Saturday, February 12, 2011

Jesus' Faith in Mark 9:23?

A case can be made that Jesus is refering to his own faith in the story of the demonic boy and his father (Mark 9:14-29). A man brings his boy to Jesus and tells Jesus that his disciples were not strong enough to cast out the demon. Jesus responds: "O faithless generation, how long will I be with you, how long will I put up with you? Bring him to me." Why does Jesus say, "how long will I be with you?" A case can be made that Jesus is pointing out that he does have the power to cast out because he has the requisite faith. The flow from 9:22 to 9:23 bolsters this conclusion. The man asks Jesus "if you can do anything [ei ti dyne], help us [boetheson hemin]." Jesus replies by quoting the man's question: "if you are able [ei dyne]?" The logic seems to be that Jesus is annoyed at the thought that he might not be able. Jesus goes on to say that "all things are possible [panta dynata] for the one believing [to pisteuonti]." The focus seems to clearly be Jesus and his power, a power his pistis makes possible. Jesus also seems to allude to his own faith in Mark 11:22. After the cursing of the fig tree, Jesus seems to teach that similar things can happen if you "have faith in God," implying that the fig tree incident was on account of Jesus' faith in God.

Theological upshot

If Jesus believes, that belief is always active, it does things through the power of God. Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith because he walked the talk.