This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting

 

 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 him 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 

 

Yesterday we read that following the confession of Peter and Christ's revelation of His Passion, 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 are you discussing with them?"   Jesus' return to the disciples is a return to the nine left behind, as He went up to the high mountain of the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John (see yesterday's reading above).  Notice how Christ's immediate response is to step in for His disciples, asking 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 him 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!"  Jesus' remark here, "O faithless generation" is a repeated theme from recent readings (see, for example, Wednesday's reading and Christ's experience in Bethsaida).  The scribes and Pharisees have demanded from Christ a sign, a spectacular proof, so that they might believe.  But this is a crisis of faith and spiritual perception.  Therefore Jesus here emphasizes faith, both among the crowds and personally to this man who wants healing for his demon-possessed child.  We note that the text tells us that Jesus commanded, "Bring him to Me" indicating that He does not approach the disputing group, but has stood apart, effectively separating the man and his ailing child from unbelieving or scoffing crowds.  The man's prayer, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" is an effective one.

 

 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."  My study Bible notes that while the nine disciples also evidently lacked faith to achieve this healing, Jesus had rebuked the man for placing the blame on the disciples when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing.  But we see here, in effect, that Jesus defended His disciples in front of the multitudes, but later rebuked them privately.  (In St. Matthew's Gospel, He tells them straightforwardly in private that they could not cast it out "because of your unbelief" (see Matthew 17:19-21).  This teaches us ourselves that we should first correct people in private (see Matthew 18:15-17).   We remember that this rebuke is directed at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon, as the "pillars" of faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- had been on the mountain with Christ at the Transfiguration (see above).  My study Bible further comments that this kind refers to all powers of darkness, not only those which cause a particular illness.  It says that the banishment of demons requires faith, prayer, and fasting, as there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three.  Starting with the Didache (the earliest teaching document of the Church), our spiritual forbears and elders have taught that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast.  

 

 The taking of this child by demonic possession or affliction is an indication of a spiritual war which is always going on behind the scenes, in which our world, and human beings in particular,  form the battleground.  Notice the effects of this spirit upon the child:  he is mute, and the father tells Jesus, "it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid."  This sounds to modern ears like seizures of some sort, a medical problem that would commonly be approached today with medical treatments.  But this mute spirit is more than a medical problem.  The boy is repeatedly harmed; the man tells Jesus regarding this spirit's effects upon the boy that "often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him."  Moreover, Jesus names further effects of this spirit by calling it "deaf and dumb," meaning the boy can neither hear nor speak.  So beyond these vividly described seizures, there is more going on here.  The affliction of this boy can be characterized by a kind of evil that works as a severe punishment, a great suffering and, even in particular, the suppression of his freedom and autonomy.  He's thrown into fire and water repeatedly and often, he can neither express himself nor even hear others who might teach him something; neither can he hear music or stories, or learn songs, for example, nor, one presumes, play games with other children.  More than one Church Father comments on this passage of the envy of such spirits who've been deprived of their own lofty places before Christ due to their refusal to serve, and becoming more depraved through the effects of spiritual failure and the disintegration that results.  Thus the cruelty of affliction is driven by an ultimately corrupt desire to inflict one's misery upon others.  While we cannot know for certain what defines and drives the spiritual world (except through those saints who've understood such things), we can perhaps clearly verify that for human beings we can observe such mental and spiritual deterioration as the effects of going down a wrong road, moving further and further away from Christ and from spiritual redemption without the saving effects of repentance.  Such a process is well-known and observed in human experience; what may start with one incident or selfish impulse may grow into something hideous and often continued so long as it is hidden from common understanding.  So, when Jesus mentions the weapons of faith, prayer, and fasting, we should not look at these things as if they are simply instruments for the performance of formal exorcisms or for special occasions or extreme spiritual problems, for they are not.  They are the things named as common practices for each of us, and in particular during the season of Lent as we prepare for Easter and the celebration of Resurrection.  Whether we are aware of it or not, we are always caught in the middle of this battle, for we are the battleground.  If we choose to believe that this is not so, then we are rejecting the testimony of the Gospels, the saints, the whole of spiritual tradition and of Scripture, and even of Christ Himself (see, for example, Luke 22:31; 1 Peter 5:8).  We need not know nor prove in some spectacular way the influence of such spiritual problems; we can see them around us and in effect if we simply look closely.  Whatever way we choose to look at this problem in today's Gospel reading, let us consider what a long road of unbroken decisions to follow a bad impulse may lead to, and how the power of faith, prayer, and fasting can help us not only to turn that around for ourselves, but also to help us cope with such an influence in our environment and in our world.