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And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
- Matthew 17:14-21
Yesterday, we read that, six days after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus' announcement to the disciples that He would suffer and be killed and raised, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.
And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." My study bible says, "Kneeling and saying, Lord have mercy on my son, the father of the epileptic expresses his desperate need and his unworthiness before Christ. Sickness, especially epilepsy, is often connected to demonic activity in Scripture. Yet the disciples could not banish Satan."
Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." A note tells us that Jesus rebukes His disciples' powerlessness and their participation with the "faithless and perverse (see Deut. 32:5). Nothing can withstand Jesus' power, for He is the Lord of all. To everyone in need He says, Bring him here to Me!"
And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Here, my study bible tells us that "exorcisms require sincere faith combined with prayer and fasting. Faith is a gift of God, either (1) an assent to the truth, which profits the soul (John 3:18; 5:24) or (2) a special gift bestowed by Christ which effects things beyond man's power (Mark 11:23; 1 Cor. 12:8-9). But it is always both a belief and a trust."
The emphasis on faith here is an important one in the context of the Gospel readings, because so much has happened that is connected to faith in Jesus' recent ministry. As pointed out above, recent readings have given us examples of faith that are noteworthy. Peter's confession that Jesus is Christ was a kind of watershed moment, receiving extraordinary praise from Jesus: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." One noteworthy thing here is that this faith was inspired through the revelation of the Father -- and there we get the connection to faith that is the theme also of today's reading. We moved on from Peter's confession to the rebuke given by Jesus, because Peter doubted the announcement that the Christ would suffer and be killed and raised: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." And, of course, the next reading was yesterday's, the revelation of Transfiguration, the central mountaintop moment of the Gospel, in which the Kingdom is revealed as fully present. I think it's important to note that this comes after Peter's confession, because again it's a teaching about faith -- what faith opens up and how it opens up new perception and revelation. We especially note the timelessness of this fullness of revelation, that the presence of God includes all things, and the communion of saints. All of this leads us to today's reading, where even such a revelation by itself doesn't give enough faith to the disciples to successfully perform this exorcism. It requires more on their part. And we remember, Jesus has consistently refused to offer proofs of His divinity to those who demand a sign. Even the great revelation of Transfiguration can't give the disciples enough faith to successfully cast out this demon, to heal this boy. It requires greater concentrated and focused efforts on their part: prayer and fasting. So the spiritual battle in the picture the Gospels give us is one in which our efforts count. We focus, we practice. We make an effort. While all things come as gifts of God, there is a voluntary demand put upon us in conjunction with these gifts. Faith is a synergy, a working together with God, a cooperative effort. All our worship practices, our prayer, and commitments like fasting, are designed to help us with this. Our own faith is such an essential part of this spiritual reality, this Kingdom brought into earth, that Christ tells them in today's reading they are a "faithless and perverse generation" -- and yet only a grain of mustard seed's worth of faith will move mountains. This is a stark lesson! Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus has told us, "Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him" (13:12). Let us grasp these teachings about faith, and recognize the importance of our own intention and efforts, the cooperative and voluntary participation Jesus has so steadfastly upheld and taught.
