And I besought thy disciples that they might cast him out, and they could not.
Jesus comes down from the mountain where His glory had just shone. He walks straight into a crowd, a desperate father, and a boy held by a demon. The father's complaint is not against Jesus but against His followers. These were men already sent out with authority. Why did real power sit unused in the hands of real believers?
Where this scene stands matters. The bright vision on the mountain sits right beside the misery at its foot.
The next scene throws us straight into the world as it really is. We feel it all the more sharply because of the bright vision of the coming age on the mountain of the transfiguration... Such was the power of the demon over him. Worst of all, the disciples were completely unable to meet the case. They were men of God. They were His most honoured servants. The Lord Jesus had already sent them out with power and authority, as we saw at the start of this chapter. Yet they could not cope with this severe form of demon possession.
The disciples were not short of power. They were short of the faith that lays hold of it. That failure is a second form of unbelief — unbelief inside a believer.
Here we see another form of man's unbelief, the unbelief of the believer himself. He cannot use the power that is, so to speak, at his disposal in the Lord... The disciples should have used this power. They ought to have known how to take hold, by faith, of what Jesus had shown on earth. But they were not able to do it. Yet what good was it to bring this power down here, if the disciples had no faith to use it?
If faith was the missing thing, what does faith hold? One writer names two parts, and both must be present.
They could not cast the spirit out for lack of faith, not for lack of power. Faith always involves two things. One is a sense of the weight and yoke of the evil that presses on man. The other is confidence in God, who in His gracious power is always above evil and supreme. There may be failure, but never final defeat. That is true wherever we leave room for God to come in, and the heart holds to the certainty that His glory is bound up in the matter.
The disciples' failure could have ended the father's hope. Instead it drove him one step further.
The distressed father did not despair. He turned from the failing disciples to the One who never fails. How humbling, when believers dishonour their Lord like this! ... Did He not give the twelve apostles, and more than the twelve, authority over the unclean spirits? How was it, then, that these put shame on His name by failing to draw on Him?
Another writer sets the father beside the twelve.
There was more faith in the man who brought his child than in them, for his sense of need drove him to the remedy.
Not all evil spirits are alike, and this one asked for more than the disciples brought.
There are differences among the evil spirits, and the kind in question yielded only to prayer and fasting. That lack was grievous in the Lord's eyes.
So what do prayer and fasting mean in practice?
Prayer is the expression of complete dependence on God. Fasting means the absolute refusal of ourselves and all human gratifications. In practice we set the natural man completely aside, and walk in simple dependence on God alone. This will mean death to myself as a man here in every way.
The Lord's grief went past this one case. One writer sees the same failure reaching far beyond that day.
It grieves the Lord deeply. The disciples had faith, but that faith lay asleep in the face of difficulties. It barely knew how to draw on the power of Christ on the one hand for the deep distress of man on the other... This is the very thing that will ruin Christendom. It was also the ground on which the Lord closed all His dealings with His ancient people, Israel.
- Power given. The Lord had already sent the disciples out with authority over unclean spirits. He took nothing back.
- Power unused. Their failure was not a shortage of power but an inability to draw on it — unbelief in believers, not in the world.
- Faith defined. Faith feels the full weight of the evil and still counts on God as greater. Leave room for God, and there may be failure but never final defeat.
- Condition restored. Prayer owns our dependence and fasting sets self aside. That is the state in which the power works.
- Stakes named. Sleeping faith in those who bear His name shames Him. On that same ground the Lord closed His dealings with His ancient people.
And Jesus answering said, O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring hither thy son.
Jesus comes down from the mountain where His glory had shone out, and walks straight into a scene of Satan's power over a boy. His own disciples cannot help, and His words here are aimed not at the demon or the father, but at a whole generation.
The scene at the foot of the mountain stands against the glory just seen above.
The next scene throws us straight into the world as it really is. We feel it all the more sharply because of the bright vision of the coming age on the mount of transfiguration... Here, on the contrary, we have the world as it now is through the power of Satan... It was a picture, indeed, of Israel and we may say of man. Such was the power of the demon over the boy. The most distressing fact was that the disciples were quite unable to meet the case. They were men of God, His most honoured servants. The Lord Jesus had already sent them out with power and authority... and yet they could not cope with this severe form of demon possession.
"Faithless" and "twisted" name two different faults. (Older versions read "perverse.")
The Lord's words here imply that the spiritual state of His disciples caused their failure to drive out the demon. He called them faithless, that is, lacking positive faith; and perverse, which points to an abuse or misuse of the power the Lord had given them... We too should take to heart a solemn warning. The Lord may give us a gift and special grace to do fruitful work for Him, yet we may abuse these things for selfish or self-willed ends.
The Lord had already given them authority. Something else was missing.
They could not cast the spirit out for lack, not of power, but of faith. Faith always assumes two things. First, a sense of the weight and yoke of evil that presses on man. Second, confidence in God, who in His gracious power is always supreme and above evil. There may be failure, but never final defeat where the heart leaves room for God to come in and holds to the certainty that His glory is at stake in the matter. The lack of this faith is what grieved the Lord Jesus. Their inability came from a lack of faith and of self-judgment.
The question sets a limit on His stay. One writer notes who Christ asks it of — and who He does not.
The Lord does not say, "O needy world, how long am I to be with you?" The need of the world is what brought Him into it. He asks it of unbelieving disciples: "How long am I to be with you and bear with you?"... God opened this age of grace by His power and goodness. It will close because those who have professed the Name of Christ cannot use His power and grace.
The words are a rebuke, but they also show what living among sin cost Him.
Sin itself must have been a constant source of sorrow to the Lord's mind... His perfect love brought relief here, but it did not prevent the sorrow it relieved. "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?" was met by, "Bring your son here." But He felt the unbelief just as much... The holier and more loving He was, the more dreadful was the sin to Him.
The rebuke is not the end of the verse. What comes next opens the Lord's heart.
After speaking of our faithlessness and perversity, the Lord at once adds, "Bring your son here." The first part of the verse exposes our hearts; the second part reveals His heart. It is as if He said, "However much you fail, you will find in Me an unfailing resource. Whatever is in your hearts, and whatever your needs, come to Me. Bring them all to Me."... as long as the Lord was present, His grace and power were available to all who brought their needs to Him.
One writer lines up those disciples at the foot of the mountain with believers now.
There are three points of likeness between ourselves and these disciples. First, the Lord is absent in both cases. Second, we, like them, live constantly in the presence of Satan's power — sadly, sometimes among Christians, and always in the souls of those who are not converted. Third, God gives us power greater than all the strength of the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 John 4:4), as much as He gave the disciples, if not more.
- Contrast. The glory on the mountain and the demon in the valley stand side by side. Together they show the world as it now is under Satan's power.
- Cause. The disciples failed from lack of faith, not lack of power. Faith feels the weight of evil and still counts on God as greater.
- Charge. "Faithless" means no positive faith; "perverse" means power given by Christ turned to self-willed use.
- Cost. The world's need is what brought Him. What ends His stay is the failure of those who bear His name to use what He supplies.
- Cure. In the same breath as the rebuke comes "Bring your son here." The first half of the verse exposes our hearts; the second reveals His.