GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 9:24
Help My Faith
In the late 1950s, there was a television program entitled The Millionaire. Each week, Michael Anthony handed someone a one-million-dollar check from John Beresford Tipton, on the condition that they never reveal its source. No one knew the terms by which Tipton chose recipients—ordinary workers, clerks, waiters, and once even a condemned man who used the gift to prove his innocence. Recipients always showed surprise when Anthony handed them the check, much like the father in Mark’s account of the young boy’s healing.
According to Mark, the disciples were unable to help the young boy, so Jesus called for the father to bring the boy to him. The astonished father brought the boy and asked Jesus to help if he could. Of the three writers who recorded this story, only Mark wrote, “Immediately, crying out, the father of the boy said, ‘I believe. Help my unbelief.’” (9:24)
Writers note that there are several ways to understand the father’s exclamation. One way to understand the father’s response is by comparing it to the surprised recipients in the television program, who had to adjust their thinking abruptly to the fact that they had just become millionaires (about $13.5 million in 2025 dollars). The boy’s father believed—otherwise, he would not have brought his son to the disciples—yet he needed help to grasp the full impact of that belief: “Help my unbelief.” Mark’s word “help” (βοηθέω, bo-ay-THEH-o) was historically a military term—an urgent cry for immediate aid. The father’s exclamation remains vital: “Father, help me grasp the fullness of this belief.”
Previous
Next
Directory