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 

 

On Saturday we read that after six days (following St. Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus' subsequent revelation of His suffering, death, and Resurrection 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 till 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 often connected to demonic activity.  In kneeling before Christ, this father shows humility.  But what he lacks is faith.  A little further along, in verse 20, Jesus also indicates that the disciples lacked faith, but here Christ rebukes the man for placing the blame on the disciples, when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented this boy's healing.  My study Bible asks us to note that, in effect, Jesus defends His disciples in front of the multitudes but later rebukes them in private (verses 19-21), which teaches us that we ought first to correct people in private (see also 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."  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible notes, this rebuke is directed at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon.  The other three who were with Jesus, "the pillars" of faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- were not included in this rebuke, for they had been up on the mountain with Christ at the Transfiguration (see Saturday's reading, above).   My study Bible adds that this kind refers to all powers of darkness, and not simply those which cause a particular illness.  (Actually, as a side note, epileptic is translated from a word that literally means "moonstruck.")  The banishment of demons requires faith, prayer, and fasting (verses 20-21), for there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three, my study Bible says.  Starting with the Didache (the earliest teaching document of the Church), patristic instruction has taught that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast.  

 

Let us note that in speaking of the power of prayer Jesus is not talking about a kind of magic, wherein if we only convince ourselves to believe something, it will happen.  He's addressing His comments to the disciples who will sacrifice their lives for their faith.  Moreover, even these will need both prayer and fasting to effectively cast out the demonic.  Jesus' remarks indicate a life of spiritual discipline and of seeking God's will above all things as opposed to our own, not simply wishing for things to happen the way we want them to.  As a priest once put it, we pray to God in order to be changed, not to change God.  Indeed, this is the meaning of discipleship.  Only God's power working through us can accomplish these things.  President Abraham Lincoln was reported to have grasped this essential distinction as well.  During the Civil War, he is said to have been asked whether or not God was on his side.  His reply: "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side.  My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right."  Sadly, this understanding has been twisted and misused upon people in very difficult and desperate circumstances, such as the serious illness of a loved one.  At times this can seem terribly hard to accept or reconcile, but we must understand that "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).  We pray for God to show us the way through such circumstances, to help us find God's way, to give us strength and insight to do so, and to enlighten our minds to make the right choices, and find opportunities for healing.  This might include the possibility that a person will not be healed in the way we desire.  Personally I have observed heartbreak and confusion when specific prayers are not answered in the way that was hoped.  In that case, we seek God's grace in all things, to find the God's way through our difficulties and struggles.  Sometimes this means that we will simply have to endure with patience our own confusion and lack of comprehension.  But this, in turn, can also make us stronger.  In Friday's reading, Jesus chastised St. Peter for his very human desire that Christ not go to the Cross, even calling him Satan ("Get behind Me, Satan!  You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men").  It was then Jesus taught the disciples about the life of the Cross, which is not only for Jesus, but for each of us to follow Him and take up our own crosses.  This is the reality of prayer and practices that help us to put God first, such as fasting, and set aside our own desires as possible in exchange for seeking what God wants.  This is the way that God can work through us, but we must "get out of the way," so to speak, and let God, in fact, transform us.  The Transfiguration (in yesterday's reading, above) serves us as a model for this notion.  Salvation means seeking our own transfiguration in God's image for us, as we were created to be (Genesis 1:26).  That is, on an ongoing, day to day basis, we seek to make the changes God asks us to make, working our way through our own imperfections and lack of understanding as human beings.  And this is the real work of faith, of living our faith.