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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
Saturday, we read that six days after Peter's confession of faith, and Jesus' rebuke of Peter when He revealed His suffering that was to come, 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 tells us that in Scripture, sickness is often connected to demonic activity. By kneeling, it says, this father shows humility, but he lacks faith.
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. My study bible teaches that while the disciples also lacked faith (see verse 20, further on), Jesus rebukes this man for placing blame on the disciples when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing. "In effect," it says, "Jesus defends His disciples in front of the multitudes but later rebukes them privately (verses 19-21), teaching us that we ought first to correct people in private (see 18:15-17)."
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." My study bible says that "St. John Chrysostom notes this rebuke is directed at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon, whereas 'the pillars' of faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- were not included in the rebuke, as they had been on the mountain with Christ. This kind (in verse 21) refers to all powers of darkness, not simply those that cause a particular illness. The banishment of demons requires faith (verse 20), prayer, and fasting (verse 21), for there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three. Beginning with the Didache, the Fathers have taught that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast."
An interesting subject to think about is what makes faith great or small? It's not clear always what is really a sign of great faith, or even what makes us understand the concept of "great" when we are talking about faith. How does it get measured? How do we know what great faith is, when we are not the "Heart-knower" that Jesus is? One way we can "measure" faith by the Gospels is to see where Jesus exclaims or remarks upon faith as He notes it in others. There are particular instances where we see Jesus even "marvel" at the faith He finds where -- seemingly -- He doesn't expect it. There is the case of the centurion, for example, which we've read earlier in Matthew's gospel: Jesus marvels at the faith of this Gentile who understands the power to give commands, and that his servant may be healed merely at Jesus' word. There is the case of the woman with the blood flow, who "sneaks" behind Jesus just to touch the hem of His clothes, to whom Jesus says, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." Finally, we take another example in the case of the Canaanite woman, to whom He said, "O woman, great is your faith!" Each of these cases, seemingly, gives us a picture of "greatness" in which we find a kind of perseverance that just doesn't give up. I think that's particularly clear in the case of the Canaanite woman who just won't let Jesus go, but comes back with a great retort when He at first seems to refuse her. But it's also clear in the case of the woman who thinks that perhaps she may simply touch the hem of His clothes -- even as she has suffered for many, many years, and tried so many remedies that she has become bankrupted. The centurion also shows this kind of persistence, a willingness to go further, to make yet another effort, in his suggestion that Jesus simply need give a command, rather than having to travel to his home. None of these healings are really simple; they involve those with faith coming across difficult obstacles, seeming setbacks, and pursuing faith with persistence and repeated effort. Endurance becomes a hallmark, then, of what great faith means. The willingness to not be stopped by obstacles, but to return again to God and to find God's way, is also a mark of this persistence and endurance; it's also a sign of the creativity , wit, and intelligence we apply to our pursuit of faith. In all three of these examples, these people did not let convention stop them; in meeting obstacles, they found another way. There are many examples of this throughout the Gospels. When Jesus, here in today's reading, speaks about prayer and fasting, in addition to faith, He is clearly teaching about repeated, persistent, and even varied effort -- endurance in faith, not giving up, making repeated effort to come to God in all ways possible. And I think that it is this persistence that, at least in one respect, teaches us what "great" faith is all about. When we seemingly encounter obstacles, we return again to God, in every way we can, in order to persist in finding God's way for us. That way may call upon us to be creative, to use our intelligence, to find ways "outside the box" of convention or expectation. But Jesus clearly loves those who are persistent.
