Have you ever had someone tell you something that you didn’t know was true or not? Everyone knows someone who likes to "get" other people by telling an outlandish story, and telling it as if it were true, just to mess with people’s minds. Have you ever been caught in that position? You believe what someone tells you, but then doubt begins to creep in.

How about your faith? Do you ever find it in a solid position of belief, only to find later that you are not certain if you really believe or not? That’s just normal. Faith never stands still; it either grows strong or it becomes weak.

So, where is your faith today on a scale of, say, extra strong and certain to weak, faltering, on the brink of unbelief? More often than we would like to admit, we find ourselves like the man in our text who says to Jesus; "I believe; help my unbelief."

This man was a father, who loved his severely disabled son. Basically, we assume the kid was strong and healthy, but he was afflicted, unable to grow up normally, unable to have friends, unable to have fun like the other kids – because he was tormented and dominated by a demon.

This demon robbed the boy of his speech. His condition had only grown worse. His father was getting desperate. "Who can help us?" "What are we going to do?" Friends and neighbors witnessed this family’s pain and anguish. But unable to help, they kept their distance. Meanwhile, the demon would convulse the boy’s body terribly, throwing him to the ground, and even throwing him into fire and water and trying to kill him.

Today, we have hospitals all across the country that specialize in the care of children, equipped with the latest technology for treating all kinds of illnesses. But no such help was available in the ancient world for this family, and even if it had been, it would not have mattered. This wasn’t something that traditional medicine could cure.

The boy’s father had heard about this fellow named Jesus, and how our Lord had healed many people with all kinds of diseases. When the man arrives near where Jesus is supposed to be, Jesus and three disciples are on the Mount of Transfiguration. But a contingent of disciples is in a nearby village. The man takes his son to them, but they were unable to drive out the demon. Frustrated and disappointed, the man was losing hope, losing his faith.

By the time Jesus and the three disciples return to the village, the father was physically and emotionally spent. He could only heave an agonizing sigh and cry out, "I believe; help my unbelief."

Unbelief takes many forms. Explanations abound, but few, if any, are good excuses for lack of faith. In fact, God is clear in his judgment. The psalmist deplores the wicked who pursue their evil ways and have no room in their for God.

People who were considered assertive thinkers used to be among the most vocal of unbelievers. British philosopher Bertrand Russell openly denounced faith in a series of essays headed by a 1927 piece entitled, "Why I Am Not a Christian."

Unbelief is no respecter of persons. It plays no favorites. It plagues all kinds and sorts of people. One of Jesus’ own disciples was skeptical about the very Lord he had pledged to follow. How else could he have betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver?

A story is told of a Lutheran pastor who gave a surprising, if not shocking testimony shortly before he died. He had been a pastor for more than thirty years. To all appearances he had been faithful to his calling and did all the things expected of a pastor – he preached good sermons, taught stimulating classes, comforted the sick and dying, led his congregation in ministry and mission. Yet, on his deathbed he confided to a fellow pastor and friend, "I never believed; I never believed any of it."

Unbelief may also take the form of apathy. Once the term atheism tended to suggest a concrete decision or deliberate stance that rejects God outright. Today, the term unbelief evokes less clarity and more confusion and doubt, and a definite condition of indifference.

Unbelief is also a taunting temptation for people who are sincere and do believe. Burdened Christians, carrying heavy crosses, desire sincerely to believe. But they struggle to believe because they have grown weary of believing when the illness, the condition, the situation only seems to be getting worse.

Frankly, they are physically and emotionally spent, out of sorts, and out of patience. Is there help for believers who are in the grips of unbelief because of their sense of futility?

When our Lord returned form the mountain and approached the village, his disciples were engaged in a heated discussion with some of the scribes. In fact, these disciples were under attack for their inability to deliver this boy from the demon and return his life to normal.

Jesus had earlier empowered his disciples to cast out demons, but here they couldn’t get the job done. Now Jesus arrives. The crowd gathers around him, and looks to Jesus for some kind of action. Jesus wants to know what all the arguing is about, and from the crowd the poor boy’s father calls out, "I asked your disciples to cast [the demon] out, but they were not able."

"O faithless generation," Jesus declares. He was probably chiding his disciples who may have slipped into thinking that the power to cast out demons had become their own, or they took the power given to them for granted. If they were thinking that, it would certainly explain their failure.

Maybe they had slipped from faith to unbelief, preventing them from accomplishing this fairly routine task. The demon would not budge, and the boy continued to suffer. Jesus orders that the boy to be brought to him.

On many counts, the scene here is a lot of help to those who might think that during dire, desperate, frustrating circumstances that the Lord is out of reach or that we are beyond his presence. But we are never out of reach, never beyond his presence.

Bertrand Russell would scoff at this scene. He would point out the mess the disciples had made. But no one in that village would join with him. Just wait and see.

In the midst of an argument, in the midst of the disciples’ failure, in the midst of the fathers struggle with unbelief, in the midst of a tense situation and a huge crowd of people, Jesus takes command and directs loud, stern words to the demon; "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." What happens then shocks the crowd. It appears that the boy is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet.

Jesus’ disciples are bewildered by their inability to drive out the demon. So in private, they ask Jesus why they couldn’t drive it out. Jesus tells them "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." Jesus’ explanation means that our puny powers can do nothing. This situation required complete dependence on God and his power.

Nothing has changed. Jesus’ words are a bold call to trust in him and take him at his word. The father was not praying for Jesus to do something to help his faith until it was "strong enough" for Jesus to do something. Jesus didn’t need any help from this mans faith.

What the father was doing, was confessing his weakness and asking for Jesus to heal his son anyway. Jesus quickly demonstrated that the man’s faith, or lack of faith, was no obstacle to him. Jesus commanded the spirit to get out and never come back.

The father found out, the disciples found out, that with God, all things are possible. Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus as the "go to guy" for doing the impossible. He was the one in charge. Even death left a person when Jesus wished it. He raised ordinary people like Lazarus from the dead. And he Himself, rose from the dead.

Of course, today, we are a long way from the New Testament times. Things are different now. Jesus doesn’t physically walk among us now. So the question presses us; "Can Jesus help us or not?" "Does he have authority over what afflicts me and will he wield his authority in my favor or not?"

The temptation is for us to doubt. We don’t see many dramatic demonstrations of God’s power. The bottom line is that God has shown us his power. He has healed us all because he has forgiven our sins through faith in what Jesus did for us on Calvary’s cross.

Our sin, our doubt, cannot separate us from God. Our weakness, our troubles, our sorrows, will only last a little while. When Christ returns, we will be transformed. There will be no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow. Paul wrote to the Romans that "Nothing will separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is the promise of the one who rose from the dead and has power over all things.

Skeptics miss out because they are so busy challenging the Lord with their petty criticisms and scoffing. They miss the victory of faith. Sure, we may go from moments of faith to moments of unbelief, caught up in that miserable tension. But help is at hand.

The help is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who takes command, who always acts powerfully and graciously, and mercifully on our behalf. May the power of the Holy Spirit work through the details of our Gospel text and create new faith, strong faith, for all. Amen.