Sermon – Mark 9:30-37 – Afraid to Ask Jesus

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Mark 9:30-37 – Afraid to Ask Jesus

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 23, 2012

We are continuing today to look at the interaction between Jesus and his disciples as found in the Gospel of Mark. The disciples are beginning to figure out who Jesus is. They started out thinking of his as a teacher as they gathered at his feet. But as they watched Jesus heal the sick and perform miracles they realized that something else was going on. Jesus was more than a teacher; he had to be a prophet. But as we saw last week the disciples also tried to control Jesus by calling him the Christ and expecting him to lead a revolution against the Romans. Jesus wanted them not to talk about this and then revealed to them the truth: He was about to suffer and die and they would follow him to the cross. This wasn't the news they wanted to hear, but they continued to follow Jesus.

Three disciples then followed Jesus up a mountain where they saw Moses and Elijah, and saw Jesus transfigured. It was here that the disciples began talking with each other about Jesus, but were afraid to ask Jesus the questions that were mounting in their minds. We will get to what's happening here, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

In the first lesson you heard this morning Jesus explained for a second time that he will die, and in three days will rise. The disciples have no idea what Jesus is talking about. They are completely confused. And they are afraid to ask Jesus for an explanation. I have been wondering about this all week. Why would these disciples be afraid to ask Jesus about what is happening. They saw him transfigured with the prophets, and they heard his teaching about resurrection. Surely they had lots of questions. Why didn't they ask Jesus to explain what's going on.

Of course don't we do the same. An illness strikes and what do we do? Do we take our questions to Jesus? Not really. Our first step is usually to go to the doctor or emergency room to get the experts to answer our questions. There is noting wrong with this. It is good to get medical advise. But at some point, don't we have to turn to Jesus with our questions and concerns. Why would we sometimes be afraid to bring our questions to Jesus?

To understand why the disciples are afraid to ask Jesus questions we have to go back one story in the Book of Mark. After the transfiguration Jesus encountered a mother whose boy had a evil spirit. The disciples who had remained behind and did not accompany Jesus up the mountain to see him transfixed, had tried to exorcise this demon, but they failed. Jesus immediately cast out the evil spirit from the boy, but later the disciples ask him why they had failed. These disciples had been sent out to cast out demons. They had been able to do it before, but with this demon they were unable. Jesus told them that the problem was their lack of prayer.

You see in order to be able to ask Jesus the hard questions when disaster is upon you, you have to draw upon a lifetime of the practice of prayer. This is why it is crucial for you to pray every day. If you want to play golf you have to practice every day. If you want to play the guitar you have to practice every day. If you want to pray for someone who needs a prayer you have to practice praying every day.

This is why we have daily prayers every day from Tuesday – Saturday at 6am. You have a time and place every day to meditate on scripture and pray from yourself, others, the church and our community every day. I know that 6am is not the right time for everyone in the congregation. So I urge you to find the right time and the right place for you to pray every day. For some you should pray when you get up in the morning. For others pray before you go to sleep at night. Pray before meals. Whatever you do set a regular time every day for prayer and develop the discipline to pray every day. As we pray every day we will find that we develop the ability to ask Jesus questions, and in the meditation of scripture we hear the Spirit's response. Doing this every day brings to us the skill of asking Jesus our difficult questions and the confidence that God will respond with the answers. The lack of daily prayer prevents the disciples from asking the hard questions of Jesus. Had the disciples engaged in daily prayer they would have had no problem casting out the demon from that boy. Had Peter, James and John engaged in daily prayer they would have had no problem asking Jesus for the meaning of the transfiguration and resurrection. But they didn't, and so they were left with their questions unanswered and this led to further problems which we will see in Mark 8 beginning at verse 33.

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

So this is what happens when we don't pray every day. When we don't pray we only think ourselves. Pretty soon we convince ourselves that we are something special. We begin to think that we can answer our own questions. We don't need God. We can do it ourselves. But we can't. As soon as you lose your job or your spouse or your health or your home you realize that you can't do it yourself. This often leads to despair, unless of course, you have been praying every day. In that case you don't despair, you take it to God in prayer.

I once met in Korea a prayer women. She is known in her community and church as a woman who prays every day. When she was younger she prayed for eight hours each day. People from the church would come to her house asking for prayer. Now she older and has cut back to six hours every day. She urged me to pray three hours every day. She said this would greatly help my ministry. I haven't got there yet. And I find it difficult to go much beyond a half hour every morning. But that half hour with God every day is crucial for me to be able to pastor Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam churches. I have been told that some of you think my sermons are good. I don't know about that, but I do know that our daily prayers equip me to ask Jesus the hard questions as I study the text each week. And I trust that the Holy Spirit will give me the answers you need to hear.

When people are sick and in the hospital I am often called to come and pray with the family. I have often wondered why the pastor is needed to pray. Shouldn't the members of the church and especially the elders be able to lead prayer in these situations? Of course they should, but members of the church and elders can only pray in these times if they have already developed the skill of prayer by doing it every day. It's assumed that the pastor prays every day so we call him. I am privileged to be with your family in times of needs. Praying with you is something I love to do. But it is not my job to be the only one praying for your and your family. My job, as your pastor, is to encourage all of you to pray every day so that when your family needs prayer you are able to do it.

Prayer also helps us to open the doors of the church. As we pray each day we become more willing to accept into the church people not like us. In the world have little connection with the poor, disabled, alcoholics, drug addicts, freed felons, kids whose fathers, step fathers and mothers' boyfriends are all in jail. The only hope these people have is our prayer. So we need to pray for them every day and the more we pray for them, the more likely we are to welcome them into our fellowship.

So, I urge you to pray every day. Join us at 6am if you can. If you can't, find some other time and place to pray and do it. Pray together with your spouse and your children and grandchildren. Teach others, especially the children, the skill of praying every day. Pray for understanding of what Jesus is saying to us in scripture. Pray for the ability to cast out the demons which attack the vulnerable in our community. Pray for our church and its growth. Pray every day so that when the time comes and you need to pray you have developed the skill of praying and you're not afraid to ask Jesus your important question. Let's begin right now.

Father in heaven we ask that you send you Spirit to us today. Make us a church of prayer people. Place on hearts the burden of praying every day. Help us to develop the skill of praying for ourselves and our families. As we pray keep us focused on you so that we do not think more of ourselves than we should. Answer our questions and respond to our prayers. This we ask in Jesus name who is with us whenever we pray. Amen.