Today’s passage: Mark 9:14-32
Helpful thoughts:
- While Jesus was away, the disciples struggled to represent Him accurately. Though we do not perform miracles like the one in this passage today, the church continues to represent Jesus while we await His return.
- The power of prayer and the need of faith/belief are presented in these verses.
- The acknowledgement that faith and belief are a gracious gift from God is also acknowledged. “I believe, help my unbelief.”
- The struggle of the disciples to believe what Jesus taught them up to this point is emphasized. It would take God’s grace to give them belief later after the resurrection.
Questions to consider:
- If you had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and then immediately after saw religious people arguing with each other, what would you be thinking about? How would your perspective be different? How can you apply this to your relationships in the church today?
- How are the people and the disciples treating physical miracles compared to the spiritual healing Jesus had come to bring? How can this imbalance lead to further unbelief? If we were to wrongly teach that more belief would cause healing from this passage, how would we fall into the very same trap?
- What is the irony of the statement, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men…”? How did God make a way of salvation from sin, through the sin of men?