“The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” Luke 9.37-40
Imagine being in ministry next to Jesus. He gives you the authority to do the same works He is doing, and sometimes you actually do them—healings, casting out demons, miracles. But then someone brings a particularly tough case of demon possession to you, and you just can’t seem to drive it out. No matter how hard you pray, how fiercely you rebuke, or how desperately you wish, the stubborn demon simply will not budge.
And then you kind of give up. I mean, you tried, right? What else could be done? The father whose child is convulsing leaves you and goes straight to Jesus—the Source, the One, the Messiah. You watch from a distance as Jesus hears the request and responds in kind.
What was Jesus doing with and for the disciples while they were with Him on earth? Teaching, discipling, calling them to be His hands and feet so that when He left, the work would continue. But no matter how hard they try, they will never be Jesus. Oh, they might get it right from time to time, but on the whole, they just aren’t Jesus.
Yet Jesus enables us to be like Him. He gives us the Holy Spirit and even told these disciples that they (and we) would do “greater things than these” because He was going to the Father (John 14:12). My honest self truly doubts that. How could I ever have the strength, power, might, fortitude, and faith to be as good as—or better than—Jesus? Perhaps this is the wish, the hope, the dream, the desire. Perhaps it really could happen if I just had faith.
But in this instance, the demon-possessed boy did not need the disciples’ level of faith; he needed to go to the Source. He needed messianic power straight from the Messiah Himself.
This is what I long for: Jesus in the flesh. But since He is not walking the earth today, we have His Spirit living in us—the same Spirit, the Holy Ghost, who gave Jesus all the power, ability, and might He displayed. If only we will believe.
“So Lord, help my unbelief. Help me believe that I can do the things You have called me to do—by Your grace and for Your glory. I am often so close to achieving ‘perfection,’ and then sin creeps in. The good I want to do, Paul said, I do not do. O wretched man that I am! But Lord, You draw near. Come close. Find me willing and able, even if weak. I love You, Lord, and I trust in Your name. For You are good, and Your love endures forever.” Amen.