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 "if" Changes Hands
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.
Where the Real Difficulty Sits
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.
Why This Father's Faith Was Thin
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.
How Far "All Things" Reaches
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.
Faith Is Not Imagination
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 Answer the Lord Was Looking For
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!
Summary
- 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.