1
SERMON
SECOND
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
460 East Main Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Praying with Fingers Crossed
July 14, 2013
Mark 9:14-29
Rev. Dr. Daniel T. Hans
People are superstitious by nature. Different cultures have different superstitions. In ancient
biblical times, they believed that illness came from evil spirits. From my many mission trips
to Honduras, I have learned about two Honduran superstitions. It is believed that a baby that
cries a lot does so because some man, at sometime, has cast an evil look upon that baby. To
counter this curse, the family must find that particular man and wrap the baby in a sweaty
shirt worn by that man. Only then will the baby calm down. Also, in Honduras, superstitious
mothers of newborns put red socking caps on their babies in order to ward off evil.
You and I are superstitious as well. Oh, we may not wrap crying babies in sweaty shirts or
place red caps on babies; and we have outgrown our fear of what might happen to our mother
if we step on a crack and we may no longer throw spilled salt over our shoulder, especially if
we have to sweep the floor; but how many times do we make a bold statement then quickly
looked for something wooden to knock? More to the point, how many times do we offer a
prayer to God and in the process cross our fingers-- just for added luck?
I
While my sermon title mentions prayer, what I want to talk about is faith. We can't talk
about prayer without talking about faith. Prayer and faith go together because prayer is an
expression of faith. Jesus makes this point in our passage from Mark's account of his
ministry. Seeking help and believing help is available intersect in this passage.
A desperate dad appeals to Jesus' disciples for help for his epileptic son.
No scene is more heart-wrenching than a parent seeking help for a child.
Over the years in Honduras I have repeatedly witnessed such scenes. A father brings to our
clinic his 10-year-old son whose face was scraped raw and cheek ripped open from a terrible
bicycle accident. Another father brings his young son whose thumb has been nearly cut off
while using a machete to chop wood. A mother brings her 14-year-old son who is dying
from congenital heart failure. Some we can help and some we cannot help.
2
Between violent epileptic seizures, a father brings his son for help. Do Jesus' disciples help
this man and his boy? They want to help; they try to help; but they can’t do it! Then, along
comes Jesus. So the distraught dad directs his plea to our Lord: I've tried your understudies
but they can't help me. What about you? Can you do anything for my boy? Jesus looks into
the man's eyes and says, Can I do anything for your boy! All things can be done for the one
who believes! The lingering question for that man and for us is: what does it mean to
believe? What is this faith that Jesus and his church call us to live out?
II
Before we tackle what faith is, let's see what faith is not. The first thing faith is not is belief
in the irrational. Sometimes we become so desperate that we become irrational and we
believe anything in order to get what we need. Wrap a crying baby in a man's sweaty shirt to
stop the crying or put a red cap on a baby to combat evil. If only it was that easy!
In our text, Jesus declares: All things can be done for the one who believes.
All things are possible with God. Is this a rational claim or an irrational claim? It's irrational
if our concept of God differs little from our concept of self. If God has no power greater than
our own and if God is confined by the human limitation of finiteness, then to say all things
are possible with God is illogical. If Jesus is no different from his disciples, if he is just a
guy who has risen to the head-of-the-class, then all we can do is come to him with our fingers
crossed in the same way we would bet on any long shot.
However, if God is greater than His creation and if Jesus, while being one of us, is far more
than merely one of us, then to believe all things are possible with God ceases to be irrational.
Given who God is and who Jesus Christ is, faith becomes very reasonable. Is not the Creator
greater than the creation?
Is not the Divine Healer greater than the human broken-ness?
A caution must be added here. To believe all things are possible with God does not mean all
things are probable with God. Just because God can do something doesn't mean God will do
it. There always remains much mystery and wonder in faith in God.
A second thing faith is not is counterfeit experience. If ever you have been around someone
with a genuine faith that is lived out and you have also been around someone who merely
mouthed all the right words but lacked any conviction of belief, you know what fake faith is.
In Ann Tyler's novel, Morgan's Passing, a man spends much of his adult life successfully
impersonating doctors, lawyers, counselors and pastors as the occasion presents itself. He
claims it's an image thing. He discerns what people expect and then fits into the role. He
admits, however, I would never pretend to be a plumber or impersonate a butcher- they
would find me out in 20 seconds! (Working the Angles, Eugene Peterson, p 5-6)
A lot of people fake faith and in the process fool a lot of other people. It's like the religious
TV personality whose message is: Here at our ministry we welcome all denominations: 5s,
10s, 20s…
III
Well, enough about what faith is not. What is faith? From Mark's account of the father and
son we find three essential and inseparable traits of faith.
3
First, faith is openness to God and to possibilities God can produce.
Jesus says: All things can be done for the one who believes. Admittedly, Mark is a little fuzzy
here. We can't know for sure whether the one who believes is Jesus himself or the father or
the boy or just anybody. Regardless of the players, God works in every situation and if those
involved are open to God, they can begin experience God's active presence.
God works in amazing ways in the lives of those who are open to him.
A Doonesbury cartoon illustrates this in classic Doonesbury fashion.
In the first frame, Doonesbury and his wife tell their child who appears to be about 8: Alex,
Mom and I have been talking and we've decided it's time for us to start attending church as a
family. In the second frame, Alex replies: Church? Church is boring! Doonesbury says:
Well, we thought you might say that. All kids think that. Third frame- Alex asks: Didn't you
think church was boring when you were a kid? Doonesbury answers: Well, sure, I hated
going. But church was good for me, so my parents made me stick it out. You may end up
hating church, too, but you have to come by that feeling honestly. You have to put in the pew
time, like Mom and I did. In the last frame, Alex asks: What if I --- like church? Doonesbury
gasps: Like it? What do you mean? Then the mom adds: We'll have to cross that bridge
when we get there.
Those who are open to God will find themselves surprised by God's grace, surprised by God
working in their lives. Are we open to God working in ways beyond our comprehension and
beyond our control? Possessing such openness puts us on the path of faith.
IV
The importance of faith's openness is matched by the importance of faith's struggle. From
even a casual reading of our passage we can't miss the struggle, the doubt, the questions, in
the heart and mind of this dad. The later-written Gospels of Matthew and Luke both contain
this account of the healing of the epileptic boy, but they eliminate the response of the dad.
Only Mark includes the dad's reply: I believe, help my unbelief. I find this dad's words to be
some of the most promising in the Bible. The reason is that he takes the words right out of
my mouth.
Many a time when facing an obstacle and hearing the call to have faith, all I can say to God
is- I believe, help my unbelief. Watching the news on TV and seeing the atrocities civilized
people commit against each other, then praying about such atrocities under the conviction of
God's control over his creation, I find myself at a loss to say anything but I believe, help my
unbelief. Standing beside my daughter's bed, as I did years ago, during her long battle with
cancer, then standing over her grave during the long months that followed, all I could voice
was a struggling sigh: I believe, help my unbelief.
Does it sound contradictory to say: I believe, help my unbelief? It is a contradiction, if we
define faith as passive, unquestioning assent to whatever someone tells us to believe. But if
we have a definition of faith that is big enough to include honest questioning and humble
doubt and sincere struggle, then the words: I believe, help my unbelief probably express our
truest sentiment before God.
Christian writer and Presbyterian minister, Fred Buechner, said:
4
A God who leaves no room for doubt leaves no room for me. God is big enough to handle our
doubts. Personally, I believe God welcomes our doubts and struggles as necessary steps
along the path of faith.
V
A third feature of faith, which is the Siamese triplet to openness and struggle, is trust. This
entire account of the dad and his epileptic boy arises from a failure of Jesus' disciples to see
that faith is a matter of trust.
The passage opens with the disciples arguing with the religious authorities.
The disciples are trying to convince them that they are on the wrong path.
The disciples try to argue their opponents into faith in Jesus.
This explains why Jesus sounds so impatient and angry with his disciples for not being able
to heal the boy. His exasperated complaint: How much longer do I have to put up with you?
doesn’t sound like the patient, long-suffering Jesus we imagine, does it? He is near the end
of his rope with his disciples because the disciples are more concerned with winning an
argument than with trusting God's help for this boy and his dad. The disciples are like many
of us when we think we have to able to understand and explain everything about God before
faith is possible.
St. Augustine, one of the early Christian theologians and one of the great minds of the
Western tradition, grasped the pivotal role of trust for faith.
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand so that you may
believe, but believe [trust] so that you may understand. The Christian experience is not:
understanding seeking faith, rather it is faith seeking understanding.
Methodist missionary to India, E. Stanley Jones, tells of a Chinese engineer who had been in
America for a few years.
This engineer said to Jones:
I am a man without a religion. I don't believe in Confucianism any more and I don't believe
that Jesus is divine, so none of the Christian churches will take me in. I am a man without a
faith. What would you say to me?
Jones asked him how far along he had come.
He answered: I think Jesus is the best man who ever lived.
Jones said: So, Jesus is your ideal?
Yes, he is: replied the man.
Jones continued: If Jesus is the best of men and he is your ideal, you should take out of your
life everything that contradicts that ideal.
The Chinese man answered: That isn't easy.
Jones replied: I didn't say it would be easy, but it is necessary. If you are willing to do the
will of God, you will know the will of God for he will teach you.
The man's face lighted up as he said: Everybody else has said I had to believe something
first, but you say if I were willing to do I would know!
Jones prayed with the man that he might give over to God everything that did not conform to
Jesus. The man went home and returned to Jones sometime later all aglow.
5
The man said: All my questions of who Jesus is have faded out. I feel and love the Presence.
God has verified himself to me and as I began to trust I began to know. (The Divine Yes, E.
Stanley Jones, p. 85-86)
Faith is not about understanding God as much as it is about trusting God.
Faith is personal trust in the personal God who comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
This is why Mark concludes our passage with Jesus speaking on prayer. Prayer is an
essential expression of trust in God. Prayer does not begin with an argued understanding of
God. Prayer begins with a need in our lives and a simple trust that somehow God can and
will respond to our need.
VI
The father in our passage comes to Jesus, not out of superstition, not with crossed fingers,
and not because he is convinced Jesus can help his son.
This father comes to Jesus because he has a need, a deep and personal need.
What is your need this morning? What brings you here into God's presence?
Whatever your need, I invite you to uncross your fingers and begin to trust.
Trust in what you do know about God and about his love in Jesus Christ.
Give your life to God's leading as best you can at this time in your life.
If the best you can do today is to say: I believe, help my unbelief let me assure you that you're
not alone. If each of us is honest, we will admit that is where we are too. The good news is
that God welcomes us, as Jesus welcomes that father in our passage; God welcomes us
however we come to God.