Mark 9:25-29 25And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never again enter him.” 26And after crying out and greatly convulsing him, it came out, and he was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him up, and he arose. 28And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why were we not able to cast it out?” 29And he said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except by prayer.”
Jesus had another lesson to teach his disciples and those who had gathered around him as the crowd. Would the onlookers decide to be disciples also? They were eager to follow him around Galilee, receive free food, and participate in miracles, but were they willing to stretch their faith and put it in Jesus? The twelve men who had decided to leave everything and follow Jesus were also at a point of decision. Every day they were confronted with the question of what to do with Jesus. Had they counted the cost? The type of faith Jesus was asking from them would require submission and allegiance. The story of the healing of the epileptic boy was another stretch of their faith.
As the people gathered around Jesus to watch another miracle, he rebuked the unclean spirit to come out of the boy. It seems as if he did not want the crowd to see the miracle, but something like this could not be hidden. Verses 25-26 is where the passage becomes difficult from a modern perspective because what is described looks like a grand mal seizure and the after-effects of one when a person is in recovery. We can read this passage from the perspective of the disciples who witnessed this (namely Peter recounting this to Mark) and accept that this was a spiritual battle, but we can also consider that there are other ways to interpret what was happening at that time. The boy appeared dead, and what Jesus did by raising him up would be a lesson to the disciples of what resurrection was.
The healing of the boy must have brought great relief and joy to the father and strengthened his weak faith. However, the nine disciples were troubled and confused because they could not help the boy and may have compared this experience to their successful earlier mission. When they were all alone in someone’s house, they asked Jesus about the situation. It was often in private that Jesus taught his disciples the deeper meaning of what they had experienced.
The story is about faith and prayer. Prayer is the channel for divine power to be seen and experienced on earth. Prayerlessness results in powerlessness. When medicine seems no longer to help, prayer may be the only answer. Prayer and faith in Jesus are the keys to healing. The disciples’ inability to heal was based on their lack of faith. The disciples were ineffective without Jesus. It was not a human weakness on their part because we are all in the same situation. No one can do a miracle like Jesus did. The problem was more that they forgot to pray and trust in God to work in that situation. Insurmountable problems should drive us to prayer rather than frustration or debate.
For older posts, click here.