O Faithless Generation!

 

Mark 9:17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 

Jesus had been performing miracle after miracle, demonstrating His power and authority over illness, demons, and even the forces of nature.  Still, some were doing everything they could to deny His power and find reasons not to believe and follow Him.  At times, even his followers struggled to trust Him.  The demonstrations of His power and glory in a sense climax here in this chapter with His transfiguration - so powerful and overwhelming only the faithfulest (yes, I made up that word) of disciples could handle it. Then they came back down to reality. This event demonstrates our slowness to believe and trust Him fully. Just as in the last chapter this increasing demonstration of authority led to His telling Him about his coming Passion, so does the transfiguration.  It also leads to further challenges to their faith: trust Him to decide who is in authority; let Him decide who the good and bad guys are; allow Him to purge our lives of anything that hinds us in following Him.  True faith never stops growing and stretching.