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

 

 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, following Peter's confession of faith and Jesus' prophecy of His Passion, after six days 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 comments that sickness in Scripture is often connected to demonic activity.  In kneeling, this father is showing humility, even though 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 notes that the disciples also lacked faith (as Christ will tell them in private further along in today's reading), but 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.  Effectively, Jesus defends His disciples in front of the crowds, but later He rebukes them privately, teaching us that we ought first to 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 cites St. John Chrysostom, who notes that 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 Mount of Transfiguration with Christ (see yesterday's reading, above).  My study Bible further comments that this kind (to which Jesus refers) means all powers of darkness, not just those that cause a particular illness.  It says that the banishment of demons requires faith, prayer, and fasting, for there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three of these.  Starting with the Didache, patristic literature has taught that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast.  

It seems that our current section of St. Matthew's Gospel continually reminds us of the power of faith and its necessity for us.  Perhaps this strong emphasis on faith -- although always a part of the gospel message -- is emphasized at this stage of Christ's ministry because we have now begun to get a dual message of both Christ's divinity as Son of the living God and also that He will be a suffering Messiah.   Both of these elements were affirmed in yesterday's reading (above) of the Transfiguration, as His identity as Son was revealed in the midst of a manifestation of the Holy Trinity.  Moreover, Matthew's Gospel does not specifically mention it, but in Luke's Gospel we're told that what He discussed with Moses and Elijah was His "exodus" (the literal word in the Greek), referring to His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  See Luke 9:28-36, in which the Greek word exodus/εξοδος is translated as "decease."   The combination of both Christ's divinity and His suffering as Messiah will mean that faith becomes paramount in building the Church, as Jesus indicated in His response to St. Peter's confession of faith, "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" (Matthew 16:18).  Faith has been shown to be the engine that keys in Christ's power to heal in so many instances, and the lack of faith has also been given as the reason He "did not do many mighty works" in His hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 13:58).  Faith is the connector to Christ, the thing that enables Him to share His power with the disciples, and by extension with us.  In yesterday's reading, we were given the Transfiguration, which revealed to us the divinity of Christ, and elements of His Kingdom that may dwell within us and among us, such as the reality of the communion of saints.  But His Transfiguration also reveals to us His power and how it works in us and in our world, as through "touch" with Him the Cross would be transfigured into an instrument for salvation, for the "death of death" as the Orthodox Paschal hymn indicates, and a symbol of hope for a world in need of that salvation still today.  Faith is the key to repentance; without faith, where is the hope in repentance?  Moreover, faith is the key to righteousness, as St. Paul writes of Abraham (Romans 4).  And this justification by faith bring peace with God through Christ, as well as grace, which in turn enables "hope in the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:1-5).  Each of these things is both dependent upon and enabled through faith.  In these various examples, we see how faith is the key to so much in our lives.  One can imagine perseverance in faith placed in other, temporal things, such as angling for a good career, or saving to purchase something, or working for selfish goals as well.  But faith in Christ opens up an entirely different field of hope, energy, grace, and perseverance that is not dependent upon material outcomes -- and that is something one cannot replace with alternatives.  Let us seek to find the key of faith and what it unlocks for us, for there is so much more that we don't yet know.