Overcome My Unbelief

*image originated here

Matthew 17:14-21, 24-27, Mark 8:22-26, 9:14-29, Luke 9:37-43, 51-55, 10:25-42, John 4:43-5:15, 9:1-41

Sorry that this post is so late. We had a major snowstorm here yesterday that stranded me at a friend’s house after work because it was too dangerous to try and make it all the way home. I will post tonight’s regular post as well 🙂 and hope you have had a restful Sunday!

As we’ve learned the people of Jesus’ day are struggling to believe that he is the Messiah as he has claimed and as John, the angels, shepherds, and wise men have witnessed. But for some Jesus was their last hope! They came from far and wide to experience his healing power in their broken lives and all he asked for in return was faith…

The Boy With A Demon

After the disciples had returned to Jesus they continued to be apart of his ministry teaching and healing as they had been sent out to do. A man from the region they’re currently in brings his demon-possessed son to them so that he can be healed, but the disciples cannot heal him. Jesus comes upon the scene and the father of the boy asks him to heal his son then if he is able.

” ‘If I can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24

Then Jesus healed the man’s son. This boy who’d been possessed since birth was finally free! The disciples then come to Jesus privately and ask him why they could not cast out this demon as they had with so many others. In Mark, his answer is that demons can only be cast out with prayer implying that they had been trying to heal the boy on their own instead of in Jesus’ name. In Matthew, the answer very specifically deals with their lack of faith.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:19-21

The Blind & Mute

As Jesus went from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith it will be done to you.”

Matthew 9:27-29

Jesus went from place to place giving the blind their sight and the mute their voice, among the most famous of these men is the Blind Man of Bethsaida whose eyes Jesus spit in and touched and healed. What is interesting to me is that each of these people who are hurting and lost come to Jesus for the same reason: healing. Yet each one of them is shown healing and compassion in a different way. Another blind man comes to Jesus and is told to wash his eyes of the spit and mud Jesus placed there in the Pool of Siloam. The teachers of the law asked if he was born blind because of sin but Jesus teaches them his suffering was not because of sin, rather it was for this very moment where he now gets to experience the work of God in his life!

“Neither this man nor his parents have sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

John 9:3-5

Miracles, Enemies, & Authority

Miracles

The first miracle Jesus performed publicly was turning water into wine in Cana before he traveled to be baptized by John in Judea and to attend the Passover feast where he overturned the tables of the merchants and moneychangers in the temple. After this, he returns through Samaria and Galilee to the town of Cana again. The people of Cana have now seen many of his miracles and the authority he has when he is teaching, therefore they welcome him. Upon his return, an official comes to him begging for Jesus to heal his son who is about to die.

When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed.

John 4:47-53

Jesus knew the hearts of these men who would not believe without seeing a ‘sign’ for themselves but when a father begs for his son’s life Jesus willingly heals him. The wonderful thing is that the father then, before seeing that his son had been healed, believes in Jesus enough to take Jesus at his word and start the journey home. Because of his faith and Jesus’ mercy the man’s son is healed!

Sometime later in Jerusalem Jesus sees another man in need of his help, but this man does not ask for it. Instead, Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed!

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked….Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

John 5:6-8, 14

Even in our unbelief, Jesus has the power and desire to heal us. The question is: do we want to be healed? The question is: are we willing to turn away from our paths of sin?

Enemies

We know already that Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them. We also have learned that the Jews and the Samaritans do not get along at all! Again the question comes up from a teacher of the law: what shall we do to inherit eternal life? Jesus’ response reminds me of what he has already told them: by the law that they’ve used to judge and condemn the world they also will be judged and condemned…

“What is written in the law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’ and, ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” “You have answerd correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Luke 10:26-28

This man knows that he has not even fulfilled these two commands and seeking to justify himself he asks Jesus another question. What does it mean to justify oneself: to prove oneself to be right or reasonable or to declare or make oneself righteous before God. In other words, this man wanted eternal life without the hard work of obeying God’s laws and following Him. His question, who is my neighbor, backfires however when Jesus makes it perfectly clear that one’s neighbor is not just a person’s family, friends, or community it also includes a person’s enemies!

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he sais,’and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:30-37

Authority

While we are to have faith, love God, and love others, we are also to respect authority. Ever since I was a very young child I learned from every adult who ever talked about people in a position of authority and paying one’s taxes, that these were things grown-ups truly despised. Yet in Sunday School, these same grown-ups could teach this lesson with a straight face when Jesus commands us to render unto to Caesar that which is Caesar’s! As I’ve gotten older, I can honestly say that I don’t mind paying my taxes…they’re what pay for snow plows, new roads, schools, the police force, the military, social welfare programs for the elderly and destitute, and so much more. Without taxes, our government would function even less than it is now which is ironic since we’re currently in a government shutdown because our leaders can’t agree on how to spend our taxes! Remember this then, if you’re really struggling with the people that have come to power in your own nation and in mine. When Nebuchadnezzar claimed that his mighty empire and his power were gained because of himself, God took drastic measures to teach and remind him that God alone gives authority and takes it away. Remember also David who refused to kill Saul however vile a king he may have been because God himself gave him that position of authority over His nation.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Matthew 22:15-22

Even though Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Kings, and Lord over the temple and all who worshipped there, he pays his tax as an example to his disciples.

After Jesus arrived in Capernaum, the collecters of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think Simon?” he asked. “From wome do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes–from their own sons or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Matthew 17:24-27