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Sermon for Ember Wednesday in September
Amos 9:13-15 + Mark 9:17-29
Today is the first time we’ve ever observed the Ember Days, as our diocese has just recently encouraged their observance. They occur four times a year, in each of the four seasons, and they place a special emphasis on repentance, prayer, fasting, charitable works, and the fundamental teachings of the Small Catechism—basically the same emphases of the seasons of Advent and Lent, which is why there’s purple on the altar. But just as with the saints’ days, we view these days mainly as an opportunity to gather around God’s Word, to hear and ponder another portion of Scripture or a particular doctrine of Scripture. So we’ll focus on the second Lesson you heard this evening from the Gospel of Mark, which will also help prepare us for next week, when we’ll celebrate the feast of St. Michael and the Scripture’s teaching about angels…and demons.
It was right after the transfiguration, the next day. A father had approached Jesus’ disciples, possibly the nine who remained behind while Jesus, Peter, James and John traveled up the mount of transfiguration. He had a son, apparently an adult son, who had been tormented by a demon since he was a child. In this case, the demon took hold of him, threw him down, and caused him to foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth, and become stiff. It sounds a lot like the neurological disease we know as epilepsy, doesn’t it? Except it wasn’t. It was something malicious, something that intended to harm the man, casting him into fire if there was fire nearby, or casting him into water to drown him. It was a demon, an unclean spirit whose goal was to make people’s life miserable here on earth.
It wasn’t only the afflicted man who was miserable. His father was, too. He came to Jesus’ disciples begging for help. They had helped people with demons in the past. Jesus had previously sent them out to preach and to perform miracles in His name, and when they came back, they were excited that even the demons submitted to them. But this one didn’t.
That prompted an argument with the scribes, who were likely accusing Jesus’ disciples (and Jesus Himself) of being imposters. That’s when Jesus showed up and asked for an explanation. So the father explained to Jesus that it was because the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon from his son. Then Jesus spoke those words of frustration, O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?
Who was showing unbelief? Practically everyone around Jesus. The scribes, to be sure, who saw the failed miracle attempt and immediately used it to prove Jesus a fake. The father, who shows how weak his faith is with his words, “If you can do anything.” Also the demon-afflicted man, whom, as far as we know from Scripture, the demon wouldn’t have been able to afflict if he had been steadfast in faith. And Jesus’ own disciples. Matthew makes that very clear. When they asked why they couldn’t cast out this demon, Jesus’ first words to them in Matthew’s Gospel were, “Because of your unbelief.”
Now, the Lord showed much patience toward sinners in their weakness. But here He shows that even the patience of God wears thin when people try to force Him over and over and over again to prove His faithfulness, to prove His own trustworthiness, to prove His ability to help. Jesus’ words should sting: How long shall I put up with you? We tempt God, we put Him to the test when we doubt His goodness and love and frantically try to make Him prove it yet again, instead of giving up, instead of unbelieving, instead of “being still” and “knowing that He is God,” as Psalm 46 says.
But Jesus didn’t refuse help just because He was surrounded by so much unbelief. Bring him to Me, He said. And then we see more evidence that this was no ordinary illness, because when the unclean spirit saw Jesus, it caused the man to fall down and go into convulsions. Jesus asked the man’s father about his condition, not because He couldn’t have accessed that information through His divinity, but because He wanted to show the care and compassion of a doctor, and also because He wanted to expose the weakness of the father’s faith, to confront and to admit his own problem, so that Jesus could heal him, too. “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us!”
Jesus identifies the issue and puts His finger on the problem: If you can…believe! All things are possible for the one who believes. Any prayer that begins, “God, if You exist…” or “God, if You can,” is a worthless prayer, because it starts from a position of doubt and unbelief. It’s just like saying, “God, I don’t know if You exist. I may be talking to the air right now. I don’t know if You can help. You may be just as powerless as I am.” As James says, Let a person ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. By nature, that father couldn’t believe in Jesus for help or salvation, but that doesn’t excuse his unbelief, just as it doesn’t excuse ours. The fact that a severely drunk person can’t drive straight doesn’t excuse his erratic driving. But Jesus’ own Spirit-filled words are powerful to coax faith out of the man, to persuade him, to change his doubt into a weak faith. All things are possible for the one who believes!
All things are possible. That doesn’t mean God will do whatever a person believes He will do. It means that God will do whatever He says He will do, and it means that God is always trustworthy and able to help in any and every situation. He can literally do anything. If there is an “if” that we should ever use, it’s the “if” that the leper once spoke, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Not, if You can, but if You are willing. That’s a good prayer.
But the father then utters a very good confession and a prayer of his own that every Christian can imitate: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” He said it “with tears.” He was desperate. He had given up on every other remedy. He had faith in Jesus, but he knew his faith was weak, and he knew he couldn’t make it stronger. Only Jesus could. And that’s always the way it is. So he asked, he prayed earnestly for that gift, and Jesus granted it. He commanded the demon to come out of his son, and the demon had to obey.
Why couldn’t we cast it out? the disciples wondered. Because of your unbelief, Jesus says, according to Matthew’s Gospel. And then Matthew and Mark both record the other reason: This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. In other words, when they tried to cast it out, as they had done at other times successfully, but this time it didn’t work immediately, they gave up! They stopped believing in the authority Jesus had given them, and instead they relied on themselves and their own power. But this is a special kind of demon, Jesus says, one that He can cast out immediately, with a word, but one that can otherwise only be cast out by prayer and fasting. In other words, not immediately, but after setting aside time and earthly distractions to ask God for special help.
We might like to know more about the kinds of demons there are, but we shouldn’t get distracted by that. The point is that, if God’s power and help don’t appear immediately, don’t give up. Be steadfast in faith. And be earnest in prayer. And, yes, even use fasting, if necessary. The flesh grows lazy when it’s full, sluggish when it’s satisfied. And there are times when it’s necessary to set aside earthly needs and pleasures and distractions in order to give proper attention to seeking the help of the unseen God against unseen enemies, especially when that help doesn’t come right away. Prayer and fasting are required to confront certain kinds of demons.
That brings us to these Ember Days, which call us to reflect on those demons that aren’t quickly cast out or those troubles that aren’t quickly resolved, for which we are in desperate need of God’s help. That begins with our flesh, which takes a lifetime to subdue, and so denying it once in a while is a very healthy practice. The devil himself is not quickly turned away, but remains like a roaring lion, who goes around looking for someone to devour. The demons that are exerting their malicious influence on the nations and governments of the world are also not quickly cast out. In fact, it will only be the coming of the Lord Jesus that gets rid of them once and for all. But God will come to the aid of His people in all the ways we need it, either with outward deliverance, or with the inner peace and strength we need to bear up under it until His final deliverance comes. Don’t lose faith in His help! Instead, pray for it all the more. Let these Ember Days encourage you to do just that. Amen.
