Mark 9:24
Immediately the boy's father cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief!"
Immediately
The use of "immediately" in Mark 9:24 underscores the urgency and desperation of the father's plea. In the Greek, the word is "euthys," which conveys a sense of swift action or response. This immediacy reflects the father's deep concern for his son and his recognition of the critical nature of the situation. It also highlights the father's faith, as he does not hesitate to seek Jesus' help, demonstrating a belief in Jesus' power to heal.

the boy’s father
This phrase identifies the speaker and emphasizes the personal nature of the plea. The father is not just a bystander but someone deeply invested in the well-being of his child. In the cultural context of the time, a father's role was to protect and provide for his family, making his plea even more poignant. His approach to Jesus is an act of humility and vulnerability, acknowledging his own limitations and the need for divine intervention.

cried out
The Greek word used here is "krazo," which means to cry out or shout with a loud voice. This expression of emotion indicates the father's desperation and earnestness. It is not a quiet request but a loud, heartfelt plea, reflecting the depth of his need and the intensity of his faith. This cry is a powerful demonstration of the human condition, where desperation often leads to a deeper reliance on God.

I do believe
This declaration of faith is central to the verse. The father affirms his belief in Jesus' ability to heal his son. The Greek word "pisteuo" is used here, meaning to have faith or trust. This statement is a testament to the father's faith, even amidst doubt and uncertainty. It serves as a reminder that faith, even when imperfect, is powerful and can lead to divine intervention.

help my unbelief!
This phrase captures the paradox of faith and doubt coexisting. The father acknowledges his belief but also his struggle with unbelief. The Greek word "apistia" refers to a lack of faith or trust. This honest admission is a profound moment of vulnerability and authenticity. It highlights the human experience of wrestling with doubt while striving to maintain faith. This plea for help is an appeal for Jesus to strengthen his faith, recognizing that faith is a gift that can be nurtured and grown.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus
The central figure in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is the one to whom the father cries out for help. He is the Son of God, performing miracles and teaching about the Kingdom of God.

2. The Boy's Father
A desperate parent seeking healing for his son, he represents a mixture of faith and doubt, a common human experience.

3. The Boy
Possessed by a spirit that causes him great harm, his healing is the focus of this account.

4. The Disciples
Earlier in the chapter, they are unable to cast out the spirit, highlighting their need for greater faith and reliance on prayer.

5. The Crowd
Witnesses to the event, they represent the broader public who are often amazed by Jesus' miracles but struggle with belief.
Teaching Points
The Nature of Faith
Faith is not the absence of doubt but the willingness to trust God despite it. The father's cry is an honest admission of his struggle, which Jesus honors.

The Power of Honest Prayer
God values sincerity. The father's plea is a model for how we can approach God with our struggles and doubts.

Dependence on Jesus
Our faith is not self-generated; it is a gift from God. We must rely on Jesus to strengthen our faith, just as the father asked for help.

The Role of Community
The presence of the disciples and the crowd reminds us that faith is often nurtured in community, where we can support one another in our struggles.

The Importance of Persistence
The father's persistence in seeking Jesus despite previous disappointments (the disciples' inability to heal) teaches us to continue seeking God even when answers are delayed.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the father's statement, "I do believe; help my unbelief," reflect your own experiences with faith and doubt?

2. In what ways can you practice honesty in your prayers, following the example of the boy's father?

3. How can the account of the father's plea for help encourage you to support others in your faith community who are struggling with doubt?

4. Reflect on a time when you felt your faith was weak. How did you seek Jesus' help, and what was the outcome?

5. How do the additional scriptures (Matthew 17:20, Hebrews 11:1, James 1:6-8, Philippians 4:13) deepen your understanding of faith and its application in your life?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 17:20
Jesus speaks about faith as small as a mustard seed, emphasizing the power of even a little faith.

Hebrews 11:1
Defines faith as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see, which relates to the father's struggle between belief and unbelief.

James 1:6-8
Discusses the importance of asking in faith without doubting, which parallels the father's plea for help with his unbelief.

Philippians 4:13
Speaks to the strength we find in Christ, which can be seen as the answer to the father's request for help.
Dealing Directly with GodMark 9:24
Faith and UnbeliefD. Fraser, D. D.Mark 9:24
Faith Only in GodC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Faith Under DifficultyC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Faith unto SalvationAndrew Gray.Mark 9:24
Faith Without AssuranceT. Manton.Mark 9:24
Faith Without ComfortC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Faith's Dawn and its CloudsC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Feeble Faith Appealing to a Strong SaviourC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Lord, I Believe; Help Thou Mine UnbeliefB. Noel.Mark 9:24
Lord, I Believe; Help Thou Mine UnbeliefAnon., C. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Mine UnbeliefC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
Prayer is the Cure for UnbeliefVita.Mark 9:24
The Balance and the PreponderanceDean Vaughan.Mark 9:24
The Only Help for UnbeliefJ. Slade, M. A.Mark 9:24
The Spirit of Faith Amid UncertaintiesMorgan Dix, D. D.Mark 9:24
The Strife of Faith and Doubt in the SoulMorgan Dix, D. D.Mark 9:24
The Struggle and Victory of FaithJohn Ker, D. D., John Trapp.Mark 9:24
UnbeliefJames Smith.Mark 9:24
Unbelieving BeliefAlexander MaclarenMark 9:24
Weak Faith Clinging to a Mighty ObjectMilman.Mark 9:24
Weak Faith May be EffectualT. Adams.Mark 9:24
Weakness of Faith no SinMark 9:24
Worlds of FaithC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:24
The Healing of the Lunatic YouthR. Green Mark 9:14-28
Healing of a Demoniac Youth, After the Disciples' FailureJ.J. Given Mark 9:14-29
Sinful Men May be Looked Upon as Possessed of the DevilC. S. Robinson, D. D.Mark 9:14-29
The Afflicted ChildG. R. Leavitt.Mark 9:14-29
The Afflicted SonB. L.Mark 9:14-29
The Cure of the Demoniac ChildA.F. Muir Mark 9:14-29
The DemoniacE. Johnson Mark 9:14-29
The Disciples NonplussedC. H. Spurgeon.Mark 9:14-29
The Dumb Man Possessed with a DevilL. H. Wiseman, M. A., Joseph Taylor.Mark 9:14-29
The Evil Spirit Cast OutAnon.Mark 9:14-29
The Secret of PowerR. Glover.Mark 9:14-29
People
Elias, Elijah, James, Jesus, John, Peter
Places
Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Galilee, High Mountain
Topics
Believe, Boy's, Child, Cried, Cry, Crying, Exclaimed, Faith, Feeble, Helping, Immediately, Overcome, Saying, Sir, Straight, Straightway, Strengthen, Stronger, Tears, Unbelief, Weak
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Mark 9:24

     6257   unbelievers
     8021   faith, nature of
     8025   faith, origins of
     8026   faith, growth in
     8837   unbelief, and life of faith

Mark 9:14-27

     5658   boys

Mark 9:14-29

     5168   muteness
     8611   prayer, for others

Mark 9:17-27

     4132   demons, malevolence
     5333   healing
     5669   children, examples

Library
February 2 Evening
One star differeth from another star in glory.--I COR. 15:41. By the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all.--Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Christ's Lament Over Our Faithlessness
'He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?'--Mark ix. 19. There is a very evident, and, I think, intentional contrast between the two scenes, of the Transfiguration, and of this healing of the maniac boy. And in nothing is the contrast more marked than in the demeanour of these enfeebled and unbelieving Apostles, as contrasted with the rapture of devotion of the other three, and with the lowly submission and faith of Moses and Elias.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Omnipotence of Faith
Jesus said unto him, If them canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'--Mark ix. 23. The necessity and power of faith is the prominent lesson of this narrative of the healing of a demoniac boy, especially as it is told by the Evangelist Mark, The lesson is enforced by the actions of all the persons in the group, except the central figure, Christ. The disciples could not cast out the demon, and incur Christ's plaintive rebuke, which is quite as much sorrow as blame: 'O faithless
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Unbelieving Belief
'And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.'--Mark ix. 24. We owe to Mark's Gospel the fullest account of the pathetic incident of the healing of the demoniac boy. He alone gives us this part of the conversation between our Lord and the afflicted child's father. The poor man had brought his child to the disciples, and found them unable to do anything with him. A torrent of appeal breaks from his lips as soon as the Lord gives
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Unanswered Question
'What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?'--Mark ix. 33. Was it not a strange time to squabble when they had just been told of His death? Note-- I. The variations of feeling common to the disciples and to us all: one moment 'exceeding sorrowful,' the next fighting for precedence. II. Christ's divine insight into His servants' faults. This question was put because He knew what the wrangle had been about. The disputants did not answer, but He knew without an answer, as His immediately
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Salted with Fire
Every one shall be salted with fire.'--Mark ix. 49. Our Lord has just been uttering some of the most solemn words that ever came from His gracious lips. He has been enjoining the severest self-suppression, extending even to mutilation and excision of the eye, the hand, or the foot, that might cause us to stumble. He has been giving that sharp lesson on the ground of plain common sense and enlightened self-regard. It is better, obviously, to live maimed than to die whole. The man who elects to
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Salt in Yourselves'
'Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.'--Mark ix. 50. In the context 'salt' is employed to express the preserving, purifying, divine energy which is otherwise spoken of as 'fire.' The two emblems produce the same result. They both salt--that is, they cleanse and keep. And if in the one we recognise the quick energy of the Divine Spirit as the central idea, no less are we to see the same typified under a slightly different aspect in the other. The fire transforms into its own substance
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him'
'And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'--Mark ix. 7. With regard to the first part of these words spoken at the Transfiguration, they open far too large and wonderful a subject for me to do more than just touch with the tip of my finger, as it were, in passing, because the utterance of the divine words, 'This is My beloved Son,' in all the depth of their meaning and loftiness, is laid as the foundation of the two
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Only!
'They saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.'--Mark ix. 8. The Transfiguration was the solemn inauguration of Jesus for His sufferings and death. Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the restorer, of the Jewish polity, the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, were present. The former had died and been mysteriously buried, the latter had been translated without 'seeing death.' So both are visitors from the unseen world, appearing to own that Jesus is the Lord of that dim land, and that
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Transfiguration
'And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them. 3. And His raimemt became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Receiving and Forbidding
'And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? 34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35. And He sat down, and called the Twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. 36. And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, 37.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

July the Ninth Scholars in Christ's School
"He taught His disciples." --MARK ix. 30-37. And my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into "the deep things" of God. There is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint called it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and the Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in the school for thee and me. But the disciples were not in the mood for learning. They were not ambitious for heavenly knowledge, but for carnal prizes, not for wisdom, but for place.
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Lenten Fast.
"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."--ST. MARK ix. 29. You remember the narrative from which I have taken this verse. Jesus, as we read, had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and when He was come to the multitude, a certain man besought him saying, "Have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, and I brought him to Thy disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus rebuked the devil, and the child was cured from that hour. Thereupon His disciples
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

The Child in the Midst.
"And He took a child and set Him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me."--ST. MARK ix. 36, 37. It is one of the characteristics of our time, one of its most hopeful and most encouraging signs, that men are awaking to higher and purer conceptions of the Christian life and what it is that constitutes such a life. We
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Of Hell
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. 1. Every truth which is revealed in the oracles of God is undoubtedly of great importance. Yet it may be allowed that some of those which are revealed therein are of greater importance than others, as being more immediately conducive to the grand end of all, the eternal salvation of men. And we may judge of their importance even from this circumstance, -- that they are not mentioned once only in the sacred writings, but are repeated
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Caution against Bigotry
"And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name: and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not." Mark 9:38, 39. 1. In the preceding verses we read, that after the Twelve had been disputing "which of them should be the greatest," Jesus took a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, said unto them, "Whosoever shall receive one of these little children in My name, receiveth
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Faith's Dawn and Its Clouds
In the text there are three things very clearly. Here is true faith; here is grievous unbelief; here is a battle between the two. I. Very clearly in the text there is TRUE FAITH. "Lord, I believe," says the anxious father. When our Lord tells him that, if he can believe, all things are possible to him, he makes no demur, asks for no pause, wishes to hear no more evidence, but cries at once, "Lord, I believe." Now, observe we have called this faith true faith, and we will prove it to have been so.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Child in the Midst.
And he came to Capernaum: and, being in the house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Absolute Surrender
"And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

Thoughts Upon Striving to Enter at the Strait Gate.
AS certainly as we are here now, it is not long but we shall all be in another World, either in a World of Happiness, or else in a World of Misery, or if you will, either in Heaven or in Hell. For these are the two only places which all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end of it, must live in for evermore, some in the one, some in the other, according to their carriage and behaviour here; and therefore it is worth the while to take a view and prospect now and then of both these places,
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Three Tabernacles
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. MARK ix. 5. Caught up in glory and in rapture, the Apostle seems to have forgotten the world from which he had ascended, and to which he still belonged, and to have craved permanent shelter and extatic communion within the mystic splendors that brightened the Mount of Transfiguration. But it was true, not only as to the confusion of his
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

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