When we talk about praying for healing and miracles it can get a little confusing about what God’s will is. If you have ever heard of a story or had your own experience with praying for someone and the prayers were not answered, the conclusion often made is that it wasn’t God’s will. Conclusions that follow sound like, “Maybe it was their time to go,”.
The story in Mark 9 deals with this very question. Jesus and three of the disciples come to rejoin the rest of their group after a field trip. Jesus finds the remaining disciples surrounded by a large group where they were arguing with the teachers of the law. Jesus inquires about their argument.
Mark 9:17-18
“One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
This father brings his demon possessed son out hoping to find Jesus but only found the disciples. The disciples have been performing healings and deliverances, so they pray for the boy but nothing happens. This commotion draws a crowd and creates an argument between the disciples and the teachers of the law (This is all before Jesus arrived.).
What do you think that argument was about? It could have been about technic, maybe the hand motions or the words they used weren’t right. Maybe it was about sin and some thought that the father’s sin caused his son to be possessed and this was his punishment. Maybe it was about God’s will, and the fact that it wasn’t his will for this child to be delivered. Or anything else we say to try to rationalize why something didn’t happen.
I’ve heard it said that we should never create a theology based on what didn’t happen.
Enter in Jesus. Mark 9:19
“Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
It’s at this point the Jesus makes it explicitly clear what God’s will is.
To be continued…….