O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?

 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.

Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great."

Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

- Luke 9:37-50

Yesterday we read that, about eight days after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ,  Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.  As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.  And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.  Then it happened, as they were parting from Him that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.  While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.  And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone.  But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.  Jesus gives a rebuke to both the disciples and the crowds ("O faithless and perverse generation"), reflecting this point in His ministry and the response of the people to Him here.  While the disciples' faith was incomplete (Matthew 17:19-20), my study bible notes that Christ's rebuke is also to the crowds, whose faith was weaker still (see Mark 9:22-24).

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.  Even as all are amazed at the majesty of God, Jesus takes the opportunity to remind the disciples of His Passion which He has already told them about.  My study bible says that His repeated prediction of His Passion was meant to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the terrifying events they would face, and to assure them that He was not powerless (and they have just seen a demonstration of His power), but went to the Cross willingly.  Here He adds a new detail, that He will be betrayed into the hands of men.

Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great."  Here we may possibly speculate that the disciples surmise Jesus' Kingdom may be manifesting shortly, given His prediction of confrontation.  Their immediate thoughts are to worldly power and personal position.  In contrast to a selfish interest, Christ points to a little child as the model of discipleship.  My study bible says that the virtues embodied in a little child for discipleship in His Kingdom are humility, dependence, lowliness, simplicity, obedience, and a willingness to love and be loved.  In the tradition of the Church, St. Ignatius of Antioch is depicted as this child in icons. 

Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."  Theophylact sees John's comment as a regret, emphasizing the effects of his conscience in response to Jesus' correction about who is least and who is great, above.  But St. Ambrose comments that John expects full obedience to accompany such blessings.  In either interpretation, says my study bible, Christ's response shows that those acting in good faith are not excluded -- even if they are not currently numbered among the disciples.  Theophylact writes, "See how divine grace is at work even in those who are not His disciples."  But we note also that it is faith that makes the connection and does the true work of discipleship.  John's comment indicates that the others were acting in Jesus' name.  Jesus will also say, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (11:23).

Faith is the theme in today's reading.  We start with Jesus' declaration when His disciples had trouble healing a young boy:  "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?"  This message is directed both at His disciples and at the crowd; it is the lack of faith in both that creates the difficulty and impacts on the efficacy of the healing.  We note that the levels of faith vary; the disciples lack a certain degree of faith in Christ for this, the crowds have a greater deficit.  But it is faith that somehow makes the connection for the works of grace in the world to manifest.   In this we can take confidence, as Christ's words teach us that it is so, and we have read of so many accounts in which Christ attributes healing -- spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical -- to faith.   See, for example, this reading and this one.  In both of those readings, faith not only creates healing and gives peace, but in fact creates right-relationship and restoration to community.  It touches on all things, on everyone.  There is a different kind of faith demanded in the verses that follow the story of the healing of the boy.  The disciples must hear and accept the word of Jesus' prophecy of His death, His betrayal.  They can't take it in.  To do so requires a great acceptance of extreme contradiction from a human point of view.  How can the Christ, invested with so much power, be betrayed into the hands of men?  They fear even to ask Him about this thing they can't understand.  The paradox is just too great.  They dispute over which of them will hold the highest position in Christ's Kingdom, and Jesus has something new to teach them, contradictory to human systems of position and greatness.  They must be like little children; and he who is least among them will be great.  They are to see Christ Himself even in a small child who comes to them.  It demands faith to accept such things, because faith is required to accept ways of thinking that so contradict what we know from our worldly lives.  How is it possible that the least is the greatest?  And then there is the faith that must teach us about the nature of faith itself.  Those who are not among these disciples, but who have faith in the name of Christ are also on their side.  In short, faith asks us to stretch ourselves, to include new concepts and ideas that we otherwise would not have considered.  Faith asks us to stretch our minds, and to incorporate things which are contradictory to what we know, that bring us into paradox -- into things that seemingly cannot exist at the same time.  But in Christ, all things come together, all things intersect.  When we follow Him, we are invited to understand life as mystery and deepening levels of what we are taught to expect and to accept.  This is the journey of faith, and it is evident through all of the story of the Bible.  In our own lives, we will find faith tested all the time, and challenged in our assumptions and knowledge of the world through our experience.  But faith asks of us to expand and to grow and to find new expectations, even of ourselves and our capacity for acceptance and endurance.  We're asked for faith before we know the outcome of that faith.  We're asked to trust Him.  In this we must persist with courage.