He Said What?

Scripture   Luke 9:37-43  NRSV

37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

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We have heard the story of the transfiguration many times.  Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the mountain to pray.  And while he was praying he was changed, even his clothes were dazzling to the eye.  Moses and Elijah were there talking with him, so Peter wanted to build 3 booths for them to stay in, but by the time he finished saying that, a voice came from the cloud saying “This is my Son, my Chosen.  Listen to him!”  As suddenly as they appeared, the prophets were gone, Jesus was alone, and the disciples were terrified.  And they kept silence, telling no one what they had witnessed.

Upon coming back to earth, as it were, after that mountain top experience, as usual a great crowd was waiting for them.  And the first person to get Jesus’ attention is a man whose son is afflicted with an unclean spirit and who has come to complain that Jesus’ disciples weren’t able to cure the boy.  He begs for Jesus’ help.  And  Jesus answered him saying, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here.”

Wait, he said what?  Where’s our loving, compassionate Jesus?  I mean, he was just up on the mountain top.  He spoke with Moses and Elijah, he was transfigured, completely changed, in the sight of Peter and James and John, and God called Jesus his son and told the disciples to listen to him!  He should be feeling, well, on top of the world!   All full of love and sunshiney stuff.  You know, I have to wonder what it was that Moses and Elijah shared with him on that mountaintop.  After all, both of them had to deal with people who had to be continually shown God’s power with signs and wonders - just like the people Jesus faced all the time.  Maybe they were commiserating with him, you know, complaining about their congregations.   God’s power enabled Moses and Elijah to do great things, impossible things, just as Jesus did.  Even though the people they led were stubborn and stiff necked, like his people.  Even though they quickly forgot what God had done for them.   Even though trying to lead them in God’s way was harder than herding cats.   Maybe his conversation with Moses and Elijah did have something to do with his reaction.  We will never know.  We do know that the first thing he does is chastise this man, and complain about having to put up with this faithless and perverse generation.   

Now, more often than not this passage is read as a rebuke to the disciples who were unable to heal the boy.  And yes, we do love to make fun of the disciples.  They get so much stuff wrong that we, with our 2,000 years of hindsight, can see right away!  We products of 20th and 21st century educations, tend to think that the 1st Century disciples weren’t exactly the brightest bulbs on the tree, but you know, Jesus picked them for a reason.  They were willing to drop everything and follow him.  At the beginning of this chapter, “Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”   He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom and to heal.  And they did.  Luke 9:6 tells us they “went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”  So they definitely could cast out this boy’s affliction.  Peter has already proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah.  Frankly, they get a pretty bad rap from us and in the case of this passage, it’s really not deserved.  It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus is speaking to the boy’s father, because the last sentence in that condemnation is, “Bring your son here.”  It’s not all that surprising that Jesus got upset with the father who didn’t believe his disciples could heal his son.  They could have healed the boy . . . because Jesus had given them the power and authority from God to do those things - but the father didn’t believe they could.  He had no faith in them.  And if you don’t believe that something can happen, it probably won’t.   If you don’t believe in the abilities of another person, nothing they do or say will convince you otherwise.

Think about this for a minute.  If I am convinced that I cannot succeed at something, the likelihood is that I will not.  If I keep telling myself I can’t, then I probably won’t.  I might not even try.  But if I think I can . . . well, the story of the Little Engine That Could comes to mind.  

Many of us have lived with lies that other people told us about ourselves so often that we came to believe the lie.  I’m not good enough.  I’m not smart enough.  I’ll never amount to anything.  I’m unloveable. I still struggle with some of these lies.   Leah and the Young Adult Group are studying a book called Enough - Silencing the Lies That Steal Your Confidence.  This book’s goal is to help people learn how to recognize the lie, reject it, and replace it with the truth.   The truth is, we can do anything we set our minds to doing.   All we need is faith that we can do those things with God’s help.   Now, this does not mean that I can go out and run  a 10 mile race without long and intensive training.   But it does mean that at age 44 I could go to college and then seminary and be successful as a student.  Even though I had been told over and over that I wasn’t smart enough.  When in doubt of my abilities I would remind myself that if God wanted me to be a minister, all I had to do was my part  - showing up for class, doing homework, studying, writing papers - and the rest would come.   Not everyone believed in me.  During every conversation with my mother-in-law she would tell me that we were welcome to move in with her when I flunked out. *sigh*  But I believed that I could succeed with God’s help, and with God’s help I did.

A few weeks ago Alan repaired my fence and I was giving him credit on Facebook for being able to do pretty much anything, because, you know, it’s Alan.  It seems like anything he turns his hand to is successful.  He can fix just about anything. He bakes.  He builds rockets.  He is an amazing woodworker.  His first quilt won a prize at the fair!  His response to my Facebook post was,  “I give God the credit: first he makes me, then he teaches me, then he motivates me.”   

All things are possible with God.   All we have to do is believe in the power of God.  All you have to do is give God the credit.  With God’s help, lies can be detected and rejected.  With God’s help, the demons that afflict us can be cast out.  With God’s help, people can be re-born.  With God’s help, churches can be transformed.  And all who witness these things will be astounded at the greatness of God.