“AN UNDENTED CONFIDENCE”

LUKE 9:28-43

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,

31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.

34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.

38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.

39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.

40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”

42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.

You could call it a crisis of confidence. That’s what we’re dealing with these days.  It used to be that this nation under God had a confident “can do” attitude. If there was a mountain to climb, we were confident that we could do it.  If there was a problem to be solved we were confident that we could to fix it.

George Washington Goethals was a man who embodied this confident “can do” attitude.  Think back to your high school history class.  Do you remember what George Washington Goethals did?  He’s the man who built the Panama Canal.  At the time it was a monumental challenge.  While trudging through the swamps of Central America he had to battle landslides, tropical downpours, malaria and yellow fever.  His critics said that he would never finish the job.  One day a friend asked him “Aren’t you going to answer your critics?”   Goethals replied, “In time.”  “When?” the friend asked.  “When the canal is finished,” he said.

You can see that same confident “can do” attitude in a little boy who sat down one day with a box of crayons.  When his father asked him what he was drawing the little boy said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”  The father smiled.  “That’s nice,” he said, “but you can’t do that.  Nobody knows what God looks like.”  “They will when I’m done,” the little boy said.

Once upon a time we, as a people, had a confident “can do” attitude. Unfortunately, that confident “can do” attitude isn’t want it used to be.  That shouldn’t come as a big surprise.  After all everywhere you look people are loosing their homes and their jobs.  The nation is being crushed by a debt that is now measured in the trillions of dollars.  We’ve got wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that seem to be going nowhere and we’re being told by some that it’s already to late to do anything about global warming.

That’s enough to leave anyone’s confidence a little shaky.   How about you?  How’s your confidence these days?  Maybe you still have that confident “can do” attitude.  Then again maybe you feel the same way the disciples felt when Jesus came down from that mountain.  It all started when a father ran up to Jesus and begged him to heal his son. “Teacher,” he said, “I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.”   Now this is where things really get interesting.  What the father said next probably made the disciples cringe a little.  The father went on to say, “I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

When Jesus heard that he basically blew a gasket. Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?”  Jesus then turned to the father and said, “Bring your son here.”

So, why did Jesus get angry? The answer to that question can only be found by taking a closer look at something Jesus said to the disciples shortly before he went up the mountain. Luke tells us that  Jesus “called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and (he gave them the power) to cure diseases…”  (9:1)  

No wonder Jesus blew a gasket.  He gave the disciples the power to cast out demons and what happens when he comes back down from the mountain? He’s immediately met by a father who tells him that the disciples weren’t able to cast a demon out of his son!

The disciples tried but they failed.  It was a crisis of confidence. “You want us cast that demon out of your son?  We can’t do that.  Okay we’ll try but don’t blame us if it doesn’t work.  You know what?  Maybe we better wait for Jesus to get here.  He’ll know what to do.”

It’s called a crisis of confidence and there are lots of reasons why a person might experience a crisis of confidence..  Sometimes it’s because you’re dealing with a really big problem.  The problem is so big you’re convinced that you can’t handle it by yourself. Sometimes it’s because you’re dealing with a lot of little problems and all those little problems get the best of you.  Sometimes it’s because you’re surrounded by a lot of negative voices.  It’s hard to feel confident when you live in a society where people are quick to criticize and complain and condemn.  It’s hard to feel confident when you live in a society where the blame game is the real national pastime.