This passage always gets me. In so many ways, it sums up the Gospel perfectly. We have an evil spirit that seeks for nothing but destruction from the moment we are young. We have a longing to be rid of it, but we are uncertain how to do so, and aren't even sure if Jesus can heal us. We believe, but we do so imperfectly. Fortunately, Jesus does need us to have perfect belief -- when it comes to perfection, Jesus achieves that so we don't have to. When Jesus heals us, the world is confused by what it sees, but Jesus can restore us to right relationships with God and one another. Finally, we can't figure out why we can't do these things on our own, and Jesus is teaching us that only submission to God's will can bring true healing.
Each one of those ideas is worthy of a book, worthy of study for the rest of our lives. Eternity is not long enough to sink ourselves into the reality of what Jesus offers us. He gives us a glimpse of it here in Mark 9, but even if you were to memorize this and repeat it every hour, it wouldn't be enough. It's never enough, because the truth is so much greater than we are, and yet it's given to us, a free gift, poured out in love for the restoration of our souls, thanks be to God!
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