Help My Unbelief!

 

"When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered.  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 

The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer." 

~Mark 9:14-29~

The man believed Jesus – that’s why he was looking for him - the teacher he had heard about could heal his son! But Jesus is still up on the mountain with Peter, James and John when this story starts.

So the man asked the disciples to heal his son, they tried, they had been sent out before and had cast out demons and healed others, but not this time. When they couldn’t; when nothing changed, the man’s belief wavered, maybe it wasn’t possible…

Then Jesus himself shows up on the scene. There’s a crowd, there are raised voices. The man sees the teacher coming and applies directly to Jesus. This man had just had his hopes dashed, his belief shaken a little…or a lot.

 

Jesus asks the man a question “How long he has been like this?” – a sharp reminder that the years of suffering, of hours, days and nights wondering why, if things could change.
This question likely would have rattled the man - maybe there were only certain conditions in which his son could be healed? Like if the convulsions and seizures had just started happening yesterday, or if the father himself had done something differently with his son when he was younger. Yes, that must be it, maybe there were conditions.
 
 So the man asks Jesus: “If you can…” Hesitancy. Doubt creeping into his request.

“If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.”

“I do believe; help my unbelief!”

Jesus doesn’t give an explanation to the man’s or his son’s circumstances; he doesn’t give clarity or direct how he should go from here [at least not in the text].
 But Jesus also doesn’t turn away when the man confesses his unbelief. He tells him that everything is possible. And then he heals his son.  

I think this moment would likely become an ‘Ebenezer’ to him. A pillar and monument to his belief.  

An astounding, obvious and very memorable miracle. A moment that comes to mind in the hours, days, years after this incident, when new trials or challenges came and he doubted or struggled to believe [like we all do] thinking back on this moment, helps his unbelief!