Help my unbelief!

[AI translation] A few days ago, when I reread this passage during my daily Bible reading, the first thing that struck me was this bitter exclamation of Jesus: 'O faithless and degenerate generation! How long shall I be with you? (Matthew 17:17) What could have provoked Him to such bitterness that He burst out of His soul in such harsh words? I pictured the whole scene before me: the disappointed father whose last hope was now dashed. He had tried everything with his poor, sick son. He had no help from healers, wizards or doctors, so he sought out the little company of Jesus. You must have heard from the news that many miracles happen in this community. Now he finds out, bitterly, that this too was in vain, the disciples could not help him!I saw before me the helpless disciples, helpless in the face of a serious case, ashamed in front of the crowd, ashamed of their failure. All their good efforts were in vain, they had failed to cast the devil out of the young man.
I saw before me a host of gloating Pharisees, sneering: well, well, so much for the teaching of that Jesus of Nazareth! Now, at last, everyone can see that the efforts of Christ's followers are bankrupt, and now, behold, they cannot help themselves!
Then Jesus arrives, and seeing the scene, he cries out bitterly against the unbelieving and degenerate generation! Jesus' scolding words are directed first of all at the disciples. After all, the Pharisees could not be expected to do anything but gloat. The enemies of Christ are always most pleased when they can prove the bankruptcy of Christianity. But the helplessness of the disciples must have justly pained Jesus, because they brought shame on His cause, and thus provided a good occasion for the mockery of the enemy. Jesus' disciples were presumed to be the source of the divine healing power, and to be the ones from whom its effects flowed. It was therefore not natural that they could not help either. They should have known. That is why Jesus rebukes his disciples right there on the spot, and why he calls them, to the ears of his enemies, an unbelieving and degenerate race.
My brothers and sisters, the reason why I was so struck by this bitter outburst of Jesus' is because I felt that it was a great hit on Christianity today, on our Christianity. The complaint of the disappointed mother, who asked the disciples for help in vain, is repeated today with renewed intensity, and is a bitter accusation against the helplessness of the followers of Jesus. One part of the people mockingly, the other anxiously and worriedly ask incessantly where the Church is, where they are, and what the followers of Christ are doing. Can they no longer help solve the great world crisis? Does Christianity still have the strength to work the way of reconciliation in this fierce, fierce struggle between peoples? Is it not already the bankruptcy of the churches that the souls of 'Christian' peoples are already consumed by the flames of an unforgiving hatred for one another?
In the biblical story of an epileptic boy possessed by an evil spirit, he was often thrown into fire and water, his body torn and his soul tormented. And this boy could not be helped by the disciples. Well, who can help the poor wretch, if not even those who have as their King a Lord who by His death and resurrection has broken the power of Satan forever?! From whom else can this wretched world, tormented by the devil's obsession, look for help, for the casting out of the evil spirits of hatred, lies, revenge, and lust for power, but from the earthly army of the heavenly Christ: the people of the Christian churches?
And we, my brethren, stand here powerless in shame, like the disciples before the epileptic son. With helpless weakness we look on in torment, unable to live up to the expectations that are placed upon us! Let us now at least see that this present great upheaval is a great judgment on us, on Christians throughout the world, for it is a sad proof that we are salt without salt and a source of light without light! And woe to us, and woe to the world: we are not a significant factor in solving the messy problems! Therefore it pains me, and would that it pained us all, to hear this bitter accusation of Jesus: O faithless and degenerate generation! It is not to His haters and enemies that this statement is addressed, but to us, His followers, who, by our helpless weakness, have given occasion and cause to belittle and ignore the strengths of Christianity.
The disciples were, according to the story, greatly shaken by the incident, and they blushingly asked Jesus, when they were left alone, why they could not cast the devil out of the boy. Jesus' answer was very simple. He says, "Because of your unbelief. For if you had faith like a mustard seed ... nothing would be impossible for you." (17,20) By the mustard seed, Jesus is not so much expressing the smallness of faith as its vitality. So it is the lack of a living, vital faith that has made modern Christianity helpless. What is this living faith? Let me illuminate it with a little story!
A young man once went to his pastor in great spiritual distress. He asked him for advice and consolation. And after he had confessed and confessed all his long, dark series of sins, the pastor reminded him that he had a darker sin than all these, but had not yet confessed it. What could it be?" asked the young man, horrified. "The sin I have in mind," replied the pastor, "is that you are still reluctant to believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, who is able to free you from all your sins!
That is our problem too! Or let us say that it is also our greatest sin. We talk about repentance enough, we list our sins that make our lives hopeless, sad and messy - but we still don't know our greatest sin: not believing in Jesus Christ and His power to save us from sin. Living faith: faith in Christ as Saviour. It is the only thing from which healing power can come to a sick world. "Faith is that opening of the soul through which the power of God is poured out into it, and enables it to accomplish things otherwise impossible."
The disciples were very anxious to help the sick boy, they made every effort, they drew on all their knowledge, but this was a case which they could only cope with by faith. There are so many good works that can be done for the public good without living faith, such as chopping wood, cooking a good lunch, painting beautiful pictures, taking care of files, driving a tram, and conscientiously doing official business. But the world expects more from Christ-followers (say, the readers of the magazine Pastoral Care). That from all his work and all his good deeds, a redeeming influence, a healing power, a power to cast out devils, may be radiated into a sick society, into a world possessed by the spirits of evil. And we cannot do this because of our unbelief!
We too have a great deal of good endeavour, helpfulness, scientific preparation, no lack of good plans and ideas, not even of national feeling - only faith! Nowadays, as in the past, many people say: I am a Hungarian first, a Christian second. This division of the two concepts, Hungarian and Christian, shows that there is already a problem with faith. Because it means that I have a way of life, my Hungarian identity, which I have placed before my life of faith, and which I have thus made independent of it: I am therefore a pagan Hungarian.
To say that I am a Hungarian first and then a Christian is almost as nonsense as saying that I am a man first and then a Christian. Because if this is true, it means that I have excluded Christianity from my God-given way of life. Do not misunderstand what I am saying! It is natural that there is a greater need for self-conscious patriotism today than at any time in our history. But let us understand that my Christian faith is precisely what makes my patriotic sentiment sacred, blessed, fruitful, healing. So the real interest of my country requires me to be not only a Hungarian with a burning soul, ready to sacrifice, but more than that: a Christian Hungarian, a Hungarian with a living faith, a Hungarian believer in Christ, a Hungarian who obeys Him. It is not a Hungarian Christ we need, because there is no such thing, but a Christlike Hungarian!
Well, then, to return to our basic truth, you can be a good official or a hard-working factory worker or a good citizen of any profession without living faith, but to help, to help effectively in lifting up the sick Hungarian public life, in bandaging and healing the wounds of our national life, in delivering our nation from its sins, is a task beyond our strength, which only through our living faith in Jesus Christ the Saviour, the living God Himself can accomplish through us.
The disciples could not heal the epileptic boy because of their unbelief. But the father's infinite love for his son found the right solution. When he confronted Jesus, he said to him, "If you can do anything, help us, have mercy on us. And Jesus said to him, "If you believe, all things are possible for the believer."- He begged, "I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!"(Mark 9:22-24) And the boy, despite the helpless disciples, was healed.
Do you so love your people, your country, does it pain you to see the agony of our lives, that you can humble yourself before Christ and plead, "I believe in you, Lord, help my unbelief? He can also help your unbelief. And remember, Jesus said, "If you can believe it, all things are possible for the believer."
(Published in the Pastoral Care magazine)