Healing the Demoniac Boy.

  17 And Jesus answered and said, {^b answereth them and saith,} ^a O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? ^c bring hither thy son to me. ^b unto me.

  20 And they brought him unto him:

  ^c 42 And as he was yet a coming, ^b when he saw him

[saw Jesus], straightway ^c the demon dashed him down, and ^b the spirit tare him grievously; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

  21 And he asked his father, How long is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a child.

  22 And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: {^a he falleth into the fire, and oft-times into the water.}

[By causing the long-standing nature of the case and the malignity of it to be fully revealed, Jesus emphasized the power of the cure] ^b but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.

  23 And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.

[Jesus echoed back the "if thou canst" which the man had uttered. If Jesus of his divine power, he also marveled at the disbelief of this Jew which thus coolly and presumptuously questions the sufficiency of that power. In the remainder of his answer Jesus shows that the lack of power is not in him, but in those who would be recipients of the blessings of his power, for those blessings are obtained by faith.]

  ^c 42 And as he was yet a coming, ^b when he saw him

  21 And he asked his father, How long is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a child.

  22 And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: {^a he falleth into the fire, and oft-times into the water.}

  23 And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.

  24 Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said I believe; help thou my unbelief. [He confessed his faith, but desired so ardently to have the child healed that he feared lest he should not have faith enough to accomplish that desire, and therefore asked for more faith.]

  25 And when Jesus saw that the multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. [Jesus had found the multitude when he came down from the mountain, but the excitement in this multitude was evidently drawing men from every quarter, so that the crowd was momentarily growing greater. A longer conversation with the man might have been beneficial, but to prevent the gathering of any larger company Jesus acted at once and spoke the words of command. Since the demon was manifestly of a most daring, impudent, and audacious nature, Jesus took the precaution to forbid it attempting to re-enter its victim, a precaution which the conduct of the demon abundantly justified.]

  26 And having cried out, and torn him much, he came out: and the boy became as one dead; insomuch that the more part said, He is dead. [The malicious effrontery and obstinacy displayed by this demon stands in marked contrast to the cowed, supplicating spirit shown by the Gergesene legion. See Section 56.]

  27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose. ^c But Jesus healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. [For comment on similar conduct see Section 44.] ^a and the demon went out of him: and the boy was cured from that hour.

  ^c 43 And they were all astonished at the majesty of God.

[The failure of the disciples had only emphasized the power of the Master.]

  ^c 43 And they were all astonished at the majesty of God.

  ^b 28 And when he was come into the house,

  ^a 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, ^b asked him privately, How is it that we could not we cast it out? ^a Why could not we cast it out?

  20 And Jesus saith unto them, Because of your little faith

[The failure of the disciples was not because of any insufficiency of power in Jesus, but was due to their own failure to appropriate that power by faith. The relation of belief and unbelief to miraculous power is fully illustrated in Peter's attempt to walk upon the waters.tfg.cgi?section=T#">Section for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain [Mount Hermon] Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. [The mustard seed was the proverbial type for the infinitely little ( Matthew 13:32 ). Faith has such power with God that even little faith becomes well-nigh omnipotent in an age of miracles.]   ^b 29 And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer. [Prayer was the means of increasing faith. Demons, like spirits in the flesh, have different degrees of will force, some being easier to subdue than others, and this once, being particularly willful and obstinate, required more faith to expel it.]

  ^a 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, ^b asked him privately, How is it that we could not we cast it out? ^a Why could not we cast it out?

  20 And Jesus saith unto them, Because of your little faith