You can sit in the same room with the people closest to you and still be left alone with what is hardest, is God really with you when you suffer? This sermon walks us through the ninth chapter of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 9): from the mount of transfiguration, where faith takes no effort, through the valley where a desperate father cries out ‘I believe, help my unbelief’, to Jesus’ words about the cross. In it, Mark answers three questions: does God exist, is He with me in my suffering, and does He even know what I am going through? Listen if your experiences are slipping out of control, for though they are yours alone, you are not alone in them.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- What makes the transfiguration scene on the mountain in Mark 9:2-8 so extraordinary, and why do you think Peter wants to put up three tents?
- The boy's father says to Jesus "if you can do anything" and then cries out "I believe; help my unbelief." What does this prayer reveal about faith in the valley?
- The sermon said God does not reveal himself so that we can escape life, but so that we can return to it. How do you understand this in light of your own "mountaintop" moments?
- The disciples could not help the boy, and Jesus speaks of prayer and fasting. How does your view of these practices change when you see them as giving up control rather than a way to regain it?
- Jesus foretells that he will be handed over and killed. What does it mean to you that God knows suffering from the inside, not from a safe distance?
- In what part of your own "valley" can you pray the father's words this week, and who around you could you help so they do not face suffering alone?
