From the mountain into chaos - February 6
Today’s Readings: Psalm 75, 76; Isa. 57:3-13; Gal. 5:25-6:10; Mark 9:14-29
When my sisters and I were teenagers, our mom introduced us to the local PBS station’s Saturday evening line-up that included a British sitcom, “Fawlty Towers”. It was originally produced in the mid-1970s, and had gone into syndication. The four of us would sit on our sectional sofa, transfixed by the comedic genius of John Cleese and Connie Booth. In many episodes, I remember being doubled over with laughter, tears streaming down my face, as scenes of absurdity piled upon one another. Cleese plays the lead male character Basil Fawlty, bumbling proprietor of a struggling hotel called Fawlty Towers, situated in the English countryside. Basil can’t win for losing – due to his own ineptitude and inability to play well with others, and the dynamics at play with his opinionated wife, colorful staff, and quirky hotel guests help cement an air of chaos and hilarity.
This morning as I read Mark 9, I am struck by a parallel chaos around Jesus. He has just been up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, where his face was “transfigured before them and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” Then, while glowing, Jesus was talking with Elijah with Moses. Once conversations wrap up, Jesus descends the high mountain with his disciple pals and finds a big crowd. Scribes, disciples, and the crowd are squabbling among themselves. Chaos abounds.
Jesus asks the crowd (and maybe his disciples), “What are you arguing about with them?” The answer is a non sequitur…it doesn’t speak to what Jesus has inquired. Instead, he hears a father pipe up, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak…” Once the concerned dad finishes his ask of the healer, Jesus conducts two conversations at the same time. The first response is to the angst-filled crowd and scribes, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?” I imagine in the same breath, Jesus delivers the second response to the father and the crowd, “Bring him to me.”
I wonder about how the emotional timbre of this crowd must have felt in contrast to the holy time of sharing Jesus experienced upon the mountain with Elijah and Moses. And did that sharp contrast heighten his harsh response to the crowd in this moment? Jesus sure does sound put out by the back-biting nitwits surrounding him. I can hear Basil Fawlty’s tone of exasperation in Jesus. In contrast to the fictitious British hotelier, Jesus moves on and gets proximate to the vulnerability and brokenness of the boy possessed by the unclean spirit. We see the healer at work, diagnosing, praying, expunging the control of that demonic essence over the man’s son. We hear a phrase oft repeated, “I believe; help my unbelief!” We experience Jesus’ witness to the power of focused prayer.
John Piper wrote a devotional that speaks to these heart-felt words, “I believe; help my unbelief!” and names them as a prayer – and a good one, because “it acknowledges that without God we cannot believe as we ought to believe.”
Whether you are feeling in a tizzy like Basil Fawlty, or grounded in this very moment like Jesus, know that God will meet you in prayer. Try the model that John Piper extends, as we pray for deeper faith in God this day: “O Lord, thank you for my faith. Sustain it. Strengthen it. Deepen it. Don’t let it fail. Make it the power of my life, so that in everything I do, you get the glory as the great Giver. Amen.”
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
What makes believing in God easy? Where do you find challenges? What effects do you feel from prayer?
Daily Challenge
Spend at least five minutes of prayer in a space or posture that brings you peace. Maybe that is on a walk, or in a quiet place. Remove yourself from chaos and pray for deepened faith today.