More Prayer, Please: Mark 9:25-29

Everyone can benefit by drawing closer to the Father’s presence.  He is love; we certainly could use as much of that as possible.  God is peace; the world needs more of that.  God is merciful; everyone needs forgiveness in addition to learning how to be forgiving to others.  There are many reasons to draw closer to God.

Jesus looks to the child and commands the evil spirit to leave and never come back.  The child convulses under the influence of the spirit, but eventually the spirit leaves.  Jesus has once more demonstrated the power of God is unmatched.

This leaves the disciples scratching their heads.  While it’s no surprise Jesus can pull off something the disciples cannot, the disciples have cast out evil spirits before.  Confused, they inquire about why they were unable to cast out the spirit.

Jesus gives a simple answer: this spirit could only be cast out by prayer.  Taken at face value, the disciples get their answer and that’s the end of the story.  The disciples needed to pray first.

There is a deeper message, though.  Notice that Mark doesn’t mention Jesus praying.  If prayer was necessary, why didn’t Mark tell us Jesus prayed?

Prayer can be defined many ways.  One of the easiest definitions is communication with the Father.  When we talk to God, we pray.  When we listen to God, we pray.  Our eyes can be open or closed, our head can be bowed or not, our hands can be folded or not.  Those motions may help us find a stance to make communicating with God easier, but they are not what defines prayer.

It is now possible to see the point Mark makes by not mentioning Jesus’ prayer.  Jesus lived a life constantly in communication with the Father.  Jesus was perpetually in prayer and as such He didn’t need to make a demonstration of it for the sake of the people.  Since He was already in communication with the Father, He was prepared to cast out the spirit.

There are two challenging points here.  First, what does it look like to pray in every moment – or as Paul writes, to pray without ceasing?  This is one of my personal standards.  I try to live my life so every moment is done with an awareness of the presence of God.  While I fail to meet this standard routinely, it is still a worthy pursuit.  Second, don’t miss the commentary Jesus makes about the disciples.  Being unable to cast out this spirit is evidence they have areas of growth in their own faith – just like the father of the boy.

This is an interesting healing story.  On the surface, we have a story about a boy who needs healing and a crowd looking for a show.  Underneath the surface is a commentary about how Jesus’ disciples – even disciples living now – have room to grow in their faith.  Everyone can benefit by drawing closer to the Father’s presence.