Unbelief: Mark 9:20-24
Profoundly deep faith takes a lifetime of work. Like all skills worth having, deep faith takes effort. It starts small and is easily overcome. As faith is exercised, it grows and strengthens and becomes more resilient. Soon what used to challenge faith can be taken in stride. A deep faith, however, is not something that should be expected in the beginning.
As the boy comes forward to meet Jesus, the spirit within the boy takes control, tosses him to the ground, and causes him to convulse. In the subsequent dialogue, the father makes an unusual statement: “I believe, help my unbelief.” How can he believe and have unbelief at the same time?
While this question is frequently asked, it comes from a certain perspective about faith. Sometimes when Christians talk about faith, we talk about it as if it were a light switch. In the same way that a light switch is either on or off, we can think that a person either has faith or they don’t. This perspective isn’t wrong; but it is simple.
A more complex understanding of faith is like a dimmer switch. A dimmer switch has an off position, but instead of an on position it has a gradient scale where it can increase or decrease. Faith is the same way. A person can have no faith – that’s the off position. But if a person has faith, the question is how much, how strong, how resilient?
That’s the lesson Jesus is teaching the father in his reply to him. Thus far, all of Jesus’ responses in this passage have centered on this concept of a gradient scale of faith. When the man says “if you can do something” to Jesus, Jesus sees His opportunity. He digs into the man’s faith by questioning his use of the word “if.”
The man immediately unpacks what he meant. He tells Jesus that he does believe. This should make sense, though. If the man didn’t think Jesus could do anything about his son’s condition, why would he have brought him in the first place. Clearly, the father does not lack faith entirely. That’s the point Jesus makes. Jesus wants the man to understand he does have faith; it just needs to grow.
The father gets the message. This is why he says, “I believe, help me with my unbelief.” He realizes he has some level of faith. But the father also realizes wrapping his head around how Jesus can free his boy from the spirit is hard. The father believes, but grasping the hope of a new reality for his son takes more faith than he has.
This is an incredibly powerful confession. Understanding one’s limitations is the first step to correcting them. For the father’s faith to grow, he must understand where it is weak. He must understand where it needs to be exercised. This is why profoundly deep faith takes a lifetime of work.
