and often it has cast him both into fire and into waters that it might destroy him but if thou couldst [do] anything, be moved with pity on us, and help us.
A desperate father brings Jesus a son the disciples could not free. His plea has a crack in it: "if you can do anything." What he says about the demon's aim, and how the Lord answers that little word "if," show where power and faith meet.
The father's report is not of an illness but of repeated attempts on his son's life. One writer reads the fire and the water as a portrait of the whole human situation.
The Lord learned when He asked that the boy had suffered like this since childhood. It is a picture, only too accurate, of our race. Our race fell into Satan's hands while it was still an infant — in the days of the garden of Eden. The child was both deaf and mute (Mark 9:25). That reflects the spiritual condition of every descendant of fallen Adam. The afflicted child was in constant danger of his life. His father said of the unclean spirit inside him, "It has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him." In the same way every undelivered sinner is in danger. The danger is not just temporary disaster, but eternal destruction.
The words are a prayer, yet they put a condition on Christ. One writer hears two doubts in that condition.
His cry, "If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us," revealed his lack of faith about His power, while he was also not too sure of His kindness.
Where did the hesitation come from? One writer traces it to a father more full of his trouble than of his Lord. He also marks off this doubt from the faith that says, "if you will."
The father's distrust seems to have come partly from extreme anxiety. The failure of the disciples no doubt made it worse. But note: the cause of it lasts, in painful times and in joyful ones. He felt more about himself than about the Lord. Here was the seed of unbelief. "Have pity on us" — he was full of the object, not calmly relying on the Lord's power in regard to it. This fills us with a sense of the apparent difficulties; we do not see where the "if you can" lies... This is not merely uncertainty about whether the Lord would see fit to step in. Such uncertainty can go together with perfect faith. "Lord, if you will, you can. And the Lord said, I will; be clean." Here there is no reference to Him as "Lord," only "If you can."
Jesus does not defend His power. He takes the man's own "if" and hands it back to him.
The Lord's reply is remarkable: "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Power connects itself with faith. The difficulty is not in Christ's power, but in man's believing. All things were possible if he could believe. This is an important principle. Christ's power never fails to do all that is good for man. But faith, sadly, may be lacking in us to profit by it.
The wording of Mark 9:23 here follows an older translation. If the limit is faith and not power, faith reaches as far as God Himself.
Without a doubt the Lord points out here the present power of faith when it is active. He means more than belief in Himself for immediate help and blessing, though His words included that. He also means the faith that could draw on all that is in Christ for every emergency along the way. For in the very next chapter we read, "With God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). So — and here is the wonder — whatever is possible with God is possible for faith.
He does not ask only for his son. He says "us."
How these few words tell of the heaviness of the affliction, in which, as the father said, he was not alone. He had presented his case with all the urgency of a parent's feeling. What more could he do?
The disciples had failed, the crowd was arguing, and the father's faith was thin — yet the Lord had already said, "Bring him to Me."
Faith, however small it may be, is never left without an answer from the Lord. What a comfort! Whatever the unbelief, not only of the world but of Christians — if only one single person were left in the world who had faith in the goodness and power of the Lord Jesus, he could not come to Him with a real need and simple belief without finding His heart ready and His power enough.
- Destruction — the spirit threw the boy into fire and water. Its aim was ruin, and that is the danger of every undelivered sinner.
- Distrust — "if you can" doubts both Christ's power and His kindness. It grew in a father more full of his trouble than of his Lord.
- Relocation — Jesus moves the "if" from His power to the man's believing. The difficulty is never on Christ's side.
- Reach — faith can draw on all that is in Christ, for whatever is possible with God is possible to faith.
- Welcome — the faith may be small and the failure around it great. Still, no one brings a real need to Christ and finds His heart unready.
And Jesus said to him, The 'if thou couldst' is [if thou couldst] believe all things are possible to him that believes.
Jesus comes down from the mountain and meets a crowd. His disciples have just failed to free a boy from a demon. The boy's father then comes to Him, and his plea starts with a doubt about what Jesus can do. The Lord's reply picks up the man's own word and hands it back to him. Where does the real obstacle lie in a desperate case like this?
The father had put a question mark over Christ. In His answer, the Lord moves that question mark to the other side of the conversation.
Jesus replied, "Your 'if you can' is really this — if you can believe." That is, He said in effect, "There is no 'if' on My side. The only 'if' that enters into this matter is on your side. It is not 'if I can do anything,' but 'if you can believe.'" This put the whole thing in the true light, and in a flash the man saw it. Seeing it, he believed, while confessing his former unbelief.
Once the "if" moves, a principle appears that reaches far past this one boy.
Power connects itself with faith. The difficulty is not in Christ's power. It is in man's believing. All things were possible if he could believe. This is an important principle. Christ's power never fails to do all that is good for man. Sadly, we may lack the faith to benefit from it.
Two things had worn the man down. One was inside him — the sheer weight of his son's condition crowded out any settled trust.
The father's distrust seems to have come in part from extreme anxiety... he felt more about himself than about the Lord. Here was the seed of unbelief. "Have pity on us" — his mind was full of the trouble, not resting on the Lord's power over it. That fills us with a sense of the difficulties we can see. Then we miss where the real "if you can" lies.
The other cause was outside him. He had already asked the disciples, and they had failed.
The power of Satan was there, and had been for a long time. Now the power of the Lord had come in grace. Yet the man says, "If You can... have compassion" — for the unbelief of the disciples had fed the unbelief of the poor man. The Lord, in a few plain words, declares that the question of power lies in the question of faith.
The saying is not limited to one healing on one day. Read alongside what the Lord says in the next chapter, its scope becomes startling.
Here the Lord surely points to the power of faith at work now. His words included believing in Him for present help and blessing. But they went further. He meant the faith that could draw on all that was in Christ, for every emergency along the way. In the very next chapter we read, "all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27). So — and here is the marvel — whatever is possible with God is possible for faith.
Such a wide promise invites misuse, so writers are careful to say what faith rests on.
What is really imagination is very often called faith. It is not faith unless we have the word of God for it. It was only a little word that Jesus said, "Come!" but Peter could and did act on it. There is wonderful encouragement for us here. He can enable His saints to do what is impossible by human strength.
The father does not pretend to a strength he lacks. He admits the weakness and asks for help with it. That honesty is the healthy response.
He teaches the weak man who asked Him that the question of power turns on faith. God looks for faith, however great His own grace may be. What possible moral good could power secure without believing? On the other hand, all things are possible to the one who believes... "I believe; help my unbelief!" How healthy it is for a believer to feel and own his unbelief!
- The "if" moves. The father put the doubt on Christ's ability. Jesus put it back on the father's believing. There is no "if" on His side.
- The block is never power. The shortage was never in Christ. His power never fails to do all that is good for man. What may be missing is our faith to draw on it.
- Anxiety shrinks faith. A mind full of the trouble, instead of resting on the Lord, is the seed of unbelief. The disciples' earlier failure had fed the man's doubt too.
- The reach is God's own reach. Whatever is possible with God is possible for faith — not just for one crisis, but for every emergency along the road.
- Faith needs a word, and honesty. Faith needs God's word behind it. And the answer the Lord accepted was a man owning his unbelief while asking for help with it.