Mark 9: Facing Mental Health Head-On, Like Jesus

Introduction

The day before this service, October 10, was World Mental Health Day. The pastor of the Primera Iglesia Evangélica Bautista de Madrid starts from a figure: one person in seven in the world lives with a mental health problem. The same is true among Christians. "There are 300 of us here," he tells his congregation, so there are bound to be people in the room going through this struggle.

For him, it is "an enormous mission field" that churches have often overlooked. They need to learn to walk alongside those who suffer, and to let others walk alongside them when they are the ones who suffer.

The Bible does not speak about mental health in the modern sense of the term: the concept dates back roughly to the 19th century. But it tells stories that help us think. The pastor focuses on one of them, the healing of a boy after the transfiguration (Mark 9:14-29), and draws five ideas from it for the Church.

Outline of the message

1. A miracle in Mark 9, and an uncertain diagnosis

Coming down from the mountain of the transfiguration, Jesus finds his disciples surrounded by a crowd, in the middle of a discussion with scribes. A father has brought his son, who is possessed by a mute spirit, and the disciples were not able to drive it out.
The characters are set: a desperate father, like Jairus, whom the pastor had spoken about two weeks earlier; a boy who is sick or possessed; overwhelmed disciples; a crowd arguing; and above all a Jesus who takes an interest in this case.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell this miracle after the transfiguration, but they do not agree on what is wrong with the boy. Mark speaks of a mute and deaf spirit, Luke of an unclean spirit, and Matthew of a boy who is "epileptic" (literally "moonstruck").
In antiquity, epilepsy was attributed to Selene, the moon goddess, hence the word "moonstruck." It was also called the "sacred disease." An illness caused by a deity could only be cured by someone divine. The Jews, for their part, attributed every illness to the influence of the devil.
The pastor remembers his youth group, where three girls had epilepsy: one outing ended at the hospital in the middle of a seizure. A seizure can be dramatic and frightening.
He is careful to say it: epilepsy is not a mental illness, and this boy did not have a mental illness in the modern sense. But the way we approach this story can help the Church approach mental illness.

2. Mental health matters

We often hear that someone who wants to take their own life gives no warning, and that someone who talks about it is only seeking attention. Specialists warn the opposite: we must pay attention to the signals. They are not calls for attention, they are calls for help.
Jesus' first move is to show interest: "How long has it been since this has come to him?" The father answers: "From childhood." Mark is the only one to record this conversation.
Behind every diagnosis there is a story of suffering, fear, anguish and misunderstanding. We quickly understand that a person in a wheelchair needs help. It is harder when the illness is in the heart or in the mind and cannot be seen.
The pastor tells of a friend who thought all this was "nonsense," until the day he fell into depression himself.
He denounces the phrases that minimize: "It's not that serious," "Think of the children in Africa dying of hunger," "It's a matter of attitude," "He's a bit fragile." Someone who breaks a leg is not judged as lesser than others. Someone who suffers in their mental health should not be either.

3. Mental health is complex

The pastor brings up the KISS principle ("keep it simple, stupid"): most systems work better when they stay simple, like the phone apps that even the oldest among us use without difficulty. But some areas of life remain complex, and mental health is one of them.
"If it were that simple, the treatment would be obvious," and the person who is ill would seek help from day one. He cites studies: in 2013, in Spain, it took on average ten weeks to diagnose major depression; in 2024, a multi-country study reported an average of nine weeks without treatment before the diagnosis was made and the right treatment found for a first psychotic episode. For bipolar disorder, it often takes a long time before people understand what is going on.
The Gospel writers agree when someone is blind or has leprosy. Here, each one gives a different name to the boy's condition: the complexity shows even in the account, and in the disciples' bewilderment at the end of the story.
When a brother or sister in the church tells you they are going through depression, do not settle it with a simple sentence, "the funeral-home phrase": "That's life, we all go through it."
"Sometimes you have to leave empty spaces in life," says the pastor. What the person needs is for you to be beside them, a presence that walks with them, like Jesus'.

4. Mental health needs help

All three Gospels report that the father had first asked the disciples for help, and that they could do nothing. Like Jairus, like the woman who touches Jesus' garment, this father seeks help when there is nothing left to do.
The pastor tells the story of his grandparents' conversion. His grandmother was sick her whole life, ever since the birth of her children. After looking to doctors, pseudo-doctors and healers, they found a church and they found Jesus. "My grandmother was not healed, but their lives were transformed."
Today, specialists are scarce and appointments with a psychiatrist or psychologist take a long time. So "bargain healers" and pseudo-therapists flourish, and they cost people their money, their time and their hope.
Sometimes he tells someone in his office: "You need to talk about pastoral matters, but you also need to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist." If someone had a heart attack during the service, the church would pray, and it would also run to call for emergency help.
When a bone breaks, we go straight to the doctor. "When it is the soul or the head that breaks, it costs us much more." In many churches, mental illness remains a taboo: it is hidden, and it gets worse.
Trusting in the mighty hand of Jesus does not prevent us from trusting good professionals. Mental health is not solved "with four well-meaning prayers," even though those prayers are necessary.

5. Mental health does not define the person

A diagnosis is important for knowing what is going on. But when it becomes a label, it does harm. Saying "this person has schizophrenia" is not the same as saying "that's a schizophrenic." Saying "she is going through depression" is not the same as saying "she's a depressive."
Nobody says "there goes the hypertensive" or "there goes the diabetic." We all fall ill, and our bodies wear out over time. But with mental illness, labels sometimes fall like slabs of stone on those who are suffering.
"A diagnosis describes part of a person's reality, but it does not exhaust that person's reality." The pastor cites the film A Beautiful Mind, with Russell Crowe, about a brilliant mathematician who suffered from schizophrenia.
The Bible itself, a child of its time, speaks of "the blind man," "the leper," "the demon-possessed," without giving a name. But the Gospels show that Jesus always reached out his hand, brought back in those who were suffering, and helped to take down stigmas.
The pastor takes medication for high blood pressure, his family has hypertension, and it will probably stay with him all his life. Yet nobody spends their days reminding him of it. "People are much more than a diagnosis."

6. Distinguishing mental health from spiritual health

In Jesus' day, every illness was linked to sin and to demons. In front of the man born blind, the disciples ask: who sinned, he or his parents? Jesus answers that it is so that the works of God might be revealed in him (John 9:1-3).
The pastor does not say that there are no demons. Some in the congregation come from countries where they have seen the power of darkness in witchcraft or santería. Perhaps this boy was possessed; he does not know.
But there are churches, "not here, thank God," where a depressed person is led to believe that they are possessed. They feel bad because of their depression, and on top of that someone tries to drive a demon out of them.
People also think that poor mental health reveals poor spiritual health: "If you are a believer, you should never get depressed." Yet we never say that about a broken arm.
The father in the story acknowledges his limit: "I believe, I want to believe, but help me where my strength runs out." Faith helps us endure hard times. The prophet Isaiah says it: if you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and if you pass through the waters, you will not be overwhelmed (Isaiah 43:2).
But sometimes it is not only a matter of faith. Having a mental health problem does not mean your faith is smaller. The pastor recalls the visit to Spain of Nick Vujicic, the Australian evangelist born without arms or legs, who confided that eighteen months earlier he had struggled with a deep depression. His testimony has nevertheless inspired many people.

7. Jesus reaches out his hand

As a spectator in that crowd, you would have seen a desperate father, a long history of searching for solutions, disciples who do not know how to help, and above all a Jesus who reaches out his hand.
Jesus looks the problem in the face, he gives it a name, he listens to the father's story, he shows interest and asks questions. Then he takes the boy by the hand, lifts him up and brings him back in so that he becomes "one more" among the others again.
The Gospel invites the Church to do the same: to listen, to help, to bring back in the one who suffers, instead of being led by mistaken beliefs, stigmas and prejudices.
One person in seven among us, in the neighborhood, in families: the Church would be a blessing if it became a little more sensitive in understanding and walking alongside them.
And if you are one of those people: "You are in the heart of the Lord Jesus." Your mental health matters to him, he does not put a label on you, he loves you as you are and he wants to help you in this struggle.

Key takeaways

Mental health matters: calls for attention are really calls for help, and Jesus begins by taking an interest in the story of the one who suffers.
It is complex: do not settle it with a ready-made phrase, your presence is worth more than your answers.
It needs help: praying and consulting a professional are not opposed to each other.
A diagnosis describes part of a person's reality, it does not define them.
Poor mental health does not make you a lesser believer.

Personal application

What ready-made phrase have you ever said to someone going through depression, and what could you do instead?
Is there someone around you whose "calls for attention" might be calls for help?
If you are suffering right now, what keeps you from asking a professional for help?
What labels do you put on certain people, and how could you look at them the way Jesus looks at them?
Have you ever thought, for yourself or for someone else, that psychological suffering was a lack of faith?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Did the boy in Mark 9 have a mental illness?

The pastor says no. Matthew speaks of a "moonstruck" boy, a word that antiquity associated with epilepsy, and epilepsy is not a mental illness. But the way Jesus approaches this boy and his father sheds light on how the Church can approach those who suffer in their mental health.

Is depression a sign of a lack of faith?

No. For the preacher, having a mental health problem does not mean your faith is smaller, or that a little more faith would be enough to solve it. Faith helps you get through hard times, but you are going through an illness, as everyone does at some point in life. A believer can break an arm; they can also go through depression.

Should you pray or see a mental health professional?

Both. Faced with a heart attack during the service, the church would pray and immediately call for emergency help. The pastor invites us to do the same for mental health: entrust your life to Jesus and, at the same time, go see a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Mental health is not solved with four well-meaning prayers, even though they are necessary.