Matthew 17:14-20 - Jesus Heals a Demon Possessed Boy
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Reflection: Jesus returns from the mountaintop experience and right away is met with a boy who suffers with seizures. A demon has exacerbated his disease by throwing him into the water or fire when it grabs hold of him. Demons often feed off of weakness and try to exploit it, as we remember they come to wreak havoc on those they can. Their power is limited so they try to exploit an existing sickness or malady, emotionally, physically or spiritually.
Apparently the nine disciples who were left off the mountaintop could not deal with the situation, even though Jesus had earlier given them power over demons and sent them out to cast them out before. Jesus rebukes not only the people who blame the disciples, and also teaches the disciples in verse 21 that this kind can only come out by fasting and prayer. God has given us weapons to fight against the principalities and powers of this world and fasting and prayer are two of the most potent ones. Why? Because they put our focus on God and His promises to answer the prayer offered in faith. There are many obstacles and distractions to mountain moving prayer and the primary one is a lack of faith.
Pastorally we have to be careful though not to say your family member or friend was not healed due to a lack of faith. Only Jesus knows the condition of a person's heart. Many times our prayers are answered and some times they are not. Some times years later we see the wisdom of why God did not answer a prayer, some times we do not and will have to wait until heaven to find out.
But what we do know is there is power in prayer. There is power in setting time apart to fast so that we might more humbly and in reliance on the Spirit come before God either to listen to him or to intervene for someone we love. Notice it is the quality of faith that matters not quantity. Quality in terms of absolute trust in God that He can do what you ask of Him and will do it if it is His will. That is why we can have peace if we have offered something to God I prayer because it is in His hands. What do you need to pray about today? Maybe you need to fast about?
God thank you for the mountain moving power of prayer. Give us faith to believe that what we ask for will be given in Jesus name. And we offer up before you now those things that are near and dear to our heart in Jesus name. Amen.
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Reflection: Jesus returns from the mountaintop experience and right away is met with a boy who suffers with seizures. A demon has exacerbated his disease by throwing him into the water or fire when it grabs hold of him. Demons often feed off of weakness and try to exploit it, as we remember they come to wreak havoc on those they can. Their power is limited so they try to exploit an existing sickness or malady, emotionally, physically or spiritually.
Apparently the nine disciples who were left off the mountaintop could not deal with the situation, even though Jesus had earlier given them power over demons and sent them out to cast them out before. Jesus rebukes not only the people who blame the disciples, and also teaches the disciples in verse 21 that this kind can only come out by fasting and prayer. God has given us weapons to fight against the principalities and powers of this world and fasting and prayer are two of the most potent ones. Why? Because they put our focus on God and His promises to answer the prayer offered in faith. There are many obstacles and distractions to mountain moving prayer and the primary one is a lack of faith.
Pastorally we have to be careful though not to say your family member or friend was not healed due to a lack of faith. Only Jesus knows the condition of a person's heart. Many times our prayers are answered and some times they are not. Some times years later we see the wisdom of why God did not answer a prayer, some times we do not and will have to wait until heaven to find out.
But what we do know is there is power in prayer. There is power in setting time apart to fast so that we might more humbly and in reliance on the Spirit come before God either to listen to him or to intervene for someone we love. Notice it is the quality of faith that matters not quantity. Quality in terms of absolute trust in God that He can do what you ask of Him and will do it if it is His will. That is why we can have peace if we have offered something to God I prayer because it is in His hands. What do you need to pray about today? Maybe you need to fast about?
God thank you for the mountain moving power of prayer. Give us faith to believe that what we ask for will be given in Jesus name. And we offer up before you now those things that are near and dear to our heart in Jesus name. Amen.
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