The Importance of Failure
Text: Mark 9:14-29
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If anyone had a reason for confidence, it was the disciples who followed Jesus throughout His time in Judea. He had called them, then sent them out two by two to go to all the places He was about to visit. He gave them authority to cast out demons and heal the sick, which they did. They came back rejoicing at their success, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” They anointed many with oil and healed them of their various sicknesses. They had a good track record. So when a man brought his son to the disciples, a boy who was afflicted from childhood with a demon that threw him on the ground and contorted his body in painful ways, that threw him into fire and water to try to kill him, the disciples were certain they could help this family and cast out this especially cruel spirit.
But they were unable to. And now the boy was there, still afflicted, still living in terror that the very next moment could be yet another attempt at his murder. The father of the boy saw his last spark of hope die as the disciples were unable to help him. The crowd that had gathered around this spectacle were starting to argue with them. The scribes—ever their proud adversaries—took advantage of their failure and fanned the flames. To make matters worse, Jesus was still somewhere else, up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They were left unsure, confidence shattered, exposed as not being the always victorious disciples that the crowds had started to think they were. The situation had rapidly gone from bad to worse.
It’s an easy trap to fall into when everything is going well. We become confident—in our health, our finances, our talent, social standing, career, whatever. But then something comes along—and I know you don’t like to think about it, but something always does come along. You’re sure you can handle it. You’ve beaten similar situations before. You’ve proven yourself. You’ve found the resources to take care of it. So you try what’s worked before, you lean on what you know has worked for you in the past, and—nothing. It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t get better. So you try again. Failure. You start to worry. Others can see you failing now, like the boy’s father in the Gospel reading, like the crowds gathering around and arguing that you’re doing it wrong, or you should try this, that you shouldn’t have done that—and hope starts to sputter. All your successes, your triumphant track record, it all crumbles. And you’re still facing it—failure, disease, diagnosis, shame, temptation, fear, sin, death—whatever it was that you thought you could beat, but now has beaten you.
It’s then, when you’ve learned that you never were your own savior—often learning it only the hard way—that your true Savior does arrive. Jesus came down the mountain to where His disciples were, tails tucked and arguing with the crowds. Jesus arrives and begins at once to set things right. The father of the boy offers a prayer that only someone about to slip under the waves of despair can utter: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” If you can—I’m starting to fear that even you can’t help me, Lord; I’ve tried everything in my power and it didn’t work. But if you can do anything I can’t, Lord, help me.
It’s then that Jesus shows what the problem has been all along: “‘If you can’?! All things are possible for one who believes.” It’s a problem of faith. But it’s not a problem that comes from their lack of faith or smallness of faith, as if they just needed to believe a little more or try a little harder. No, it’s not a problem with the quantity of their faith. It’s a problem of where their faith was looking. It was a problem that the boy’s father put his faith in human disciples. It was a problem that the disciples had faith in their past successes. So now the father of the boy offers one of the most profound prayers a believer can learn to pray: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
In your failures, in your moments of terror when you realize that you can’t fix the problem, or defeat the evil, or save yourself, that’s when you need to resist the temptation to double down on your own strength or plans or abilities. Your willpower, your skill, all the things you’ve read, all your power won’t save you. Instead, learn to pray, “I believe; help my unbelief. I believe, help me put my belief in you above all things.” Jesus is here. Your real Savior is here. All the other things that you’ve trusted—your victories, your skill, your righteousness, your strength, your health, your money—they’ve all failed and will all fail. But your Jesus remains. You believe in Him. Ask Him to help your unbelief, those bits of faith that have fallen to other little would-be saviors, including yourself. He’ll help. He commanded the unclean spirit out of the boy and saved his life. Even when it looked like Jesus had failed and the boy had died, Jesus raised the boy up and restored him. He strengthened the faith of that boy’s father. And when the disciples asked Him why they failed, He told them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” That is, only by prayer, only by turning to God to do the fighting for you.
Your Lord is able to even take your failures, your losses, the moments when you’re at your lowest, and turn those into something to strengthen your faith and draw you closer to Him, further into His protection. Because He has defeated all evil. He defeated every temptation that you face as He fasted in the desert wilderness, in your place. He cast out every demon, even all of hell itself, for your good. He defeated every disease as He healed the sick everywhere He went. He defeated every sin on the cross, as He carried them all—every single one—and made sure that they were put to death right along with Him. He even won the victory over death itself when He left that tomb three days after His death, making sure that death and sin and hell were still dead and buried there. So even when it looks like He might not win, even when the odds are stacked against you so high that it looks like even God Himself can’t save you, even if you’re shaken so hard and become like a corpse so that most people say about you, “He’s dead; she’s lost and gone;” even then Jesus will win for you. He’ll take you by the hand and lift you. He’ll raise you, even from the dead. Jesus has defeated those foes for you because you couldn’t. Seek His success. Ask for His victory in prayer. He won’t deny it to you. It’s yours. It’s why He did it. Everything that’s His is yours, now and forever. In the name of Jesus, who gets the victory. Amen.
