When Jesus and the three disciples
arrived at the foot of the mount of transfiguration, the Lord had to deal with
a tough case of a mute boy with epilepsy, caused by a demon. This story reveals
honestly that the disciples of Jesus were powerless in dealing with the boy.
But in contrast the Lord powerfully delivered that demonized boy.
There was probably a great commotion
at the foot of the mount when Jesus came back with Peter, James and John. A
huge crowd surrounded His other disciples and some scribes were arguing with them.
When the crowd saw the Lord, they immediately ran to greet Him. The Lord then
asked them what their discussion was all about. And a man from the midst then
narrated what happened. Recorded in verses 17-18, we are told that this man had
a son who was possessed by a mute spirit. Whenever the spirit took control, it would
throw the boy into an epileptic fit. He would convulse violently on the ground,
foam at the mouth and grind His teeth and be totally stiffened. The father brought
him to the Lord’s other disciples but they were powerless and unable to bring a
cure to the boy. To be sure, the Lord also acknowledged that it was a difficult
case. So where did the disciples fail?
In verse 19, Jesus openly rebuked
them for being unbelieving. He called them an unbelieving generation. This suggests
to us that Jesus saw in the crowd an attitude of faithlessness. But were His disciples
faithless? We were told earlier in Mark 6:13 that they had completed the mission
that they were sent to do. And among their accomplishments, demons were being
cast out. So what happened this time? It could well be that they had turned
from trusting God to merely trusting their process of deliverance. We know how
it is like. After being successful in something, there’s always the tendency to
trust the process rather than the Lord. It was a failure to realize that healing
or deliverance always come about because of God. It had never been the process.
Immediately the Lord asked for the
boy to be brought to Him. When the boy’s eyes caught sight of the Lord, the
demon in him seized and threw him into a violent convulsion. And he fell onto
the ground rolling around and foaming at the mouth. The Lord then asked the father
how long had it been that the boy was suffering that condition. Verse 21 said
that the boy had suffered this condition since childhood and had experienced
many a dangerous moment, being thrown into the fire and water. This tells us
the vicious nature of demons. They always seek to destroy their victims.
The father immediately cried out for
help. His was a cry of desperation, a cry of honest doubt. “If you can do
anything, take pity on us and help us.” The issue is never about the ability of
the Lord, of course He can do it. WE need to know that not only can the Lord
heal but He is also willing. So the Lord told him that if he believed in Him, all
things are possible. Immediately the father acknowledged his belief but requested
for help to be more complete in his trust. Seeing the crowd rapidly forming,
the Lord rebuked the unclean spirit, which immediately threw the boy into one
final convulsion and left the victim, leaving him lying there as dead. The Lord
picked him up by the hand and raised him up.
In private, the disciples asked Him
to explain why they could not cast out the demon. The answer of the Lord is
telling. We can be sure that the disciples had prayed. But why then did the
Lord tell them that this kind could not come out by anything but prayer? The Lord’s
answer tells us that it’s never about prayer per se but about a certain kind of
prayer. It’s about a lifestyle of prayer. The kind that keeps one constantly
connected and refreshed by the presence of the Lord. The kind that helps
sharpen our spirit and helps us to know the presence of the Lord and rely on Him
totally for the needs of life. We need to build this kind of prayer life.
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