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 “O 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 from that moment.
In our verses for today we discover a Daddy humbly approaching the Lord Jesus on his knees interceding with pleas of mercy for relief of his son’s suffering. The child’s condition was dire. The father draws near to the Healer empty handed save humility – the perfect way of achieving prayer. Christ delights to be thus wrestled with. None has anything to offer “I AM” but our wills and the knowledge of our lack of anything. Indeed, the Word translated “mercy” is from the Greek Word “Eleeo” meaning “to relieve affliction, alleviate suffering or distress, ease misery. It is the concrete expression of pity and compassion for the destitute or those in misery which undertakes to mollify or remove their suffering. It is used especially to signify God’s salvation in which He acts to reverse the adverse effects of sin and to relieve sinners of their moral and spiritual wretchedness, all that He accomplishes in delivering them from the miserable and pitiful (though deserved) condition of sin, guilt, and death.” Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids.
22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalms 55:22 (NIV)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14 (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV)
“The foundational principle of grace is that God’s kingdom priorities are completely inverted from those of the world. God’s plan is to magnify His saving mercy and grace not through human strength but rather through its weakness...The gospel of grace would remind us that we can’t be used until we operate not out of our own strength but in weakness, as we depend on Christ’s Spirit to show the reality of the cross.” Paul Kooistra
Seriously, what parent can’t relate to this Dad in our verses today? When our “biddies” are “broken” it is no trouble for us to cry out on their behalf – pleading for the Maker to move His merciful hand. Parents are doubly concerned to pray for their children. This incident occurs immediately upon the Lord’s return from His mountaintop glory transfiguration yet thankfully we discover Jesus’ glories do not make Him unmindful of our miseries and needs – thankfully! As Satan would have it, the effects of this child’s disease were deplorable casting him into the fire or the water. Mark tells us in his Gospel that this child would also foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth and become rigid – a frightening sight for any parent to behold.
Christ had previously granted His power to His disciples earlier to cast out demons and they had been successful yet here they failed in this attempt and there were nine of them present – the other three had been with the Lord Jesus. We discover earlier in Matthew:
1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Matt 10:1 (NIV)
8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Matt 10:8 (NIV)
Thankfully, the failure of human instrument does not hinder the operation of Christ’s grace. We see Him chiding those around Him for their unbelief. Our Lord’s address was not to His guys rather to the people and perhaps especially to the teachers of the Law in His hearing. Christ Himself could not do many mighty miracles among those with whom unbelief reigned. The blessings were withheld because of their faithlessness.
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matt 13:57-58 (NIV)
Lastly, we see Jesus break the power of Satan with the mere rebuke of His Word. All power in heaven and on earth and under the earth belongs to Him. He is the One with all authority. The adversary cannot stand before the rebuke of Christ no matter how long his possession. And, as the touch of the Healer always demonstrates - an immediate and perfect cure occurred. Such is the kindness of our Lord.