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Jesus Heals a Boy
(Mark 9.14-29; Luke 9.37-43a)
14Jesus and his disciples returned to the crowd. A man knelt in front of him 15and said, “Lord, have pity on my son! He has a bad case of epilepsy and often falls into a fire or into water. 16I brought him to your disciples, but none of them could heal him.”
17Jesus said, “You people are too stubborn to have any faith! How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here.” 18Then Jesus spoke sternly to the demon. It went out of the boy, and right then he was healed.
19Later the disciples went to Jesus in private and asked him, “Why couldn't we force out the demon?”
20-21 Jesus replied:
It is because you don't have enough faith! But I can promise you this. If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you.
Jesus Again Speaks
(Mark 9.30-32; Luke 9.43b-45)
22While Jesus and his disciples were going from place to place in Galilee, he told them, “The Son of Man will be handed over to people 23who will kill him. But three days later he will rise to life.” All of this made the disciples very sad.
Reflect
Matthew has a fascinating way of putting events together so as to engage his readers in the story. The transforming experiences of three of the disciples on the mountain gives way to the inability of the nine others to practice what Jesus had instructed in chapter 10. But the mountain and all it means is in the background.
This interesting encounter with the demonic and physical illness of a young boy illustrates Jesus’ tender approach, especially of children. This is continuously present in Matthew’s story. There is an inter play of the natural forces of the world that causes illness, probably epilepsy and the spiritual forces that were driving the young lad to life threatening actions that obviously distressed his father. The paragraph does not seem to indicate that the father saw the later – he certainly feels the pain for the former. He approaches Jesus, kneels in reverence, uses a title reserved for royalty (LORD) and pleads, “Have mercy on my son.” What type of father would ask for less?
Although Jesus had rebuked his disciples in much the same manner that he rebuked religious leaders in chapter 12, he uses this encounter as a teaching moment. When they are alone, he unpacks their lack of faith. Like they did in Matthew 5, the disciples came to him to learn. But here they are asking a question, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” Perhaps the mountain is in the background of the instruction. Maybe Jesus picked up a mustard seed. He moves the focus from what they could not do, to a deep trust in God. The immensity of the dilemma is not the issue. They were witnesses to his care and compassion. Their little faith is challenged by the fact that even a small amount of trust can accomplish great things. In that case, nothing will be impossible.
Respond
LORD Jesus, I realize that I often do not trust you for the details of life. I come to you today like this father and ask for mercy. I believe in you.
Glenn Smith
Dr. Glenn Smith is married to Sandra and together they have three daughters, Jenna, Julia and Christa and two granddaughters They are the pastors of a missional community network in their church in Montréal – a multi-site congregation in five locations. Glenn did his graduate studies at the Université d’Ottawa and his doctoral thesis at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago. He was the Executive Director of Christian Direction in Montreal 1983 – 2018. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Practical Theology at Presbyterian College at McGill University and the the Institut de théologie pour la francophonie, accredited by Université Laval. He also teaches in Haïti. Publications: co-author of Espoir pour la ville; Dieu dans la cité (Hope for the city, God in the city); Following Jesus: God invites us to transformative discipleship and author of City Air Makes You Free.