Sermon on Mark 9:14-29 for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Our Gospel reading from Mark takes place right after Jesus has returned from His mountaintop transfiguration, where 3 disciples saw Him revealed as the Son of God. Returning to the plain, He finds out that the other disciples had failed in casting out a demon from a young boy, and were now surrounded by a crowd, arguing with the scribes. Jesus enters the scene, with the disciples likely embarrassed by their failure and the crowd eager to see if Jesus could succeed where the disciples had failed. Even the father of the child has a lukewarm hope in Jesus’ ability. When Jesus hears the father’s report of the disciples’ failure, He shows great disappointment: “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” Where was their faith? Later He would explain to them they also lacked prayer. How would Jesus attend to this man’s needs, as well as to the weakness and lack of faith aro...