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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In just last week’s Gospel Reading, Jesus made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, and today’s Gospel Reading gives us a similar miracle, though we have fast‑forwarded a bit through St. Mark’s account, to after Jesus’s Transfiguration. Jesus, Peter, James, and John came to the nine other disciples, and they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. Jesus asked what the argument was about, and a man from the crowd answered. The man had asked the disciples to cast out of his son an unclean spirit that made the boy mute and deaf, but the disciples were not able. With great emotion, Jesus rebuked the faithless generation and called for the boy to be brought to Him. The boy’s father pleaded, if Jesus could do anything, to have compassion and help. Jesus reacted to the father’s “if” and declared all things were possible for one who believes. The father of the child cried out and said (what I have chosen as the theme for this sermon), “I believe; help my unbelief!” Say it with me: “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Belief and unbelief seem to be at the center of the Gospel Reading. Jesus’s rebuke of the faithless generation came after hearing the man say the disciples were not able to cast out the demon. Later, when the disciples asked Jesus privately why they could not cast it out (they had cast out demons before, after all), Jesus pointed to the need for prayer, or, as St. Matthew’s account has it, to the disciples’ little faith, perhaps their little faith in Jesus’s ability to work through them. The disciples’ failure to exorcise the demon by praying in faith even apparently caused the child’s father to doubt, as evident in his conditional request of Jesus: “if You can”.
The child’s father believed something, at least. He said he believed, and his works of initially bringing his demon‑possessed son to Jesus and of persevering even after the disciples’ failure to exorcise the demon give evidence to his faith. You and I can identify with him, can we not? We believe, do we not? But are we not also in some sense unbelievers? We might fear the chaotic situation in the world and feel too unsafe here at home. We might be anxious over the upcoming presidential election in this country and think that way too much is riding on it. We might let our fallen human reason and our sinful human desires argue too much against God’s Word and not emotionally appreciate what we know in faith to be true. We may at least say we believe, but our works may suggest otherwise. God rules over all for the sake of His Church, yet we may think that what He allows in our world, our country, and even our own individual minds and hearts is somehow out of His control and not for our benefit. Yes, the devil and his demons have some influence on us in this world—in possession (like the boy in the Gospel Reading, who is thrown into a fit by the mere sight of Jesus and so clearly has more than what we think of as epilepsy or a seizure disorder—the devil and his demons have some influence on us in this world—in sickness, in sin, and in death—but ultimately God is still in control. Ultimately God is still in control, despite the devil’s, the world’s, and our own sinful flesh’s attempts to torment and destroy God’s image that we had at creation but lost part of with the fall into sin, making us by nature unbelievers.
We all are part of the faithless generation, and at least the second of Jesus’s rebuking rhetorical questions is asked to us, too. How long is He to bear with us? How long is He to accept or tolerate our sinful lives? The answer is not “forever”! He puts off the destruction we deserve on account of our sin and, at least today, calls us to repent. He calls us to turn in sorrow from our sin—our sins of forgetting ultimately God is in control, ruling all for the sake of His Church; our sins of the tongue, as described in today’s Epistle Reading; or whatever our sins might be—God calls us to turn in sorrow from all our sin, to believe He forgives all our sin, and to want to do better. When we so repent, then God forgives all our sin. He forgives all our sin for the sake of Jesus, Who died on the cross and rose from the grave for us and for our salvation.
In today’s Old Testament Reading, Jesus Himself spoke prophetically through the prophet Isaiah about that death and resurrection. Jesus gave His back to those who struck, and He gave His cheeks to those who pulled out the beard. He did not hide His face from disgrace and spitting. He was not disgraced, but He was ultimately vindicated. His resurrection showed that the Father accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. Because we receive Jesus’s righteousness by grace through faith, there is no longer any valid accusation against us. As Jesus Himself answered the father in the Gospel Reading’s plea for medical and spiritual help and personally commanded the morally unclean demon from the boy, so He forgives us our sin. He forgives our sins of forgetting God ultimately is in control, ruling all for the sake of His Church; our sins of the tongue; or whatever our sins might be—God forgives us all our sin by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. And, God gives us that forgiveness in specific ways.
As Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit of the boy in the Gospel Reading with His word, so Jesus forgives our sin with His Word—both with His Word preached and with His word administered in its sacramental forms. As today’s Epistle Reading said, those who teach are judged with greater strictness, and that is in part because the Word has the power not only to overcome demons but also to create and increase faith. In Holy Baptism, water with the Word gives victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Perhaps ironically, demons like those that wanted to destroy the boy of the Gospel Reading by casting him into water are themselves cast out at the Font by water and the Word. The Old Testament Reading referred to the tongue of those who are taught and knowing how to sustain with a word those who are weary, and in Holy Absolution we individually receive forgiveness from words of the pastor not doubting but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. In Holy Absolution, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, referring to Jesus’s words from the Gospel Reading that “All things are possible for one who believes”, said “it is not as necessary to say: Are you sorry? as it is to say: Do you believe it possible for me to absolve you?” Somewhat paradoxically, The Rev. Dr. Luther went on to note that such faith is most‑clearly evident in those who consciences make them feel their unbelief. Yet, in some sense, too much awareness of unbelief can almost be a problem when it comes to Holy Communion, Jesus’s Word with bread and wine. Some stay away from Holy Communion because they think they are unworthy on account of their little or weak faith. In fact, our worthiness to receive the bread that is Jesus’s body and the wine that is Jesus’s blood depends solely on Jesus’s merits! When we in any degree of faith are struggling with such things as lack of faith, guilt, and doubt is precisely when we most desperately need to receive what Holy Communion offers: the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. With the father of the child in the Gospel Reading, we say, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And, with His Word preached and administered in its sacramental forms, Jesus does just that: He helps our unbelief.
We need such help with our unbelief from Word and Sacrament all the days of our earthly lives. As people who are both justified and yet remain sinful, our faith is always plagued by doubts and hesitations. Belief and unbelief battle in our hearts. We notice that we fail to change or improve as we want, and we might begin to think that God does not care for us or have the power to help us. So, we live every day with repentance over our sin and with faith that through Word and Sacrament receives God’s forgiveness for our sin. We who are in Christ partake of a power that makes all things possible, “all those things [that] faith trusts to the power of Jesus Who … always exerts His power and ability according to His good and gracious will. Faith never asks anything foolish or wrong of Jesus; requests of that kind are never the product of faith.” However, we can confidently pray, with the father of the child in the Gospel Reading: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Say it with me: “I believe; help my unbelief!” God always hears that prayer and grants it for Jesus’s sake.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +