And when they came to the crowd, a man came to him, falling on his knees before him, and saying,
Jesus came down from the mountain of glory straight into a crowd, a desperate father, and disciples who had just failed. This verse turns on that descent, and on the one man who dropped to his knees in front of Him.
The movement here is downward. One writer reads it as the pattern of how Christ still deals with His people.
If the Lord takes us up into the glory, He also comes down into this world. Even now, in Spirit and in sympathy, He meets the crowd and Satan's power that we have to deal with.
Two powers were on show at that mountain at the same time.
But at the foot of that same mountain where the Lord displayed the glory of the kingdom, Satan also displayed his power. It was not broken yet. The kingdom was only a matter of testimony. The disciples failed to draw on the resources of Christ to put down the power of the enemy.
The word for what the father did turns up elsewhere in the Gospels. Comparing those places shows that the posture on its own proves nothing.
Mark uses the same Greek word of the young ruler who knelt to Jesus. The father of the demon-possessed boy knelt in the same way (Matt. 17:14). These men were sincere. The governor's soldiers were not: they knelt before Him in mockery.
The father is not at the start of his search. He has already tried the men who should have been able to help.
Hope from the power of the disciples had failed him. He turns now, in his agony, to the Lord as his last resource.
The Lord had given the disciples power over demons. So one writer says their failure went deeper than weakness.
Their failure proved two things: they lacked faith, and they were perverse. That means they used wrongly what He had entrusted to them. They did not simply neglect the power He gave them to cast out demons; they must have misused it, just as we too may misuse abilities given us.
Notice what makes Christ leave. It is not the evil in front of Him.
Notice here that evil in the world does not put an end to a particular act of God. On the contrary, it is what calls out that act of grace. Christ came because Satan held men under his rule. He leaves because those who received Him cannot use the power He brought with Him.
The rebuke and the invitation come in the same breath.
Still, notice this important and touching truth. As long as God keeps dealing with people in this way, Jesus never fails to meet one person's faith with blessing. He does so even when His disciples cannot glorify Him by their faith. The same words that judge the unbelief of the disciples call the distressed father to enjoy the blessing.
Writers read the descent from the mountain as a preview of Christ's return in glory. The tormented boy shows what He will find.
In the morning the transfigured Lord comes down from the mountain. This is a clear picture of His coming again in glory. And what does He find when He comes? He finds Satan using his power to destroy soul and body. ... We must, however, be careful to apply this in the right way. It would be wrong to make these disciples the church. As we have seen before, they represent the Jewish remnant — a group of Jewish believers.
Commentators differ on who the failing disciples stand for. Others apply the scene straight to Christians now:
When Jesus came down from the mountain, He cast this demon out of the child. That certainly foreshadows what will happen when the Lord returns to set up His kingdom. Yet it also holds special instruction for the saints of this present time, who remain on earth to represent Christ while He is away.
- He comes down. Glory does not keep Christ on the mountain. He comes down into the crowd, the misery and Satan's power that His people face.
- Kneeling is not enough. One word covers both the sincere father and the soldiers who mocked Him. The heart behind the knee decides which it is.
- The helpers failed first. The father came to Jesus only after the disciples failed him. Failure in the servants sends need to the Master.
- Unbelief, not evil, drives Christ away. Evil brought Him into the world. What sends Him away is His own people's failure to use the power He gave.
- Grace still lands on one man. The same words that judged the disciples' unbelief invited the kneeling father into blessing.
Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic, and suffers sorely; for often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
A father kneels in front of Jesus and describes his son in the plainest words he has. The boy falls into fire and into water. Older translations call him a "lunatic" where the ESV says "he has seizures," and the writers quoted below use that older wording. Two questions follow: what held this child, and why could the disciples do nothing?
This appeal comes right after the Lord came down from the mountain where His glory was displayed. At the foot of that mountain, the scene was very different.
At the foot of that same mountain where the Lord displayed the glory of the kingdom, Satan also displayed his power. It was not broken yet. The kingdom was only a matter of testimony. The disciples failed to draw on the resources of Christ to put down the power of the enemy… This child is a lunatic and suffering terribly, but unbelief cannot use the power of God, which should have been at the disciples' command.
The word the father uses is built on the word for the moon, and it covered more than one condition.
The word is selēniazomenoi, which, like the word lunatic, comes from the word for 'the moon.' It is thought to cover epilepsy as well as an unsound mind. Matthew 17:15 calls the boy a lunatic, but he also had a demon in him: Mark 9:25 calls it a 'mute and deaf spirit.'
Some argue that these people were only mentally ill, and that Jesus went along with their mistaken idea. The Gospel accounts answer that.
But this is just an attempt to deny the power of Satan and his agents over man, and also God's power in the miracles… It is true that in Matthew 17:14-16 the father of a boy who had a demon called him a lunatic, and said the disciples could not cure him. But in Mark 9:17 he said his son had a mute spirit, and in Luke 9:39 'a spirit takes him.' This was plainly a case of possession: the Lord rebuked the demon, and it came out of him.
How a spirit acts on a body is hard to pin down:
It is hard to define how our own spirit relates to the body. It must be even harder with demon power. But that power seems to work through the mind. You can see this in the boy with a demon (Matt. 17:15), who was a "lunatic and suffering terribly" under a demon.
Fire and water are opposite dangers, and the boy fell into both.
When the Lord asked, He learned that the boy had suffered like this since childhood. That is an all too accurate picture of our race, which fell into Satan's hands at the very start… The suffering child was in constant danger of his life. His father said of the unclean spirit inside him: "Often it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters to destroy him." In the same way every sinner who has not been delivered is in danger, not just of disaster in this life, but of eternal destruction.
The man had already brought his son to the disciples, and they could not help. Their failure does not shut him out.
Christ came because of Satan's rule over men. He leaves, because those who had received Him cannot use the power He brought with Him, or the power He gives for their deliverance… Still, notice this important and moving truth. As long as such a dealing from God continues, Jesus always meets individual faith with blessing. He does so even when His disciples cannot glorify Him by acting in faith. The same sentence that judges the unbelief of the disciples calls the troubled father into the blessing.
Several writers read the descent from the mountain as more than a change of location. Commentators differ on how far to press the picture, but the shape of it is agreed.
In the morning the Lord, whose glory had just been displayed on the mountain, comes down from it. This is a clear picture of His coming again in glory. And what does He find when He comes? He finds Satan using his power to destroy soul and body. The boy with a demon, suffering terribly, pictures Satan's rule when the Son of Man comes again. Crowds wait for His return, and when He comes He finds misery, suffering and unbelief.
- Word. "Lunatic" comes from the word for moon. It covered epilepsy and an unsound mind alike. The other Gospels show this boy also had a demon.
- Power. The affliction worked through the mind, and Jesus rebuked a spirit — not a mistaken idea in the boy's head.
- Purpose. Fire and water were not accidents; the aim was destruction, from childhood on.
- Place. The glory on the mountain had not yet broken the enemy's grip below. The disciples failed to draw on the power Christ had given them.
- Person. The same words that exposed unbelief called this father forward. One person's faith still finds blessing when everyone around it fails.
And I brought him to thy disciples, and they were not able to heal him.
The father's words report a failure: he brought his son to the disciples, and nothing happened. Two hard questions follow — why did men Jesus had sent out with authority achieve nothing, and what did that say about Him?
The failure happened at the foot of a mountain. Minutes earlier the disciples had been at the top of it with Jesus.
On the top of the high mountain the disciples had been in a place of heavenly peace and fellowship with God. They went down with Jesus to the foot, where all was distress and failure. There was distress for the suffering boy and his father, and failure on the part of the disciples to meet the situation. The coming of Jesus changed everything in a moment. His coming in glory is near, and it will fully retrieve the situation that will exist then. It will meet not only the power of the devil in the world but also all the failures of His saints.
The ESV says the boy has seizures; older translations call him a lunatic. The other Gospel accounts name the cause, and the Lord's own action settles it.
It is true that the father of a boy who had a demon called him a lunatic, and said the disciples could not cure him, in Matthew 17:14-16. But in Mark 9:17 he said his son had a spirit that made him mute, and in Luke 9:39 that "a spirit seizes him." It was clearly a case of possession: the Lord rebuked the demon, and it left him.
Nothing was lacking on Christ's side. The problem lay with the men He had sent.
The disciples should have used this power. They ought to have known how to make use, by faith, of what Jesus had shown on earth. But they were not able to do it. What use was it to bring this power down here, if the disciples had no faith to use it? The power was there. Man might have profited by it for complete deliverance from all the oppression of the enemy, but he had no faith... There was more faith in the man who brought his child than in them, for his sense of need brought him to the remedy.
after_note: none
The failure did not stay private. A crowd and the scribes, the teachers of the law, saw it happen.
How humbling when believers dishonour their Lord like this! "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?" This was the overwhelming fact. It was bad enough that the crowd and the scribes had no faith, after such full witness of the gracious power of God in His Son... Did He not give the twelve disciples, and more than the twelve, authority over the unclean spirits? How was it, then, that these men put shame on His name by failing to draw on Him?
The Lord's answer in the next verse does more than rebuke one moment. It shows why His stay among them was ending.
The unbelief even of His disciples hindered an effective testimony to His power, and it led to His going away. He Himself remained the same, and so did His grace. But the faithlessness of His own people held back His work... So we learn what closes a period of the Lord's dealings in goodness. It is not the power of evil that brought Him here. It is the powerlessness of those who follow Him to make good the testimony He has given of His power and goodness.
The father's appeal was not wasted, even though the disciples had let him down.
Notice also this important and touching truth. As long as such a dealing from God continues, Jesus still meets individual faith with blessing. He does this even when His disciples cannot glorify Him by the exercise of faith. The same sentence that judges the unbelief of the disciples calls the distressed father to enjoy the blessing.
Afterwards the disciples asked the Lord why they had failed. His answer went deeper than one missing thing.
As is so often the case with our failures, the reason was not simple but compound. Three things went wrong. First, absence of faith — little or no confidence in God. Second, absence of prayer — dependence on God. Third, absence of fasting — being set apart for God, even from things that are quite right in themselves in ordinary circumstances. In these words we believe the Lord exposed the roots of all our failures in seeking to serve Him.
- Contrast — Peace on the mountain top, distress and defeat at its foot. The coming of Jesus changed the lower scene in a moment.
- Diagnosis — The disciples had all the authority they needed. What they lacked was faith to draw on the power already there.
- Cost — Their helplessness put shame on the Lord's name, in front of a watching crowd.
- Consequence — The Lord's answer marks the close of His stay. Evil's strength did not stop the testimony; His own people's powerlessness did.
- Remedy — Faith, prayer and fasting are the cure. And meanwhile Jesus still blesses one person's faith, as He blessed this father's.
And Jesus answering said, O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.
The Lord comes down from the mountain and meets His disciples in their failure. A father had brought his son to them, and they could not help. His words here are sharp, yet the same sentence that exposes the failure ends with an open door.
In Scripture, "faithless" names a class of people. A Bible dictionary shows where else the word appears:
Apistos. This is the name Scripture gives to the class of people who do not have faith in the divine revelation of the gospel. The word is translated 'infidel' in 2 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Timothy 5:8; and 'faithless' in Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41; John 20:27.
The second word — "twisted" in the ESV, "perverse" in older translations — carries a further charge. One writer ties it to what the Lord had already sent the disciples out to do:
The disturbed man had brought his son to the disciples, but they could not cure him. This is what draws out the Lord's lamenting words: "O faithless and perverse generation." The Lord had sent the disciples out to cast out demons (Ch. 10:1). Their inability proved two things — their lack of faith, and their perversity, which implies they used wrongly what He entrusted to them.
The crowd and the scribes standing there had no faith either. But the sting of the rebuke falls on those who had been given authority and did not use it:
How humbling when believers dishonour their Lord in this way! It was bad enough that the crowd and the scribes had no faith. They had seen ample witness of the gracious power of God in His Son, who served every need in man, and who was marked out from the first by doing good and healing all whom the devil oppressed. 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?
The question "how long am I to be with you?" implies a clock running down. Notice what did — and did not — start it:
The failure of the disciples was a solemn thing. It meant that the testimony of God through them had fallen to the ground. "How long shall I be with you?" implies there was a limit to the Lord's stay on earth. A needy generation, oppressed by the power of the devil, would not drive the Lord away. Just the opposite: the deep need of man under the power of Satan is what brought the Lord Jesus into the world. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." It is the "faithless generation," not the needy generation, that brings His mission of grace and power on the earth to an end. When there is no longer power to use the resources in Christ, His service on earth is finished.
Nothing was lacking on God's side. The failure sat on the human side:
It was for want, not of power but of faith, that they could not cast the spirit out. Faith always supposes two things. First, a sense of the weight and yoke of evil that presses on man. Second, confidence in God, whose gracious power is always supreme and above all evil. There may be failure, but never final defeat — not where there is still room for God to come in, and the heart holds to the certainty that His glory is involved in the matter. The lack of this was what grieved the Lord Jesus; their inability was due to want of faith and of self-judgment.
This is not cold judgment. One writer hears real disappointment in it:
On no occasion does the Lord express disappointment of heart more vividly than here... The Lord had been tasting the joys of His own land, and He comes down to find faithlessness and defilement. He does not look for glory here, but He does look for the labour and energy of faith.
The verse does not close with the rebuke. It closes with an instruction that changes everything:
Having spoken of our faithlessness and perversity, the Lord at once adds, "Bring your son here." The first part of the verse exposes our hearts. The last part reveals His heart. It is as if He said, "However much you fail, you will find in Me an unfailing resource. Whatever you find in your hearts, and whatever your needs, come to Me. Bring them all to Me."
- Failure — the Lord gave the disciples authority over unclean spirits, and they could not use it. Misusing what He entrusted is what "perverse" (ESV: "twisted") points to.
- Lament — the rebuke lands hardest on His own, not on the crowd. He looks for the labour and energy of faith and does not find it.
- Limit — human need never drove Him away; faithlessness does. When there is no power to draw on Christ's resources, that service closes.
- Cause — the shortfall was never in His power, only in their faith and self-judgment. Where there is still room for God, failure is not final defeat.
- Bring — the same breath that exposes our hearts reveals His: bring him here to Me. Whatever the failure around, the invitation stands open to anyone who comes with a real need.
And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon went out from him, and the boy was healed from that hour.
The Lord comes down from the mountain where His glory had shone. At the bottom He meets a scene His own disciples could not handle: a boy under demonic power and a father out of options. One rebuke ends it. That raises two questions. Why could the disciples do nothing? And what does this deliverance point forward to?
The healing only makes sense against what had just failed. The glory on the mountain had not yet broken Satan's grip on the world below. The men sent to act could not draw on the power available to them.
But at the foot of that same mountain where the Lord displayed the glory of the kingdom, Satan also displayed his power. It was not broken yet. The kingdom was only a matter of testimony. The disciples failed to draw on the resources of Christ to put down the power of the enemy... The disciples wanted to know why they could not cast him out. He tells them, "Because of your unbelief." It is as sad as it is wonderful that unbelief is at the root of the difficulties Satan pushes in, for he has lost his power over those who have faith... When Jesus comes down, all Satan's power is broken and vanishes.
The Lord's lament exposes more than weakness. They had been given power over demons, so their emptiness here was a misuse of what they were trusted with.
Their inability proved both their lack of faith and their perversity. That is, they had used wrongly what they were trusted with. They had not only neglected the power given them to cast out demons; they must have misused it, just as we too may misuse abilities given us. Gift comes to us so that we can help others, yet we may use it for our own self-gratification, as the Corinthians used the gift of tongues (1 Cor. 14).
Matthew tells the cure in a single stroke. He describes no touch, no struggle, no process. That is deliberate: Mark does record the Lord's patient handling of the boy.
But whatever the failure, the Lord is still the resource: He rebuked the demon, causing it to leave the boy. Matthew emphasizes His authority. So he does not mention the details of His patient labour, as Mark does in the Gospel of the Servant (Mark 9:20-27). The child was cured from that hour.
Some writers use an older wording here, "cured from that very hour." The ESV says "the boy was healed instantly."
Look at what follows the rebuke to that generation: "Bring him here to me." The same sentence that exposes the failure of the many opens the door to the one father who came.
Faith was wanting. But notice this important and moving truth as well. As long as such a dealing from God continues, Jesus still meets individual faith with blessing. He does so even when His disciples cannot glorify Him by exercising faith. The same sentence that judges the unbelief of the disciples calls the distressed father to the enjoyment of the blessing. After all, to make use of His power, we must be in communion with Him through the practical energy of faith.
The mountain and the valley call for different things, and that difference carries into ordinary life.
Enjoyment is one thing, but power is quite another. Someone has truly said that "enjoyment is for heaven, but power is for earth." There is no opposition in heaven. Everything there is favourable to the new life we have in the Spirit... But the moment we go out into the world we find ourselves in a contrary element. We find the whole array of Satan's power is against us to hinder our standing for Christ.
One writer reads the coming down from the mountain as a picture. The Lord who had just shown His glory arrives, and one moment changes everything.
The coming of Jesus altered everything in a moment. His coming again in glory will do the same. It will fully retrieve the situation that will then exist, meeting not only the power of the devil in the world but also all the failures of His saints.
- Failure. The disciples had the power but not the faith. Unbelief left them helpless, not the strength of the enemy.
- Resource. Where they had nothing, He was everything. One rebuke, and the demon was gone. Matthew records the authority and leaves out the labour.
- Reach. The same word that judged a whole generation's unbelief invited one father forward. Shared failure never cancels one person's faith.
- Descent. The mountain gave enjoyment; the plain demanded power. Believers cannot stay above, and the world below is contrary ground.
- Preview. His arrival turned distress into deliverance in a moment. It is a small model of the day when His appearing settles both the devil's power and His people's failures.
Then the disciples, coming to Jesus apart, said [to him], Why were not *we* able to cast him out?
The disciples had just failed. They could not cast the demon out of a young man, and now, away from the crowd, they ask Jesus why.
The disciples often brought their hardest questions to Jesus when the crowd was gone.
The apostles sometimes used quiet moments alone with Him to bring Him their difficulties. They came to Him "apart" to know why they were unable to cast the demon out of a young man (Matt. 17:19; Mark 9:28). And again, at the close of His ministry... they came to Him privately with their questions as He sat on the Mount of Olives. This was not unusual. They were used to being taught by Him privately like this.
Their willingness to ask put them somewhere we will all stand one day.
The situation retrieved, the disciples invited the Lord to explain their failure, and thus they stood before His judgment seat, as we all shall in the day of His coming.
The authority was already theirs. Jesus had given it to His twelve disciples Himself.
When the Lord sent out the Twelve, He "gave them power over unclean spirits." For a time they used this power, for we read, "they cast out many demons" (Mark 6:7, 13). Here, however, their faith failed. They could not cast out the mute spirit. Power was present to work miracles and to overcome all the power of Satan. But man could not profit by it, and the disciples had no faith to use it.
The loss was not theirs alone.
How humbling when believers dishonour their Lord like this! "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?"... How was it then that these disciples put shame on His name by failing to draw on Him?
Jesus names the cause. Then He shows how little faith would have been enough.
It lies on the surface: they did not know how to use the power their Lord had given them. He tells them plainly that the cause of this was their unbelief. He leads their hearts straight into the secret of their failure. He adds, "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." So without faith at work now, there can be no display of power through the servant, whatever his earnestness or zeal for the glory of God. But if even the smallest degree of faith is at work, God brings in His power and obstacles as large as mountains are removed.
The Lord does not stop at unbelief. He tells them what faith needs to grow.
Had the Lord stopped here, we might have concluded that this victorious faith is easy to get and common to all. So the Lord goes deeper. He reaches the root of the failure to use the power He entrusts to His servants when He says, "this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." By these words He teaches plainly that faith can only thrive in soil that suits it. A certain state of soul is needed for the confidence in God that can call Him in.
The two words carry two different senses.
Prayer expresses dependence on God, while fasting emphasizes self-denial, or no confidence in the flesh.
Their position that day is also ours.
Let us stop and gather the points where we match these disciples. There are three. First, the Lord is absent in both cases. Second, we, like them, live always in the presence of Satan's power... Third, God gives us power greater than all the strength of the enemy — as much as He gave the disciples, if not more. We may add this, to our sorrow: very often we, like these disciples, are powerless when the enemy displays his power.
Their failure had more than one cause.
As is so often the case with our failures, the reason was not simple but compound. Three things were involved. First, absence of faith — little or no confidence in God. Second, absence of prayer — dependence upon God. Third, absence of fasting — separation to God, even from things quite right in themselves under ordinary circumstances. In these words we believe the Lord exposed the roots of all our failures in seeking to serve Him.
- Ask. The disciples took their failure straight to Christ instead of explaining it away. Asking Him in private was their habit, as it was later on the Mount of Olives.
- Given. The power was already theirs by His gift; nothing was withdrawn. What failed was the faith to draw on it.
- Unbelief. Christ's first answer names the cause. Zeal and earnestness are no substitute. Even mustard-seed faith moves mountains.
- Soil. Faith thrives only in the right soil: prayer, which is dependence on God, and fasting, which is refusal of self.
- Ours. Our Lord is absent, Satan is active, and God has given us power. So when we stand powerless, the disciples' question is ours to ask.
And he says to them, Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard [seed], ye shall say to this mountain, Be transported hence there, and it shall transport itself; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
Jesus gave His disciples authority over evil spirits, yet they could not free one boy from a demon. The Lord names the cause — their little faith — then adds a promise that has puzzled readers ever since: seed-sized faith that moves mountains.
The disciples were not short of authority. They were short of the faith that draws on it.
Christ, Son of God, Messiah, Son of man, had overcome the enemy, had bound the strong man and had a right to cast him out... 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 could not do it. Yet what use was it to bring this power down here, if the disciples had no faith to use it?
Their failure did not stop God's work. Writers note that the Lord still answers one person's faith:
As long as such a work of God continues, Jesus still meets each person's faith with blessing. He does so even when His disciples fail to glorify Him by faith.
The mustard seed is tiny. The point is not size but reality — a small live faith still reaches the God who answers.
Faith works what is impossible to man, to nature; and this wherever there is a grain of reality, however small. Faith may be little or strong. If it is real, it brings in God. And God is the same God when He answers little faith as when He answers great faith. What we feel and enjoy may differ a great deal. But in His grace God answers the weakest act of faith in Him.
That cuts both ways. It rules out despair over weak faith, and it rules out pride in strong faith:
I do not like to hear a child of God speaking much about "my faith," and God answering it; leave out "my" faith... I never once hear the Lord praise the disciples for great faith. But He often speaks to them about their little faith. He never says anything to make us pleased with ourselves... A grain of mustard seed is very small. But as an old writer says, "Bite it, and you will find some heat there!" So this grain of faith is small, yet it is true faith.
A mountain is what will not move. But the promise belongs to a certain path.
This implies, of course, that we are on the path He has appointed for us: for faith is impossible on any other. The picture of the mountain shows that on such a path even the most deeply rooted obstacles disappear. In the path of self-will and self-indulgence, how useless it would be to expect anything of this kind!
Commentators differ on what the mountain first pointed to. One writer sees a nation standing in the way of the message:
Israel was the great hindrance to the gospel going out. It was the mountain of obstruction. Faith would remove it. In fact, Israel as a nation on earth was to disappear. It sank into the sea of the nations — the Gentiles — and is lost among them today.
Some readers misuse "nothing will be impossible." They take the picture as a literal offer to move real hills.
One lady prayed that the hill blocking her view would be taken away. Of course, the hill stayed. She took the Lord's words literally, and what she asked for was selfish.
The limit is not stinginess in God but the direction faith faces:
This means that nothing in line with the will of God would be impossible. Faith sees the will of God as ruling everything. It is impossible to have faith for anything contrary to His will. He has laid down the path for faith in His word: if we do not follow it, the obstacle is in ourselves.
The Lord did not stop at naming their unbelief. He went deeper, to show where such faith comes from:
If the Lord had stopped here, we might have concluded that this victorious faith is easy to get and belongs to everyone. So the Lord goes deeper, down to the root of the failure to use the power entrusted to His servants... By these words He teaches that faith can only grow in soil that suits it. The soul must be in a certain state to have the confidence in God that calls Him in.
- Cause. The disciples had all the authority they needed. What they lacked was the faith to use it, and the Lord pointed straight to that.
- Size. A grain-sized faith is enough. Faith's power is not its own: it brings in God, and He is the same God to little faith as to great.
- Reality. The Lord looks for real faith, not large faith. He never praises great faith, and never says anything to make us pleased with ourselves.
- Reach. The mountain stands for the most deeply rooted obstacle. One writer sees the nation blocking the gospel; faith moves what looks immovable.
- Condition. The promise runs along the path He appoints, and faith only grows in soil that suits it. Where the path is self-will, the obstacle is in ourselves.
But this kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting.
The scene is the valley below the mountain. A father brings his tormented son, and the disciples who had been given power over demons cannot help him. Jesus names their unbelief, then adds this word about prayer and fasting. Two questions follow. Why did men with real power fail? And what is the prayer and fasting that this case demanded?
Before the meaning, one honest point about the wording. One writer notes that this sentence is missing from the oldest surviving copies of Matthew.
It is interesting to know that verse 21 is not found in the two oldest manuscripts, which date from the fourth century — the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus.
The disciples' helplessness is not a curiosity from long ago. One writer lines up the parallels between their situation and ours point by point.
There are three. First, the Lord is absent in both cases. Second, we live, as they did, in the presence of Satan's power. You can see it at times among Christians, and always in the souls of those who are not converted. Third, God has given us power greater than all the strength of the enemy — as much as He gave the disciples, if not more. We should add one more thing. Too often we have to admit, to our sorrow, that we are as powerless as those disciples when the enemy shows his power.
Jesus first points to their unbelief, then adds this verse. One writer reads the two answers together as a single diagnosis with three parts.
In general He explained their failure by saying, "Because of your unbelief." But He added that the demon in this case was a special "kind." It could only be dealt with by "prayer and fasting." As so often with our failures, the reason was not simple. It was compound. Three things were missing. First, absence of faith — little or no confidence in God. Second, absence of prayer — no dependence upon God. Third, absence of fasting — no separation to God. That means holding back even from things that are perfectly right at other times.
The two words work in opposite directions.
Prayer brings God in. Fasting shuts out our own nature and our human resources.
Fasting, then, reaches wider than food. It touches whatever the world around us offers.
By "fasting" we should understand more than going without food. It means refusing the things of this world we are passing through — the things that appeal to us as men, such as the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in life.
Commentators differ here. Some read fasting as a state of the soul rather than a real fast. One writer pushes back, pointing to the early Christians in the city of Antioch.
I think when it says a fast in Scripture, it means a fast. Often one hears it said, "That means a moral state." Do you think it was only a moral state at Antioch? The moral state existed, and it showed itself by an actual fast, which was not commanded, as far as we read. I fear that word moral is going to ruin us.
One writer traces the failure back to something in the disciples themselves.
And why was it? What was going on in them? The power of their own nature, never judged, and confidence in self. "This kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." "Prayer and fasting" expresses the nothingness of man — but a nothingness that expects God and counts on God.
The same writer traces every loss of power back to one cause, and shows the way back.
You can always trace a lack of power to deal with these things, and to cast out the enemy, back to the same cause as with the disciples — unbelief, and failure in prayer and fasting… But if by grace we return to prayer and fasting, God brings us into such close communion with His mind that our spiritual sight grows sharp. Our confidence in Him grows so strong that we can act at the right moment with divine power.
- Power given. The disciples already had authority over unclean spirits. They did not fail for lack of power.
- Power unused. The Lord is absent, the enemy is present, the power is given — and still they stood helpless. One writer says our position is the same.
- Root exposed. The reason was compound: no faith, no prayer, no fasting — confidence, dependence and separation all missing at once.
- Remedy defined. Prayer brings God in; fasting shuts human resource out. Commentators differ: some mean a real fast from food, others a state of the soul.
- Result promised. Return to prayer and fasting, and God sharpens your sight and your confidence, so you can act at the right moment with His own power.