Mark 9 v 19 - 24

Jesus cried out when He saw demonstrated the earth bound ambitions of the disciples. It must have felt to Him as if they had learned nothing! Those weeks and months spent with Him and yet they couldn't bring healing to this poor boy. The weightiness of His decision which He had come to in the transfiguration- that He was the Son of God and His path was to bring glory through suffering and death- was challenged immediately. What confidence could He have in His small band of followers now? The smallest challenge and they were defeated and helpless: it must have demonstrated the hopelessness of His task! So, how was He to deal with this? He called for the boy to come to Him, listened to the father and then brought healing and new life. The way Jesus dealt with these big challenges was to meet the immediate issues head on. He put to one side the long term difficulties to confront what was there before Him. This is a good principle for us to follow: don't be overwhelmed by the size of the problem so that we end up doing nothing. I like the name of the charity Ella is working for in Greece: 'A drop in the ocean' and, as Mother Teresa stated: “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” Jesus stated the condition of the miracle taking place: the father must believe that it is possible. The poor man, fraught with worry, in despair at the sight of his son being destroyed by epilepsy, is called to look to Jesus and believe. His faith had been badly shaken by the response of the disciples and the cutting words of the Jewish religious leaders. Others may disappoint us in our search for God, but Jesus is always ready to respond to our cry!