Jesus Isn't Decaf (By Naomi Meyers)

My mind is overwhelmed when I try to imagine how a parent handles this type of anguish. How heartbreaking to impotently watch your child suffer time and time again. Surely every other pain pales in comparison. The agonizing father in Luke 9 knew it all too well. He’d been watching his son be tormented for years. Nothing helped. Nothing healed. Nothing changed the situation. No matter what they tried, the sequence remained. Seized by an evil spirit, shrieking, convulsing, foaming at the mouth, followed by injury. His father’s heart was torn and ragged from watching and knowing he was helpless to heal his son. 

Willing to go to any length for a chance to save his only child, he came to the disciples and begged them to help. Perhaps their fear overcame their faith. Perhaps they forgot the power working through them was that of the God of impossibilities. Perhaps they hadn’t given themselves enough to previous prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29; Matthew 17:20-21; 19;26) Whatever impeded their faith, it rendered them unable to help. The boy remained besieged. 

In a final attempt to bring peace to his son and assuage the pain in his own heart, the man joins the crowd surging around Jesus as He walks into town. The crowd is growing large and pressing. The possibility of this father even getting to Jesus seems to be diminishing. Unparalleled urgency spurs the man to action. Unwilling to let the opportunity pass, unable to wait another moment, unconcerned with what anyone thought of him, the distraught father cried loudly to Jesus from the crowd, “Please have mercy on my son!” (Matthew 17:15)

Jesus calls for the boy to be brought forward. As father and son weave their way through the crowd, the evil spirit begins to pull its pranks. The child is knocked to the ground and thrown into wild convulsions. The crowd pulls back in dismay, widening their circle. In silence they stand watching the spectacle, waiting to see if this man Jesus could or would do anything. The father stands back with bated breath. His hands clasped tightly together as if in prayer. This is his last hope, his boy’s only chance. Will it happen? Will the great Teacher do what His disciples couldn’t? 

The convulsions worsen. In a testament to the bleak loneliness of their future should the boy remain unhealed, the crowd puts even more distance between them and the convulsing child. They certainly don’t want what he has! They want to watch. They like a good show, but they absolutely do not want his germs! Unlike the fickle crowd, Jesus doesn’t step back. Jesus steps forward. He rebukes the evil spirit forever, heals the boy, and hands him back to his father. The immensity of that father’s relief must have been palpable. One moment it seemed all was lost, everything was hopeless, the future was a bleak mass of pain–but then there was Jesus. (Luke 9:37-43)

The Gentile woman from Canaan was in the same heartbreaking position. Her daughter was horribly tormented by an evil spirit. In an effort to save her child, the woman came and unabashedly cried out for help from Jesus. In spite of His proclamation that He had come to save Israel, she falls on her knees before Him in desperation and begs Him to help. Her faith in His ability doesn’t allow her to give up. She can’t walk away. This is her last option, her daughter’s only hope. From the bottom of her aching mother’s heart, she knows this Man is the answer to her daughter’s needs. She persists. Her faith pays off. When it seemed like all was lost, everything was hopeless, the future an unending episode of terror and pain–in her time of deepest need, there was Jesus. (Matthew 15:21-28)

He wasn’t just rescuing children overcome by evil spirits. Over and again throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus stepping into scenes of angst, fear, grief, hopelessness, helplessness, and pain, reaching out His hand in hope, help, healing. He walks into rooms of mourning and turns them to joy. Remember Lazarus? He had been dead for four days! His body had long been shrouded in burial linens and placed in a grave. Their hearts were broken. They were mourning. Then there was Jesus.

He came to the tomb and commanded the stone be rolled from the door. Startled at this request, and possibly trying to save herself the mental horror, Martha warned against it. Decomposition would have already started. It was not going to look or smell pretty. Jesus could not be deterred. After speaking to His Father, He called Lazarus to exit the tomb. And he did. In the middle of a helpless, hopeless impossibility–there was Jesus. (John 11:1-44)

It wasn’t only during His earthly ministry that He showed up. Gathered in terror and hiding behind locked doors, the disciples were huddled together mourning Jesus’ death. They were hiding for their lives. The drapes were pulled. The candles were gutted. No one was talking. The future was dark. Their hearts were awash in hopelessness and despair. Perhaps they were mulling over the future. Maybe they were drawing up an exit strategy. Perhaps they were writing their last will and testament. It doesn’t matter. They wouldn’t be alone for long. Into their moment of hopeless, helpless despair stepped Jesus. Just when it seemed like all was lost–there was Jesus, bringing them the gift of the Holy Spirit. (John 20:19-22)

A million things have changed in the centuries since Jesus walked the earth. Possibly everything. Except Jesus. Jesus doesn’t change. Ever. He will always be there. He doesn’t shy away from issues. He doesn’t run from problems. There is no challenge too big, no effort too Herculean. When Jesus said He would be with us always, He meant it. He never goes back on His word. (Hebrews 13:8; Matthew 28:20; I Samuel 12:22; Joshua 21:45) In the middle of your life, whether things are foul or fabulous–there will always be Jesus.

Poised on the threshold of a new year, we find ourselves looking back at the old one. It’s an awful view. The year through which we have just traversed was full of treachery, heartbreak, frustration, anxiety, and fear. As we look back, squinting to see good in the swirling eddy of unfortunate events behind us, it is so difficult to see the hand of God in all the mess. It seems impossible to find His plan. It is easy to wonder where God has been, what He has been doing the last few months. Yet faith tells us He was there. When we were locked in bewilderment, despondency, and despair–there was Jesus, bringing strength and courage and hope.

In the middle of all the loss and frustrations the past year brought, a sweet friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She is a wonderful woman of faith, prayer and relationship with Jesus. She would happily say Jesus has been there for her every moment, every day, every year of her life. With a broken heart and tears clouding my vision, I read the post outlining her status, diagnosis, and prognosis. It was not what I wanted to hear. At the end of the post, true to their character, her husband had written this statement of their faith, “For this, we have Jesus.” It has been my favorite phrase of 2020. It will be my sustaining phrase for 2021. No matter what happens. No matter how ridiculous our society gets. No matter how far things spiral out of control. No matter how dark, how hopeless, how bleak. I must continually remind myself, “For this, we have Jesus.”

Like the children in the above Luke and Matthew accounts, the evil one is doing his best to traumatize our souls. He is hiding around every corner, behind every bush, at the top of every new day waiting to ambush our hearts. Some days it feels like he is winning. Sometimes we just aren’t certain we can endure even one more frustration, hardship, or sorrow. Our desperate hearts are burdened. Our bedraggled souls are exhausted. It feels like we’ve been in mourning most of the year. Hiding out in discouragement, despondency, anxiety, and fear seems like the only option. It is hard. I know. I also know this, when it seems like all is lost, it isn’t. Jesus is there.

As I stand looking over the blank existence of 2021, I don’t pretend to know what lies ahead. I do know this. Jesus is already there. He is not surprised by what is coming. He is not stymied by our perplexities. He will not prove unavailable when hard times come. And they will come. It’s the nature of life. And we will find, when faced with despair, hopelessness, frustration, or fear–there will be Jesus. So when your hands are tied, your resources limited, your hope dwindling, straighten your spine and firmly place your faith in the God of the impossible, solidly plant both feet on His promise to never leave us alone, and remember that for any situation, for every situation, whatever it may be, “For this, we have Jesus.” (Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 57:15; Mark 11:22; Deuteronomy 31:6,8)