NOTES for Mar 9:14-32

Having seen the glory of the transfigured Jesus, the disciples “come down from heaven to earth” both literally and figuratively. They see the powerlessness of their brothers, who cannot help the suffering boy; they see how little faith overcomes them and the boy’s father more strongly than any demon. Faith truly is a gift: it cannot be accumulated, it can be lost in a single moment, and it may fail us at the most important moment of our life. In Christ’s voice one can hear almost despair: “If you can believe even a little...” But even when not even “a little” faith remains, Christ does not disappear. He is objective reality, far more real than all our darkness. And so one can always cry out to Him: help me; I cannot, I do not know how to believe, but You are near, You love, You can help!