A father has brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples, who have failed to cast it out. Now he comes to Jesus with a request edged with doubt: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (v. 22). Jesus catches the “if you can” and bounces it back: “All things are possible for one who believes.” The father does not pretend to a faith he does not have. He does not perform certainty. He makes the most honest prayer in the New Testament: “I believe; help my unbelief.” Jesus does not correct him. He heals the boy.

From the writers we read together

Brennan Manning

Franciscan priest and author of The Ragamuffin Gospel (1934-2013)

Manning called the father's prayer the most honest prayer in the Bible and the one most like his own. He was a man of real faith and real unbelief simultaneously — a priest who prayed and drank, who believed in the love of God and spent years acting as if he were beyond it. His theology of the ragamuffin was built on exactly this verse: the honest mingling of faith and doubt, brought to Jesus as it is, not as it should be. Manning never told people to manufacture certainty they did not have. He told them to bring the mixture — “I believe; help my unbelief” — and let Jesus work with whatever that is.

The father does not wait until he has sufficient faith to approach Jesus. He approaches Jesus with insufficient faith and asks for more. This is the grammar of Christian prayer: you pray from where you are, not from where you wish you were. Manning would say the person who waits until their faith is strong enough to pray is waiting forever. The prayer “help my unbelief” is itself an act of the faith it asks for. You don't ask for help with your unbelief if you don't believe someone is listening.