Mar 9:14-29 | KingComments | STEP | At the foot of the mountain the Lord and His three disciples are again in direct contact with the power of satan, who reveals himself in the reality of earthly circumstances. At the foot of the mountain they see the disciples left behind surrounded by a large crowd. There are also scribes present who are discussing with the disciples. When the entire crowd sees Him, His appearance impresses them. It is possible that the shine of the glory on the mountain can still be seen on Him. They turn away from the arguing company and walk toward Him and greet Him. They feel that He is Lord of the situation. The Lord asks about the content of the discussion. The answer comes from the crowd, from someone who brought his son to Him because this son has a mute spirit. In his need the man has come to Him, that He might heal him (cf. ). This man and his son are the clear proof of how much the coming of Elijah is necessary to restore a disturbed father-son relationship, so that it may resemble the relationship of the Son to His Father, as shown in the previous scene on the mountain. There is complete fellowship between that Father and that Son, and here it is just as completely lacking. The relationship between father and son is one of the most beautiful earthly relationships. All earthly relations are torn apart by the power of satan. Only the Lord Jesus can restore them. For this He wants to use people like Elijah, servants who can speak God’s Word in power. The father describes to the Lord the seriousness of the boy’s situation. Now he had come to His disciples and had told them to cast out the mute spirit. In the man said that he had brought his son to the Lord and now he says that he had told the disciples to cast out the spirit. For the man the disciples, as followers and pupils of Him, were able to do the same as He did. However, they were incapable, even though He had given them that power earlier ( ) and they had already cast out many demons. They cannot do it here, for they lack faith. If there is no faith, there is no power. The Lord blames them for not having healed the boy. He even calls them an “unbelieving generation” because in this case they have the same characteristics as the whole generation of Israel. Then He asks two questions to which He does not expect an answer. They are as it were sighs of His heart concerning their unbelief. We know the answer to both questions: He stayed with them until His ascension, and He endured them until the year 70, the year in which the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. But He does not leave the begging father without an answer to his supplication. He commands him to bring his son to Him. That is always the great consolation for anyone who walks around with a need. The Lord says: “Bring him to Me.” We may do that when we pray. His order to bring the boy to Him is carried out. The demon knows, when he sees Him, that he will be cast out immediately. That is why the evil spirit does its utmost to harm the boy as much as possible before he will have to leave him.

‏ Mark 9:14-29

The Powerlessness of the Disciples

At the foot of the mountain the Lord and His three disciples are again in direct contact with the power of satan, who reveals himself in the reality of earthly circumstances. At the foot of the mountain they see the disciples left behind surrounded by a large crowd. There are also scribes present who are discussing with the disciples.

When the entire crowd sees Him, His appearance impresses them. It is possible that the shine of the glory on the mountain can still be seen on Him. They turn away from the arguing company and walk toward Him and greet Him. They feel that He is Lord of the situation.

The Lord asks about the content of the discussion. The answer comes from the crowd, from someone who brought his son to Him because this son has a mute spirit. In his need the man has come to Him, that He might heal him (cf. Mal 4:5-6). This man and his son are the clear proof of how much the coming of Elijah is necessary to restore a disturbed father-son relationship, so that it may resemble the relationship of the Son to His Father, as shown in the previous scene on the mountain. There is complete fellowship between that Father and that Son, and here it is just as completely lacking.

The relationship between father and son is one of the most beautiful earthly relationships. All earthly relations are torn apart by the power of satan. Only the Lord Jesus can restore them. For this He wants to use people like Elijah, servants who can speak God’s Word in power.

The father describes to the Lord the seriousness of the boy’s situation. Now he had come to His disciples and had told them to cast out the mute spirit. In Mk 9:17 the man said that he had brought his son to the Lord and now he says that he had told the disciples to cast out the spirit. For the man the disciples, as followers and pupils of Him, were able to do the same as He did. However, they were incapable, even though He had given them that power earlier (Mk 6:7) and they had already cast out many demons. They cannot do it here, for they lack faith. If there is no faith, there is no power.

The Lord blames them for not having healed the boy. He even calls them an “unbelieving generation” because in this case they have the same characteristics as the whole generation of Israel. Then He asks two questions to which He does not expect an answer. They are as it were sighs of His heart concerning their unbelief. We know the answer to both questions: He stayed with them until His ascension, and He endured them until the year 70, the year in which the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

But He does not leave the begging father without an answer to his supplication. He commands him to bring his son to Him. That is always the great consolation for anyone who walks around with a need. The Lord says: “Bring him to Me.” We may do that when we pray. His order to bring the boy to Him is carried out. The demon knows, when he sees Him, that he will be cast out immediately. That is why the evil spirit does its utmost to harm the boy as much as possible before he will have to leave him.

The Father

Before the Lord takes action, He asks the father how long this has been happening to the boy. He wants the father to find out when his son’s behavior started. We must seek out the origin of a need, discover its root.

The father knows that his son has been plagued by a demon since childhood. Only now does he come to the Lord with it. All this time, he will have tried to persuade his son to behave in a controlled way, but to no avail. Parents who can no longer control their children can go to the Lord. However, it is important to find out whether the cause of their unruly behavior may lie in the way they dealt with their children in their youth. They will have to ask themselves what they have allowed into the house, possibly without having minded it themselves, but what has made their children a prey of evil.

The father says what the boy went through and what he went through with him. Throwing him into the fire of trial and into the water of need will also happen with the remnant, and Christ will deliver them out of it (Isa 43:2). The father is at his wit’s end and begs the Lord if He can do anything for the boy. He makes an insistent appeal to His mercy to help him and his son.

The Lord Jesus responds to the father’s words “if You can do anything”. With this assumption, the father falls short of the possibilities the Lord has at His disposal. The father is not fully convinced that the Lord is capable of casting out the spirit. That is why He says, in a way that implies indignation: “What, “if You can?”” He means: “Of course I can, you don’t have to doubt that.” The problem lies with the father. If only he can believe He can do it, it is possible He heals his son. The Lord says, as it were: “The “if” is not on My side, but on your side. It’s not about whether I can do it, it’s about whether you can believe.” Changes in our family and in the local church as a family of God depend on our faith.

Then the father speaks the words already spoken by countless believers as an expression of desire to believe and the difficulty they have in doing so. Many believers have faced great difficulties. They have brought those great problems to the Lord believing that He is powerful to solve those problems. At the same time, in the background there was still doubt about the extent of their faith, whether they have enough faith. Then that word may also be spoken in confidence, asking to help them to believe.

The Boy Healed

No matter how weak the faith, it is never left without an answer. When the Lord sees the crowd coming, He knows it is time to act. He does not seek the admiration of the crowd with the deliverance of the bound boy. In a powerful and also definitive way He delivers him from the unclean spirit.

While inflicting the final torments, the spirit obeys the Lord’s command and leaves the boy. We see how badly the demon has harmed the boy when he becomes like a dead man. The bystanders think he died. Then the Lord seems the Loser. But He is the Victor. He proves that a moment later.

The spirit can no longer hold his prey. The Lord seizes the boy with His mighty hand and raises him. By His power he gets up. Christ delivers and gives strength to rise and go. He gives the son back to his father, as it were, from the dead. In this way He also awakens our spiritually dead children to life.

The Cause of the Failure

When the Lord has gone into the house, where the crowd cannot follow Him, and He and His disciples are again among themselves, they ask why they could not drive out the evil spirit. It is always good to ask the Lord why we cannot do certain things. Again and again we find in this Gospel that the house is the place where the Lord makes confidential announcements to His disciples, or where they ask Him questions. In the house, the crowd does not listen.

In prayer we acknowledge our utter powerlessness and our complete dependence on God. The world has pleasant and good things we may use. Fasting is the conscious temporary renunciation of such things that are not wrong in themselves, so that heart and time are completely devoted to a particular cause for the Lord. Spiritual power disappears completely when life is taken up by earthly things. The kingdom of God displaces the kingdom of satan only through faith, prayer and fasting.