October 13, 2025 -Just the Facts

MARK 9:14-29

MATTHEW 17:14-21

LUKE 9:37-43

MARK 9:30-32

MATTHEW 17:22-23

LUKE 9:43-45

MATTHEW 17:24-27

MARK 9:33-37

MATTHEW 18:1-6

LUKE 9:46-48

MARK 9:38-41

LUKE 9:49-50

MARK 9:42-50

MATTHEW 18:7-35

Chronological Bible Readings

Mark 9:23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” These words are so real. The man says "If you can." Have you every prayed for God to do something because you know that He can but still in your heart there is the question of if it can be done. Jesus still responds and answers his prayer even when there is doubt in his unbelief.

Mark 9:28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Matthew 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

This is the same story in Mark and Matthew. I have always called Mark the Just the Facts Gospel. His writing is very direct without much embellishment. At first I felt like Jesus' answers were way too different to be the same but then I looked at the writer. Mark is just giving the direct answer to the question of why. Matthew gives more detail. I bet that Jesus talked about the lack of faith and the mustard seed after saying that it only comes out by prayer. Just some things I was thinking while I read.