Just another Day of Discipling

The Healing of the Lunatic — (Vs. 14-18)

The Request of the Father — (Vs. 14-16)

In order for us to get the full affect of the situation at hand here, I want to take a deeper look at this man’s son and what he was dealing with.

When you put all three synoptic gospels together you get a few more details with each one and the picture becomes a lot more clear.

In Matthew we see that the Father refers to the son as a “lunatick.”

Something I found interesting while studying is the background surrounding the word.

John G Butler — The word “lunatic” is related to the moon (lunar) and was often used to designate one with epilepsy. In those days epilepsy was thought to be an affliction for people who had sinned against the moon and changes in the moon’s phases governed seizures. The boy’s actions under the influence of the demon appeared to be a case of epilepsy, hence he was called “lunatic.” However, demon possession is not epilepsy, and being epileptic does not mean that one is demon possessed.

And Matthew tells us in his gospel that this young man is “sore vexed.”

That phrase means to experience great physical, mental, or spiritual suffering.

And then the father goes on to tell us that oftentimes his son would fall into the fire and into the water.

When you look at Mark’s gospel, we get a little more detail.

Mark tells us that the boy has a “dumb spirit.” This means the boy was also mute. He couldn’t speak.

And Mark goes on to tell us that he foams at the mouth and gnashes with his teeth and he “pineth” away.

The phrase “pineth away” means to become “stiff or rigid.” If you’ve ever seen someone have a seizure you’ve probably seen them become stiff and begin to shake and sometimes they do foam at the mouth.

That phrase “pineth away” also means to to wither away.

Here was a young man who to my understanding had no control over his condition and it was such that day after day, little by little, he was slipping away into eternity with no hope in sight.

When you look at Luke’s gospel, you’ll find that the man says, “Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.”

The picture becomes a little more clear with each gospel. This was this man’s pride and joy and he’d undoubtedly done everything he could possibly do for his son but nothing had worked and with every passing day his son is fleeting right before his very eyes.

And Luke goes on to say that when the evil spirit takes over the boy, that he cries out and tears him and causes him to foam at the mouth and bruises the boy before departing.

With every incident this father becomes a little more and more heartbroken over his son but there’s nothing he can do to help!

He’s probably done all that he can do! I bet he’d already taken him to every Dr. in town but physical medicine is not match for spiritual sickness.

Only a Dr. of the soul could fix this young man’s problems.

And so he hears of Jesus and the miracles that he’s been performing and says to himself, “if the stories are true, then this man can heal my son…my one and only son!”

And so he brings him to Jesus but Jesus is up on the mountain revealing his true nature to Peter, James and John.

So, if the father can’t get to Jesus, surely his disciples can do the same thing right?

Surely they ought to be able to heal my son.

And so they give it a go but apparently, they couldn’t help the boy. Whatever it was they were trying had no effect on this demon.

So, as Jesus descends from the mountain, He finds a multitude of people with the other 9 disciples and Mark’s gospel tells that the Scribes are questioning them.

We’re not really told what they are questioning them about but probably they were nagging them at the fact that they couldn’t heal this man’s son.

But when the multitude sees Jesus, they all ran to him and Mark says they greeted him.

That’s when this man comes to Jesus and kneels before Him and makes his request.

Now, look down at the Rebuke from the Son.

The Rebuking from the Son — (Vs. 17)

John G Butler says — This admonition is spoken to the crowd, for the disciples were not faithless and perverse (except for Judas Iscariot). They had their weaknesses but they were not faithless and perverse in their lives. This description would especially fit the scribes who were present. They were faithless in that they did not believe Christ and were perverse in that they would rejoice that the boy was still demon possessed, for they felt the failure of the disciples reflected badly on Christ.

He goes on to say, “Here we have a twofold indictment. First the unbelief. “Faithless” means they did not believe in Christ and the Word. Lack of faith is the foundation of our problems. Second is unholiness. “Perverse” speaks of corruption. Once unbelief has entered, corruption will follow. “Faithless” will be followed by foul conduct. The Psalmist corroborates this truth when he says,

Psalm 14:1 KJV 1900

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, There is none that doeth good.

The great moral corruption in our land reveals the great lack of faith in our land.

As I read that I couldn’t help but to think of our own country. Christianity has been on the decline in the USA for a long time now and it’s no wonder that the perverseness of our nation has been on the rise.

Without faith in God, there is nothing keeping a country from falling into miry pits of sin and we’ve seen that first hand!

Preach Brother Preach

After rebuking the crowd, we see The Removal of the Demon.

The Removal of the Demon — (Vs. 18)

Mark 9:20–24 KJV 1900

20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Matthew 17:18 KJV 1900

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

I couldn’t help but think how two men left healed that day. The father and the son.

The father’s testimony would be a powerful one but can you imagine the son’s?

Here was a young man who undoubtedly had scars all over his body from the beating his body would take when the demon would try to destroy him.

And every time he came into contact with someone he did not know, and they would ask him what happened, he would be able to tell the story of how this man named Jesus changed his life forever.

I want to use this moment for a quick moment of application.

I don’t know what you've been through this morning but whatever it is, if you know Jesus as your Lord and your Savior, there’s a reason He allowed you to go through it.

Use it to your advantage for His honor and glory.

I highly doubt anyone’s testimony is identical and that’s what makes it so special!

As your fingerprint is specific only to you, so is your testimony for God.

Share it with someone!

You never know when there’s someone else out there who needs to hear what you’ve been through and what God’s done for you because they may be in a similar situation.

Here was a father and a son whose lives were changed forever and they would be able to use this situation to lead many others to Jesus!

If Jesus has touched your heart this morning, won’t you do the same and use your testimony for the Lord?

We’ve looked at The Healing of the Lunatic. Now, let’s move on down to...

The Heeding of the Lord — (Vs. 19-23)

William Barclay — When Jesus spoke about removing mountains, he was using a phrase which the Jews knew well. A great teacher, who could really expound and interpret Scripture and who could explain and resolve difficulties, was regularly known as an uprooter, or even a pulverizer, of mountains. To tear up, to uproot, to pulverize mountains were all regular phrases for removing difficulties.

Jesus never meant this to be taken physically and literally. What Jesus meant was: ‘If you have faith enough, all difficulties can be solved, and even the hardest task can be accomplished.’ Faith in God is the instrument which enables men and women to remove the hills of difficulty which block their path.

Faith, Prayer, & Fasting

What do they all have in common?

Focusing upon the Lord!

The Honoring of the Law — (Vs. 24-27)

John G Butler — The tribute money was not a Roman tax but a Temple tax to support the ministry of the Temple. The origin of the tribute money idea was in Moses’ time in the Old Testament in the payment of a half-shekel by males twenty years and older for the ministry of the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:11–16).

William Barclay — THE Temple at Jerusalem was a costly place to run. There were the daily morning and evening sacrifices which each involved the offering of a year-old lamb. Along with the lamb were offered wine and flour and oil. The incense which was burned every day had to be bought and prepared. The costly hangings and the robes of the priests constantly wore out; and the robe of the high priest was extremely expensive to replace. All this required money. The value of the tax was in fact the equivalent of two days’ pay for a working man. Theoretically, the tax was obligatory and the Temple authorities had power to seize the goods of anyone who failed to pay.

John G Butler — It’s significant that the only Gospel to record this religious tax story was Matthew, who before his conversion was a tax collector (in his case the tax collected was for Rome and not for the Temple). But being a tax collector this religious tax would be of interest to him.

Matthew 5:17 — “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

Closing — Points of Application

The Father — Belief

The Child — Sickness

The Disciples — Faith & Relationship w/ God

Peter — God provides for our every need