21 Monday February

Reflection: Mark 9: 14-29

Jesus comes down with the three apostles after the ecstatic experience of transfiguration on the mountain. Peter and companions wanted to remain in the thickness of the cloud, to be able to experience the undiluted presence of God. But this cannot be: our call is to live with Christ and also with one another in the daily realities of pains and struggles. Now the disciples are back to the realities of life on the ground. The scene which greets the returning Christ and the apostles is contrary to the beatific vision they had on the top of the mountain. It happens all the time. Despite all the spiritual exercises and prayers, all of a sudden, we do both personally and in the community, find ourselves in disputes and confrontations about what is right, and who is right. Mark must have been narrating his experience in the Community, a place of disputes, argument and disagreement. And this is our experience in the Church even today: we are still in arguments. The boy, possessed by the devil and his father are representatives of the numerous arguments we have among ourselves, within our families and in the community. In spite of the beatific vision we experience in the Eucharist and in our spiritual exercises, it is also our experience that we feel helpless and unable to drive the demons that torment us out of our lives. The disciples stand embarrassed by their failure in front of so many people, and were hoping that Christ could come quickly and deliver them from their discomfort. The crowd, as usual was always watching, demanding and commenting on the failure of the disciples, until they see Jesus coming down from the mountain. Jesus had previously commissioned the apostles to exorcise demons and they had successfully done it in the early part of their following of Jesus (Mark 6:13). However, here they failed in their effort. Jesus explains the reasons: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). Mark indicates that the disciples need to grow not only in faith, but also in prayer. One cannot be complacent of having faith in Christ and remain content with the experiences of the past. Faith needs to be constantly nurtured through prayer to confront the forces of the evil. The cured boy remains like a corpse until Jesus raises him up by hand. That is what God does with all of us who remain like the dead. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus by hand and gave her a new life, he took the deaf and mute person by hand and gave him hearing, he guided the blind at Bethsaida by hand away from the village and gave him sight. Let us join the father of the boy in prayer: “Lord, Help my unbelief.”