14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. 16 He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ 17 Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.’ 19 He answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ 20 And they brought the boy[e] to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. 22 It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ 23 Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.’ 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!’ 26 After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. 28 When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 29 He said to them, ‘This kind can come out only through prayer.’ Mark 9:14-29
One of the most fascinating characters of the great superhero era was the arch-villain Two-Face from the Batman series. If my memory is correct, Two-Face was the district attorney of Gotham City, Harvey Dent, who had an industrial accident which left half of his body physically scarred. Harvey developed multiple personalities to match his half normal face and his half scarred face. Sometimes he would behave as the good and just district attorney and sometimes he would behave as the maniacal Two-Face and the reader never knew at which time which personality would have control. He was needless to say double-minded about everything.
We too as Christians are double-minded. We believe but we also doubt. We obey but we also disobey. We hope but we also despair. We love but we also hate. We bless God with our tongues but we also curse one another. We are spiritual but we also are material. We could add to this list until our list rivals that of the average child’s Christmas wish list.
The Christian is both sinner and saint, wicked and righteous, living in the light and darkness. We all have our very bad moments and we all have our very good moments. We all make terrible mistakes and we all make wonderful contributions. All of this is possible only through the continuing work of our Lord and Brother Jesus of Nazareth. The only reason that anything of lasting value is present in us is because Jesus was mindful of us to give it; and the only reason that everything of temporary value is leaving us is because Jesus was mindful of us to take it away.
The path of discipleship is a path of duality, a path of conflict, a path of struggle, between the sinner in each of us dying a long, slow death, and the saint in each of us growing into a long, slow life. The same tongue which blesses God will curse men and women made in the image of God. The same brain which seeks after wisdom from above also seeks after wisdom from below. The same hospitality which feeds the poor, visits the sick and clothes the naked is the same hospitality which excludes some people based on their religion, ethnicity or class. The same heart which believes the Word of God is the same heart that doubts that God will ever keep his Word. We are people who struggle every moment of every day with our double-mindedness.
The only hope for disciples following Jesus Christ lies is the power of Jesus himself. Not only is Jesus the end of our Christian journey because he is God, Jesus is also the way of our Christian journey because he is a human being. A human being born like us in every way, with the struggle to believe, the struggle to obey, the struggle to curb the mind and the tongue, the struggle to discipline the desires, a struggle to be the human our Father made us to be. But he might be human like us, but unlike us he is no sinner. Jesus is not double-minded as we are he is only single-minded on the will of our Father.
Who better to help us with our daily struggles than the Brother who struggled every day of his humanity and won? Who better to help us overcome our doubts that the Brother who struggled every day and believed? Who better to aid us in our humanity than the Brother who in his humanity lived the life we should have lived but never could? Who better to aid us as it is written in the Gospel of Mark, Lord we believe, help our unbelief!
Therefore, let us remember that the Word of God became this human Jesus of Nazareth to help us humans needing help. Since God became the fully human Jesus to remove the evil and to grow the righteous within us human beings, let us with Jesus live a human life as he continues to live a human life, a life single-minded on the will of our Heavenly Father. Let us remember that God is with us, Alleluia, Alleluia!
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