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And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?" Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered them and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."
- Mark 9:14-29
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."
And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, "What a discussing with them?" Some commentators point out here Jesus' loyalty to His disciples. He quizzes the scribes first, not the disciples. He will speak to them when they are alone, not in front of their interlocutors and the crowd.
Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." We enter into a dispute, and find the center and theme of the dispute. At the center of the dispute between the scribes and the disciples is this difficult problem: a spirit that cannot be cast out by Jesus' disciples. My study bible points out that sickness in Scripture is often connected to demonic activity.
He answered them and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" Jesus' rebuke ("O faithless generation") is to this crowd, and the father whose son needs healing, but in some way indirectly it will also apply to the disciples. But here it serves to draw out what is truly happening with this man. In some sense, this father is the one who's praying for his son to be healed. He draws out the man by telling him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." This unleashes the powerful cry: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief'!" Even before Christ Himself, this is the best this father can do, but it is enough.
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Since we're told that the people came running together, we can assume that Jesus has remained away from the crowd, and thus had the boy brought to Him apart from this "unbelieving" multitude. The healing happens, as do others (see the healing of Jairus' daughter in this reading, for example), apart from the crowd in which the disputing between the scribes and Jesus' disciples was going on. We may assume, also, that Jesus' inner circle of James, John, and Peter are with Him, having come with Him from the high mountain upon which they witnessed the Transfiguration.
And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." In Matthew's reporting of this event (see Matthew 17:19-21), Jesus also declares to the disciples that they had lacked faith. But in this context, prayer and fasting become ways to shore up faith, and to express commitments to faith. According to my study bible, Jesus' phrase this kind "refers to powers of darkness, not simply those that cause a particular illness. The banishment of demons requires faith, prayer, and fasting, for there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three. Beginning with the Didache [the earliest known teaching document which was linked to the disciples], the Fathers have taught that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast."
Mark's gospel returns over and over again to issues of faith, and the power of faith. We've seen what comes from "a little" faith in the disciples, even though Jesus' has already questioned their capacity for spiritual sight and hearing (see How is it you did not understand?). In today's reading, we come up against a tougher struggle. What happens when we're really dealing with "powers of darkness" -- things that really work against faith in Christ, and the good things of God in the world? This is an important question, and maybe an essential one for our time. Many people might suggest that the world is, on the whole, making a great deal of progress, pointing to advances in science, education, technology, and all kinds of ways in which innovation in any field enhances human efforts at making life more livable. But along with every enhancement, we also build the possibility that each new "advance" in this sense can also be used for the things that don't enhance life. Forms of brutality and killing, things that cause suffering and death, also become "more efficient" and more powerful. Gruesome crimes and acts of terrible cruelty are also given to us via the internet, televised around the world -- even deliberately these days -- to cause fear and dread. Bullying, scamming, catfishing, and all number of problematic human behaviors can be magnified through technology, becoming not only more effective, but also affecting greater and greater numbers of people which weren't previously accessible on such a grand scale. With the ability to stay masked or at least removed from face to face contact, even remotely from an event, acts of terrible selfishness can multiply. These examples don't begin to touch on the possibilities that arise from modern machinery and transportation for spectacular accidents. So, in the face of whatever deliberate or accidental cruelties one endures, things that really seem to indicate a terrible wrong, or things being very awry indeed, one must consider Jesus' words about faith, and prayer, and fasting. Prayer and fasting become tools of commitment, of honing one's faith, of being in a place to really use what is available to us to find that place with Christ no matter what we are experiencing, even when we can't understand why everything seems to go wrong when we feel we're doing whatever is right. This is something essential to understand about our lives of faith: that it's through all things that our faith is something we work at, we practice what is available to us. And maybe most particularly when things strangely seem to go wrong is when we are most in need of the tools of faith, whatever they may be that are available to us (and there are so many, including reading the Scripture and sharing with others who are also committed to faith). Let's remember that our practices may be essential to our well-being, especially at times of disheartening setbacks or inexplicable obstacles. These are the things that "help our unbelief!" It seems to me important that we don't confuse every setback with a failure of faith; rather it is faith that can help to restore us to the confidence of the pathway through difficulties, with God's help, and Christ's love -- and to the blessings beyond. It may help to remember the way St. Augustine's comments on this passage have been summarized: we pray that we may believe and believe that we might pray.
