GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 9:23
To the One Believing
There is a story about a woman who didn’t pay attention to her car’s fuel gauge. Consequently, she ran out of fuel on a lonely stretch of highway. As she fretted, a driver in a gasoline tanker truck pulled over in front of her car. The tanker driver approached her window and asked if he could help. She explained that she was out of gasoline and asked if he had any.
In Mark’s account, a father brought his sick child to the disciples, who were willing but unable to help. When Jesus came down from the mountain where he had been transfigured, the father brought the child to him and asked if Jesus could do anything. The “if” revealed some uncertainty in the father’s request; he seemed to focus on the magnitude of the problem rather than the magnitude of the power available. “But Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible to the one believing.” (Mark 9:23)
Translators have rendered Mark’s words differently, but the consensus is that Jesus echoed the father’s words as an exclamation, something like: “If you are able—indeed! All things are possible for the one believing.” This incident is somewhat like the woman asking the gasoline tanker driver where to find gasoline rather than recognizing the tanker truck in front of her. Of the many lessons in this story, one stands out: Keep your eyes on the source.
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