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14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." 17 Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. ~ Matthew 17:14-18
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 17 where on Mount Hermon the glory of the Lord was overwhelming. Meanwhile, down in the valley, darkness was in full view. The disciples who had not gone up the mountain with the Lord could not cast a demon from a man's son. They had previously cast out demons and healed the sick, but this time they could not. They had demonstrated on several occasions that they struggled to believe during the feeding of the 5,000, the feeding of the 4,000 and during the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Their faith had not developed beyond the kind that trusts God when life is going well. Such small faith is not uncommon today.
In v.14-16 of today's passage we read, "14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.'"
While Peter, James and John experienced the exuberance of the glory of God up on the mountain, the other disciples struggled down in the valley below. Even though they had experienced great success before at casting demons out of people, here, they failed to deliver a man's son from a demon. We must always remember that failure is not always the opposite of success with God. He has often been known to use our failures to bring about His successes. The key is that we learn that He is the One who brings about the success. And, we must be careful to yield to His will and to give Him all of the glory for every success.
As soon as the Lord Jesus arrived on the scene with Peter, James and John, a man ran to Him kneeling down in worship of Him. Due to all of the miracles He had been performing, the people treated the Lord Jesus as if He were God but they had yet to believe in Him as God. The desperate father of the demon-possessed boy addressed the Lord Jesus as "Lord" revealing His deepest respect for the Lord Jesus. He believed that the Lord Jesus could heal his son. As a result, he asked the Lord to have mercy on his son and to instantaneously heal him.
This man brought his son to the Lord Jesus for deliverance. This should be the goal of every father; to get his son or daughter as close to the Lord Jesus as possible. And, even when His followers aren't able to help, we must not relent from bringing them to Him. And, we get them the closest to the Lord Jesus by living out of a meaningful and intimate relationship with the Lord for ourselves. It is much easier for our children to trust and to love the Lord when we are demonstrating our trust and love in Him for ourselves. As the old saying goes, "More is caught than is taught."
In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Then Jesus answered and said, 'O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.'"
According to the other gospels, the desperate father said to the Lord, "I do believe, help my unbelief." Unlike the disciples, the man understood his faith was not great and that is why he confessed it and asked the Lord to intervene where his faith was weak. This man illustrates for us that it doesn't do any good to deny reality. And, we must remember that we will never reach perfection at trusting the Lord this side of heaven. We may be at various levels of spiritual maturity, but all of us are still subject to human frailty with its fears, anxieties and doubts. We simply need to confess the truth and ask for the Lord’s help. The Lord Jesus consistently responds with compassion to those who are honest enough to admit their inabilities and who are humble enough to cry out to Him for help. The Lord Jesus granted the request to heal the man’s son while also strengthening his faith. Our faith becomes greater in amount and depth as the Lord takes us through the various trials of life and we see His faithfulness to fulfill His promises.
It was out of the father's honesty of his weakness that he cast himself on the Lord. The moment he cast himself in his weakness back on the Lord, his son was delivered. We learn from this father that our focus must not be on us or the problems we face or not even the demon. Our focus must be on 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 took 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. The deliverance of the young son took place in the contrast of the disciples mountain top experience and this man's valley experience.
The disciples did not fail because they did not expect anything to happen. They had seen people delivered before from demons. Back in Matthew 10 "they were given the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons." When they returned from their assignments, they reported to the Lord Jesus about their success. But this time it did not turn out that way. On this day, they learned that faith is not merely a sense of expecting something to happen. They had faith, but perhaps, the object of their faith had changed from faith in the God of the Bible to faith in the process they were following. Perhaps, they thought that if they followed the right ritual, that the demon would leave. As it was for the disciples, we find it so easy to take our eyes off of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said to the disciples that their faith must be in God Himself, if it is to be effective.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour."
Peter, James, and John saw the greatness and the power of God on Mount Hermon. Down in the valley, the other nine, as well as the crowd, saw His greatness and power in a different way. If we desire to see our faith in Him grow, we must have contrast. We like comfort, yet it is when we are most uncomfortable that we depend upon Him most. We need constant reminders of His greatness and power to keep our faith fueled. It is always His faithfulness that fuels our faith and it will always be. The reality is we live in the valley right now, 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 God for those trials, because it is through the trials that we are enabled to see Him more clearly and to depend upon Him more deeply.
