Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit (Mark 9:14-29)

Peter, James and John had enjoyed an amazing spiritual experience with Jesus on top of the mountain when he was transfigured before them. It had been so good that Peter had wanted to make it permanent. Yet they had to come back down to everyday life and when they did so they discovered that little had changed. They could see a religious dispute taking place between the other disciples and a group of scribes, they experienced again that the disciples could do nothing without Jesus, they saw once more the cruelty of the kingdom of darkness, and they were taught by Jesus to ensure they engaged in spiritual priorities. We can consider those four features in this sermon.

This incident is described in Matthew and Luke as well as in Mark. Mark gives however the longest account of the incident, and he gives more details about how Jesus interacted with the father of the afflicted boy. Yet it is interesting to note the different aspects that are detailed by particular authors. One conclusion that can be mentioned here is that the three accounts don’t help us where the incident happened. Luke, however, tells us that it took place on the day after the transfiguration took place.

The dispute (vv. 14-15)

The argument was connected to the inability of the disciples to help a desperate situation in which a person needed divine help. Probably the crowd was disappointed with them and the scribes would be providing theological reasons as to why Jesus was not the promised Messiah since his followers were not able to help the boy that was suffering from a form of demonic activity.

Of course, the disciples could recall a time when they had been able to deal with such situations. A few months before this, Jesus had sent his disciples two by two on a mission throughout the country during which they had delivered people who were suffering from demonic attacks. Since they had gone throughout the country, it is likely that two of them had been in this area during that mission. Whether they had been or not, we can see here that the disciples were now failing in an activity in which they had previously been successful. And it is obvious that they don’t know what to do about the situation.

Clearly the thing not to do in such a situation of ineffectiveness is to have a debate with the opposition. It is possible, judging by the response of the crowd, that the disciples had been saying to them that Jesus would be back soon and would deal with the matter. If that was what they had said, it was the right response. But there is no point in debating with a hostile group who despise Jesus. Instead wait until Jesus appears and deals with the situation.

The arrival of Jesus occurs at the right moment for dealing with the situation. Mark is reminding his readers to expect this in their situations if they are trusting in Jesus. To his disciples enduring taunts from the scribes, the absence of Jesus may have seemed like a long time. But the fact of the matter was that Jesus was on his way to sort out the situation. This is a perspective we can have when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances.

The dilemma (vv. 17-14)

The first thing that Jesus asked was why there was an argument going on. He was told by a desperate father about his only son’s problem, as Luke tells us, and the inability of the disciples to help him. So we can say that the father’s response was a mixture of concern and criticism. We should not be surprised at the father’s concern because his son was suffering from a combination of physical troubles (epilepsy and inability to speak or hear) and demonic influence that used his physical troubles in a very malicious way. We are not told how the boy came to be under this evil assault and there is no point in speculating as to how it began.

The response of Jesus was to focus on whether or not they had faith in him. He stresses this detail twice: first he speaks to the crowd in general (v. 19) and then he speaks to the desperate father (v. 23). So we can deduce from the response of Jesus that his priority was not that people should only be helped by him but that they should also believe in him. It would have been easy for the disciples and for the crowd to let the need for compassion by Jesus take the place of their need for faith in Jesus. But Jesus would not go along with such a wish.

Obviously Jesus wants to deal personally with the father of the afflicted boy. He wants the father to become a follower, so he leads the man through several stages in coming to real faith. What are those steps? The first is that he allowed the man to be disappointed with the inability of the disciples.

From the point of view of the disciples, their inability was probably embarrassing and from the point of view of the man, their inability was extremely disappointing. Yet both the disciples and the man needed to learn that Jesus has always to be central. This was a repeated lesson for the disciples and a new one for the father. The mission of Jesus is not a call for people to have confidence in the ability of the church, because the church in itself, even in its most competent individuals, does not have any spiritual power.

The second step was to let the father see that Jesus was prepared to look at the problem head on. When the boy came near to Jesus, the evil spirit reacted with hostility and tried to destroy the boy. (Mark writes a very graphic description of what happened, reminding us that an eyewitness (Peter) had noted what had taken place. How different it was now for Peter from what he had enjoyed about Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Yet he was about to discover that in addition to the concern of Jesus there was the capability of Jesus to deal with the circumstances.) It would seem that from the father’s perspective even Jesus could not do anything. If that was the man’s initial response, his fears were about to be disappointed. Yet Jesus was letting the man see exactly what the problem was and was testing him to see if he believed Jesus would help him.

We can observe at this stage that Jesus often works in this way with people even although they do not have the distressing problem that this concerned father had. One obvious example is how he convicts us of our sin. Like this man who knew the problem that his son had and yet had to see it in a terrible manner, so sometimes we know we are sinners but yet have to see it in an awful way because Jesus wants us to know that he has the power to deal with such an enormous problem.

I suppose the man would have wanted Jesus to deal with the problem immediately. So he may have been puzzled when Jesus asked how long the boy had been afflicted. What has the length of time got to do with the provision of a cure? Perhaps the answer is that Jesus is stretching the man’s expectations to the limits in order to test if faith is still there. After all, the man has seen a visible display of the problem and now has a mental awareness of its length of activity, as well as recollections of previous onslaughts, to contend with. Will he have any faith at all in Jesus now?

The third step in the process is seen in the man’s desperate request in verse 22: ‘But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Obviously the man longs for the cure and what he has just seen and assessed has stimulated his desperate plea. Are the disciples not learning here that desperation is an appropriate response to dangerous situations? They would find themselves often in such circumstances where everything seemed to be lost. Desperate times are good occasions for exercising faith.

There is also a fourth step in the man’s response to his need. He has called out in desperation to Jesus, but sometimes desperation can hide truths about Jesus from our expectancy. It is the case that sometimes a little word can cause problems, and here it is the small word ‘if’. The man’s desperation had blinded him regarding the full capability of Jesus to deal with the problem. So Jesus highlights the inadequacy of the man’s outlook, and he responds with a more acceptable outlook, when he says, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’

It is important to note that this statement is a confession of need and not a contradiction. The man makes an affirmation about his desires and confesses that his faith is affected by a powerful tendency within him that causes a reduction in the strength of his faith. Nevertheless we are reminded that weak faith is effective faith because the Saviour proceeds to deal with the man’s request and heals his son.

The deliverance (vv. 25-27)

Mark’s brief description highlights the authority of Jesus over the powers of darkness despite the resistance of the unclean spirit. This was what happened whenever Jesus was involved personally and was the opposite of the inability of the disciples. Mark is encouraging his readers to have complete confidence in the power of Jesus over the enemy of our souls. Moreover Mark shows that Jesus provided more than deliverance from Satanic attacks. In addition, he healed the boy’s physical problems.

Mark also stressed the compassion of Jesus in contrast to the crowd as far as the boy was concerned. No one in the crowd tried to help the boy – perhaps they were frightened to touch him out of superstition. Jesus was very different and he was unafraid to touch the boy and give life to his battered frame. How delighted the father and the son would be that day as they made their way home. We can imagine their conversation together – after all, it would be the first conversation that has occurred between them. Mark, however, wants us to listen in to another conversation taking place between Jesus and his disciples.

The duty of disciples (vv. 28-29)

While it is possible to criticise the disciples for their response to the scribes, we cannot find fault with what they did about their inability to help the boy. They asked Jesus to diagnose their spiritual problem, and that is always a wise response to make when we fail in his service. So we can see that they are learning to function as more instructed disciples.

Jesus informs them about the way of success. It is important to note that Jesus does not suggest it is possible to do some things for him without prayer. Instead he is saying that some circumstances require more prayer than at other times. This raises the question as to why this is the case. After all, it is not more difficult for God to deal with one situation than with another. Our more prayers don’t provide God with more energy so that he can now answer our prayers.

In a sense, Jesus here is speaking about situations in which God does not answer our prayers immediately. Delayed answers to prayer test our determination that a particular barrier has to be removed in order for us to do what God wants us to do. Such delays reveal how strong is our desire for God to give solutions to the matter than we have prayed about. Persistence in prayer also shows how eager we are for the kingdom of God to triumph over the kingdom of darkness. Continuing in prayer here would have revealed how compassionate the disciples were for this afflicted family.

Why does Jesus mention prayer here? We get a clue when we look at Matthew’s account of the discussion. He says that Jesus told his disciples that their failure was ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, 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’ (Matt. 17:20). A small amount of faith would have dealt with the problem, he says. But how would the disciples exercise that small amount of faith? By praying is the answer for them and for us.