37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” 41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” 42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. ~ Luke 9:37-43
After the Lord Jesus and His three guys came down from the mountain, there was a large gathering of people waiting for the Lord Jesus. A man in the crowd begged Him to look at his demon-possessed son for he had begged His disciples to drive it out, but they could not.
Most people would have us focus on the demon, but that would be to miss the point. The Lord Jesus says in v.41, "You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here." The focus should not be the demon, the focus should be on our faith in the God of the Bible. This sad story is about the importance of believing what God has said, and the power that flows from the promises that He has given.
This story takes place on the heels of the mountaintop transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. It provides a contrast between being defined by the light or by the darkness. It takes place in the contrast of their mountain top experience and this man's valley experience.
On the mountain the Lord Jesus was front and center, whereas in the valley Satan is getting a lot of attention. Two sons, one is fulfilling a plan from God devised from before time began. The other is trapped in the wicked web of the one who is trying to thwart the purposes of God. One is controlled by a demon, the other controls the demon. The demon-possessed son is delivered and given back to his father. The Son of God is killed and raised from the dead and has ascended back to His Father.
This father of the demon-possessed boy believes the Lord Jesus has the power to deliver his son. He falls down in a reverent posture and humility before the only One who can do what needed to be done. It is, as if, he had gone up the mountain and had seen the transfiguration.
In v.38, the father begged the Lord Jesus "to look at my son." He wanted Him to look at his boy with great and deep concern. This word for "look" is an intense word. Anytime we have a preposition in the front of a verb, it is intensified. And, he is saying, "Could You please, out of all of this crowd of needy people, pay special attention to my one and only son?"
Now, here is a boy that is so dominated by a demon, he can't hear, can't speak, and the demon is doing everything he can to throw him into a fire. And the father has tried to protect his son over and over from this deadly power.
In v.39, the father says, "A spirit seizes him." He knew it wasn't psychological or physiological. He knew it was demonic. He knew he was possessed with a spirit that made him mute.
And so, the father pleads for the intervention of God Himself.
Previous to this story when the Lord Jesus sent the disciples out to do ministry, He gave them the ability to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. But, as indicated in v.40, the disciples could not free this boy from this demon.
According to Matthew 17:19-20, the disciples couldn't free the boy due to the smallness of their faith. There was no lack of available power. There was no lack of experience. There was no lack of knowing whatever a formula they might have known. There was no lack of commission. There was a lack of faith. And, so, in v.42, the Lord Jesus said, "You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
They did not fail because they did not expect anything to happen, because they did. We almost always think of faith as some kind of expectation that something is going to happen. If we can just believe something is going to happen, it will happen. But these disciples did believe something was going to happen. They were surprised when it did not happen. They expected the boy to be delivered. They had seen people delivered before from demons when they said the word, and did so in Jesus' name. But this time it did not happen. So, faith is not merely a sense of expecting something to happen. The Lord Jesus said their problem was that they were faithless. Yet they did have a kind of faith, they expected that something would happen.
They had faith, but it had changed from faith in God to faith in the process they were following. They thought that if you said the right words, and followed the right ritual, that the demon would have to leave. Without their even realizing it, they had transferred their faith from confidence in a God who can act, to a formula that can bring it about.
In Mark's gospel we are told what the boy's father said. He said, "I do believe; help my unbelief!" Out of the honesty of his weakness, he cast himself on the Lord. That kind of faith is small, but it is like a grain of mustard seed, it is able to move mountains. The moment he said those words, the moment he cast himself in his weakness back on the Lord, that was all God wanted. Our Lord spoke the words, and his son was delivered.
In v.42-43, we read, "42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God."
Peter, John, and James saw the greatness and power of God on the mountaintop. Now, the other nine, as well as the crowd, see His greatness and power down in the valley. In order for our faith in Him grows, we need the contrast. We like comfort, yet it is when we are most uncomfortable that we depend upon Him.
We need constant reminders of His greatness, and power to keep our faith going. The reality is we live in the valley, and we will never see, for ourselves, His greatness and power until we are more and more dependent upon Him. Of course, this is the role of those unwanted trials that come into our lives. Thank Him for those trials, because it is through the trials that we are enabled to see Him more clearly and depend upon Him more deeply.
