Matthew 17:14-18: Trusting Beyond Our Understanding

“O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?” Jesus in Matthew 17:17

“Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.” (Ed Warren, real-life exorcist.  He is featured in the movie, The Conjuring.) 

Jesus, Peter, James and John have now come down from their literal mountain top experience and they have re-entered society and came to the crowd (v. 14).  From Mark’s version we learn a few more interesting details.   A great crowd had gathered as the disciples were arguing with the scribes (see Mark 9:14). When Jesus appeared the crowd forgot about the argument and “ran up to him and greeted him.” And  Jesus asked his disciples, “What are you arguing about with them?” (Mark 9:15-16). The text does not supply a direct answer but one can assume the argument had to do with the suffering boy.  

Rafael's "Transfiguration" (1518-1520) with the portrayal of the demon-possessed boy in the bottom half.  

This is when the father came up to Jesus and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly.  For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.  And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him,” (vv. 14-15).

In our Sunday school class we recently studied Hebrews 2:3-4.   The text mentions signs, wonders and healings.  Someone asked, “Are those things for today?” Many in the class were better educated with more years of missions experience than me.  They provided a great answer:  “yes and no.”   On one hand, ““We do not wrestle against flesh and blood” but “against the spiritual forces of evil…” (Ephesians 6:12).

On the other hand, miraculous signs were given, according to Hebrews 2:3, so the gospel could be “attested (i.e., validated) to us by those who heard.”  In parts of our world today where the gospel is not even known culturally and where the unreached are open to the spiritual world, one is more likely to see the gospel attested to by signs and wonders.    This was the world of first-century Palestine.  

This episode is much more about the faith of his disciples and the crowd than it is about the doctrine of demon-possession.    After all the disciples had seen and heard, they still wrestled with their own lack of faith.  One can hear the exasperation in Jesus’ words, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?” (v. 17).  This is similar to the rebuke of 16:8.

“Bring him here to me,” Jesus commanded.   And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly, (v. 18).  The outward signs were epilepsy (v. 15), foaming at the mouth, grinding his teeth, seizures and unable to talk (see Mark 9:17-18).  It must have destroyed the boy’s father to see his son suffer like this.    He loved his son.  In his heart’s desire to see his son healed, the father brought him to the only one who could heal him.  Even though he acknowledged his own struggles, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24), the father showed great faith and his son was healed.

The faith of the father, like the faith of the centurion (7:10) and the Canaanite woman (15:28), stands in stark contrast to the faith of the disciples.   I believe Jesus expected a greater demonstration of faith from the disciples than what they showed.   The jealousy and strife among the disciples (see Mark 9:13, 34) showed that they were still “infants in Christ”, not ready for “solid food” (1 Corinthians 3:1,2).

Our Lord is “far above all rule, authority, power and dominion” (Ephesians 1:21), as this passage shows.  As humans, we must respect the power of the spiritual world.  However, we must neither be fearful of demons, nor ignore them.  We must not attribute all things negative to the demonic.   The other extreme is that we act as secular liturgists and ignore the spiritual realm altogether.   Our faith is greater than gold (1 Peter 1:7) and the Lord desires that we trust him, even beyond our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).