plea. He says to Jesus, “If You are able, have compassion on us and help us.”

Suddenly, Jesus is troubled by something more than the evil spirit and the child rolling on the ground. Jesus is troubled by a father falling away from the faith. So, before Jesus does anything for the son, Jesus speaks with tough love to the father. “If you can!?” Jesus says. He wants the father to hear his hesitation, to discern his doubt. Jesus brings the father face-to-face with his faith, which is failing, so he can stand face-to-face before his Savior who succeeds.

The beauty of grace in this text is how Jesus holds on to people who are letting go. The father believes, but he does not believe. He tries, but he has given up trying. He holds on, but he also lets-go. So, he confesses to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief.” “The father cried out with faith but struggled with his son’s burden and the failure of the disciples. “Worthiness does not depend on the greatness or smallness, the weakness or strength of faith. Instead, it depends on Christ’s merit, which the distressed father of little faith enjoyed as well as Abraham, Paul, and others who have a joyful and strong faith.”

Again, the father cries out: “I believe; help my unbelief!” With those words, this father brings all of our fragility and floundering, all of our doubting and grumbling, all of our reticence and running and sets it before Jesus; and Jesus, when face-to-face with our ugliness, when face-to-face with our unseemliness, Jesus brings us face-to-face with His beautiful grace.

Jesus is a Savior who has come to save. ‘A bruised reed, He will not break. A smoldering wick, He will not snuff out.’ A weak faith, He will not deny. Jesus has come to die for all people; those who are strong in faith and those who are weak in faith and those who have no faith at all. When Jesus dies on the cross, He dies for the sin of unbelief so that, when He rises, He brings forgiveness to all.

“There’s an old story about Dr. Benjamin Warfield. He was a theology professor at Princeton Seminary [back when the Ivy League had Christian intent]. While he was still at the height of his academic powers, his wife got sick. And she became an invalid. He took care of her for ten years. During that ten-year period, he never spent more than 2 hours away from his wife. Even though she was handicapped, she still loved to read. And so, Dr. Warfield would sit at her bedside day after day. And read to her. He was always gentle and caring with her.

One day, someone asked him, ‘Have you ever thought about taking your wife to an institution? Then you could write bigger books and have a bigger ministry.’ But Dr. Warfield said, ‘No way. My wife is my ministry. I will never leave her side. I am going to love her and take care of her as long as God grants us life.’

That’s how the Lord Jesus feels about you and me. He will not walk away from us. He will not abandon us. He will not throw us away like yesterday’s news. He will minister His love and his compassion to us” in the way that we need it, without fail.

And so, the magnificence of our Gospel text is what it reveals about Jesus. Jesus holds on to people even as they are letting go. Faith is a relationship with the One who is strong enough to save. It is not about how tightly you hold on to Jesus but rather how tightly He holds on to you.

Martin Luther once opined: “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.” And, as Jesus tells His disciples in John’s Gospel: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” So, today, beloved, as we hear our Shepherd’s voice, we can be honest about our struggles with faith; we can approach Him with confidence – we can trust Jesus because He has come to us with His all-powerful grace. Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Sermon Study background and helps from David Schmitt (MDiv, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; PhD, Washington University, St. Louis) is the Gregg H. Benidt Chair of Homiletics and Literature, Professor of Practical Theology, and Chair of the Practical Department at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. [Found at https://www.1517.org/articles/gospel-mark-914-29-pentecost-16-series-b, accessed on September 7, 2021.