This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting

 

 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 after six days (on the seventh day after the events of Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus' revelation of His Passion 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."   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 comments that sickness in Scripture is frequently connected to demonic activity.  This father shows humility to Christ, as he is kneeling down while making his request, but he lacks faith.  The disciples also lacked faith, but my study Bible explains that Christ rebukes the man for placing the blame on the disciples when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing.  In effect, in the fullness of today's reading, Jesus defends His disciples in front of the multitudes but He later rebukes them privately (in the verses to follow).  This teaches us that we ought to first correct people in private (see Matthew 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 notes that St. John Chrysostom explains that this remark is directed at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon.  We should understand that Christ has just come from the Mount of the Transfiguration with "the pillars" of faith among the disciples -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9).  These three were not included in the rebuke, as they had been on the mountain with Christ.  This kind, my study Bible comments, is a reference to all powers of darkness, and not only 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 teaching document of the Church), our earliest teachers have said that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, prayer, and fast.  Regarding moving a mountain, my study Bible cites Theophan, who says, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.

It's quite interesting that Jesus first tells the apostles that "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."  But then He immediately adds,  "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."  So it's seemingly as if He's first affirming that even with a tiny bit of faith, one can move a mountain with a command, but then He asserts that this particular kind of evil or demonic activity cannot be banished except through prayer and fasting.  We're tempted to take the first statement at face value and possibly blame all imperfections or afflictions in our lives on a lack of faith -- but then Christ clarifies that faith actually consists of much more than we might think it does.  Clearly, to incorporate the fullness of faith in one's life also means that we live a certain kind of life, we live our faith and do not merely "think" it or believe it.  And, He specifically gives us two faith practices here (and no doubt there are any number of things that we do if we live our faith), those of prayer and fasting.  So the power of faith is not merely invested in what we believe or feel or think; the power of faith is completely bound up with what we do, how we live that faith, and how we engage life with our faith.  If we look at these specific things Jesus talks about, we can examine at least a couple of elements regarding what we do to live that faith, to put it into action and make it a part of the fabric of our lives.  In prayer, we seek a dialogue with God.  There are all kinds of prayers and many ways of praying.  Jesus does not specify what prayers to pray, He doesn't give specific kinds of instructions in that sense.  This is not a manual on how to do something, but rather an affirmation of the capacity for living faith and that living that faith is indeed powerful and effective.  We have prayers given to us though the tradition of the Church, a "model" prayer given to us by Christ (Matthew 9:6-13), we have the Psalms which stretch Old Testament tradition unbroken through today in our Churches and in personal lay and monastic practice.  There are many different types of prayer practices; in some cases even silence is an effective prayer, where there is a fullness to the silence of the presence of God.  Fasting also takes on many forms.  We don't simply fast from certain "lavish" foods for a period of time, but also from practices that are harmful, bad for the soul.  We also fast from things like engaging in or spreading gossip, passing needless hurtful or harmful words, swearing, overstating things when less will suffice.  We fast within ourselves from things like envy and malice, covetousness, hostility.  There are all kinds of ways we might practice such discipline in the service of our faith and in actively expressing our faith through our lives and the things we choose to do or not do, including the internal discipline of awareness.  Let us note in particular that each of these things under discussion on the topics of prayer and fasting involve activity and choice; most specifically we are asked to make our faith a part of the fabric of life in this world as it is lived.  In this way, we manifest our faith.  We are doing something to make our faith a part of life in the world, not just a theory or a belief system or an ideology, but something that is lived through all the elements that constitute this world.  When we do things like this, we are dedicating our lives to God, rooting God and the Kingdom into our lives, weaving our faith into the very fabric of the lives we lead here in this world.  What seems to be potent and yet somehow hidden to us in Christ's words is the notion of sacrifice and how it works:  that when we choose sacrifice for the sake of our faith and in service to it, we are making a very powerful exchange and investment in bringing something into our world; that is, the things of God and God's presence.  We give our time and effort to prayer; we practice a discipline that refrains from something, we curb our own appetite for envy or backbiting or a myriad of things that cause unnecessary strife -- all of these are sacrifices made in order to bring God into the world by living our faith.  Of course, the one key sacrifice of our text, and the gospel story, is the sacrifice Christ will make on the Cross.  It is one sacrifice for all time, and so powerful that it suffices for the salvation of everything and for all.  However, we participate in that life, in His Passion, and in His sacrifice by living our own lives of faith, in all the ways that we have available to make choices to live it, such as with prayer and fasting.  When we manifest our faith, we live "incarnational" lives in imitation of Christ the Son who became incarnate Man.   In this way, we can be "like Christ," and help to anchor the Kingdom into this world, making it a part of our very lives in whatever ways we can.  Let us consider the power of sacrifice, of small ways of entering into His Passion, and the power of Resurrection that is at work in our choice and participation in His life and faith.