Devotional: Mark 9:24

Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Mark 9:24: “And straightway the father cried out, and said with tears, Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief.”
Stop and think about it, many of the healings performed by Jesus that are recorded involved people who never asked to be healed.  Jarius’s daughter, the Canaanite woman whom Jesus called a dog asked for her daughter’s healing, the Centurion pleading on behalf of his servant, the paralytic friends, and the father of this child.   I am beginning to see that this healing business is more of a community effort and involves the faith of the body more than just the individual who needs the healing.  Could it be more of our fault if a person is not healed rather than that person’s own lack of faith?
But what about this father, it seems the burden of his son’s healing rested with his faith.  The English translation gives the impression that this father is in a state of panic that his faith may not be strong enough for his son to be healed.
The word belief in Greek (pisteuo) and Aramaic (hymn) are used interchangeably with the English word faith.  We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for or the evidence of things not seen (Hebrew 11:1).  The Aramaic and the Hebrew share the same word for hope (sabar) and in the Semitic mind hope (sabar) is a positive imagination.  The word used in my Aramaic Bible for believe is hayaman which is often used to describe a nursing mother.  In almost every culture the picture of love in its purity is that of a nursing mother. What is that mother thinking of when the child is nursing?  I have been told that many times the mother is imagining this child growing up, imagining what he will become, what its children will be like, imagining Christmas and Thanksgiving, vacations and other family gatherings.  In other words she is filled with positive imaginations during this intimate time with her baby.
You know, in our Western culture, we have turned belief or faith into something cold, calculated and made it a form of discipline.  Faith or belief in the Semitic mindset is a bonding, an expression of love, honor and respect.  We tell people in our Western culture that they must believe, like it is a great effort. They must grit their teeth, clutch their fist and like the child in “Miracle on 34th Street” keep repeating over and over: “I believe, I believe.”   Yet hayaman (belief, faith) is as natural as a mother nursing her baby.  The baby looking up into its mother’s eyes and the mother looking into her child’s face shows pure love, commitment and bonding.  Nothing is forced, disciplined, it just happens.
The father then pleads, “Help thou my unbelief.”  In the Aramaic this is expressed as “lack” of belief.  However, the word “lack” in Aramaic is sanayaqawat which is from the root word “sanaq” and is used as a noun in a first person, singular, feminine form.  Thus, this word would carry more of the idea of being small or little rather than lacking.  In other words the father is saying; “Help my little faith.”   The Aramaic word used for help here is “adar” which has more of the idea of setting in proper order, giving it proper priority.
I believe this father had the true Semitic concept of faith as a love relationship.  He loved his son and he loved Jesus and when Jesus asked if he believed the man replied that he did but asked Jesus to set what little love he had for Jesus in its proper order.  In other words his love at that moment for his son was greater than his love for Jesus, but what little love he had for Jesus he asked that Jesus accept that as its priority.   The man was literally saying: “I want to love you more than my son, but to be honest, that is a little hard right now, accept what love I can give you.”  Jesus responded by healing the man’s son.
There is a story in the Talmud of a king who had failing out with his son.  The argument was so great that the son left his home and went to live in another kingdom.  After a while the king, this father, sent a message to his son asking him to come home.  The son sent the messenger back with this message: “That is too far for me to come.”   The king, this father, sent the messenger back saying: “Then come as far as you can and I will meet you.”
Just give Jesus whatever faith and love you have and it will be enough, He will meet you.