Restoring a Broken Life

Mark 9.24

The healing of a speechless sick youth by Christ was not only an act of compassion, but an illustration of the spiritual disorder that racks all of us before conversion. Here is the problem and the healing of the soul.

“And straight away the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief” 

We’re going to be thinking this evening of the restoration of a broken life recorded in this chapter and in two other gospels. If I look at it from the gospel of Mark now, it follows Christ being on a mountain with three disciples: Peter, James and John and being astonishingly transfigured before them so that they saw him in his glory and they, after that experience, descend from that hill, that mount, and then they find a commotion in the valley below, and what’s happening is that a group of rabbis are pouring scorn on the nine disciples that were left behind as it were and we pick up the narrative here in this detailed chapter in verse 14. “And when he came to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them” but it’s evident that it was derogatory questioning, scornful questioning and in verse 15 Elijah goes through this in an expository manner this evening because it’s such a wonderful miracle and illustration of the work of Christ in the souls of men and women and in verse 15 of Mark chapter 9 a strange looking verse. “And straightway all the people when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running to him saluted him”. Well, why were they greatly amazed? What had he done? Well this was the Lord’s mega celebrity status, it is fairly early in his ministry. John the Baptist had summoned the attention of the land by remarkable preaching in the wilderness and in Galilee and in vast crowds that gathered, and he’d effectively announced the coming of the Messiah and a new age and people had been baptised by him symbolising that they wanted change and they wanted to be forgiven of their sin.