This Kind...

“When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And he answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘“If you can!” All things are possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’” [1]

When the Master responded to a query His disciples raised, it became obvious that He recognised classes of demonic powers. Our text sets the scene of a disturbing situation that had developed while the Master and selected disciples had been on the Mount of Transfiguration. The disciples had been exposed as powerless to help the father of a demonised child. This father had reached the end of his rope; he had nowhere else to turn. This father was desperate to find relief for his tormented son, and no doubt to find solace for his own tortured heart. The boy was demonised, tormented by demonic powers that sought to destroy him.

The father would explain to Jesus that he had brought the boy, hoping that Jesus would do something. Unfortunately, Jesus was unavailable at that particular moment because he was engaged in a revelation of His glory to those selected disciples He had taken with Him. The father explained, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able” [MARK 9:17-18]. That father would explain further that this had begun during childhood. Moreover, that desperate dad explained, “[The spirit] has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him” [MARK 9:22a].

Jesus, of course, had compassion on this father and on the boy. He cast out the demon, commanding that it never enter the boy again. Protesting at his lack of power against the Word of the Son of God, the demon convulsed the boy and came out. Jesus’ power over demonic powers was demonstrated yet again; and the power displayed was permanent. When Jesus cast out a demon, it was not a temporary affair. The one that was freed was freed forever, just as the one who is saved by the Christ is saved forever.

Nevertheless, the disciples were perplexed. The Master had given them authority over demons, and here they had been defeated by a demonic power. You will remember that when Jesus sent the Twelve out, “[He] gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” [LUKE 9:1b]. Yet, they failed! They were unable to exercise any authority over the demonic power. How embarrassing! How devastating to their professed authority! How their egos must have been deflated!

Naturally, the disciples were perplexed. As soon as it was possible to do so without embarrassing themselves, they asked Jesus, “Why could we not cast it out” [MARK 9:28b]. Jesus’ disciples had been exposed as powerless in front of the crowd, and yet, they knew that Jesus had given them authority. Nevertheless, when it was time to act, they were powerless! What had gone wrong? And Jesus explained that they had only completed Demonology 101; they had not yet completed the graduate course of study. Jesus said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” [MARK 9:29].