When they came down off the mountain the next day, a big crowd was there to meet them. A man called from out of the crowd, “Please, please, Teacher, take a look at my son. He’s my only child. Often a spirit seizes him. Suddenly he’s screaming, thrown into convulsions, his mouth foaming. And then it beats him black-and-blue before it leaves. I asked your disciples to deliver him but they couldn’t.”
41 Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring your son here.”
42-43 While he was coming, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into convulsions. Jesus stepped in, ordered the foul spirit gone, healed the boy, and handed him back to his father. They all shook their heads in wonder, astonished at God’s greatness, God’s majestic greatness.
Struggling.
We find it in the parent of the possessed son. Watching his only child seizing and convulsing, screaming and self-beaten. He likely has tried everything. He’s asked the disciples for deliverance, but they can’t help. He’s likely broke and broken. This father is at his wits end and he yells from the crowd to this itinerant preacher Jesus.
Struggling.
We find it in the disciples, who are trying to be faithful followers of their master. They’ve listened to Jesus, watched him, tried to emulate him. On occasion, they can heal others and teach, but sometimes they’re confronted with the convulsing, screaming son or the beloved near dead servant who can’t die now, or mountain that needs to be moved, and they are helpless.
Struggling.
We find it in Jesus, who has spent so much time teaching, healing, and preaching, exhorting the disciples to the central tenants of his message. He watches as his disciples lose faith, not understand the deep meanings, and miss the mark. How many times must Jesus say the same message repeatedly? How can he possibly leave them when they seem so dense? Even as he casts out the foul spirit, he must remind them that he is about to be betrayed. They had better get their act together!
Struggling.
We find it in ourselves, when we’re defamed for who we love or become invisible by the color of our skin. We’re desperate under the weight of a loved ones’ illness, the bills that keep going up, the laws that are written to marginalized, and bullets that take little ones. We try to do our jobs, fulfill our roles, and be the good partner, but sometimes we just don’t.
What we find in this narrative is the struggle. But what we sometimes fail to see is the ending.
The son is healed.
After the Master leaves, the disciples build the church.
The Son of Man triumphs.
Let us pray.
Loving Mother, guiding Father, embracing Non-binary… we are struggling. The weight is almost too much to bear. We are desperate and tired, and we don’t understand. Help us in our struggles. Keep our eyes on the ending, where healing, understanding, and completion are waiting. Amen.
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