Matthew 17:14-21 - Homiletics

The maniac boy.

I. THE FAILURE OF THE NINE APOSTLES .

1 . The descent from the mount . The morning had come, and the Lord with the three chosen apostles came down from the Mount of the Transfiguration to rejoin those whom he had left behind. As he drew near to them he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them ( Mark 9:14 ). It was a strange contrast. He had just left the peace of the mountain side and the glory of the heavenly radiance. He came down to the jealousies, the controversies, the miseries, of earth. His presence was much needed; the nine apostles had experienced a sad defeat. They had received from him power to cast out devils; but now they had attempted, and had failed. Their Master had left them; he had taken with him the three who were nearest to himself. The faith of the nine had perhaps been weakened by the excitement, the agitation, the distressing predictions, of the last few days. So Aaron had failed in courage and in faith when Moses and Joshua were absent on Mount Sinai, and he was left in charge of the congregation. The apostles had failed now. The scribes were probably exulting over their defeat, arguing, perhaps, that this was a thing which neither they nor their Lord could do. Ah! we are helpless if we have lost our faith; we cannot cast out the evil one. Without Christ we can do nothing.

2 . The meeting with the nine apostles . The Lord was come at last. He approached the scene of confusion with his wonted dignity. Perhaps some traces of the radiance of the Transfiguration still lingered round him. The people were greatly amazed, St. Mark tells us, when they beheld him; but they were not terrified like the Israelites when the face of Moses shone on his descent from Sinai. The Lord did not hide the glory of his countenance; it attracted, it did not repel. The people ran to him and saluted him. So we should run to Christ in our troubles; so we should salute him. He comes to help his chosen in their weakness. When we feel that he is near, we are amazed at our own want of faith, at his glory and power and forgiving love.

II. THE MIRACLES .

1 . The father . The Lord's coming brought confidence to the perplexed disciples, hope to the disappointed suppliant. In that presence the miserable felt instinctively that there was help and comfort. One man disengaged himself from the crowd. He came in haste to Christ. He knelt down before him in the attitude of humble and earnest supplication. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. He told all the sad story. His son was lunatic, sore vexed, afflicted with the worst form of epilepsy. The fits came upon him in wild, fierce onslaughts, dreadful to look upon; for the seizures were due, not to natural causes, but to the direct agency of an evil spirit, who had taken possession of the lad, and tormented him with all the hellish malice of intense wickedness. It was a pitiable case, miserable for the poor boy, agonizing to the unhappy father. From his son's childhood he had watched these wild paroxysms in helpless anguish. Now Christ had come into the neighbourhood. He heard of his power and mercy. He brought his afflicted child. But the Lord was absent, on the Mount of the Transfiguration. The nine apostles remained. The poor father brought his son to them, and begged for help. The case was beyond their power; they could not cast out the evil spirit. The disappointment aggravated the father's distress. Now the Lord himself had come; and the father knelt before him. Sorrow brings men to Christ; sorrow brings them to their knees. We must come ourselves straight to Christ in the hour of extremest need. Sometimes his ministers can help us, sometimes they cannot. Christ can always calm the wildest tumults of the soul. Come straight to him, kneeling before him, in your own troubles, in the troubles of those very dear to you.

2 . The Lord ' s words . "O faithless and perverse generation!" he said. The scene before him was an illustration of the general character of the men among whom the Saviour lived. It is in some sense an illustration of the state of the Church now. Human nature is the same in all ages. The multitude regarded Christ with some external reverence; they were ready to apply to him in perplexity and sorrow; but they had no depth of conviction, no stability. There were some open unbelievers among them, wire questioned Christ's authority and denied his power. There were some followers of the Lord, not without earnestness, not without love; but weak in faith, unable through that weakness to exercise the power which had been given them by the Lord. The evil spirit, too, was there; there were wild excesses caused by his agency; there was intense distress. There was no strength of faith, no energy of trustfulness in Christ. Yet there were three chosen saints, the nearest to the Lord, who had gone up with him into the holy mount, and were now returning with him to the labours and the sorrows of this sinful world. That generation was faithless; it was perverse, crooked, warped by invincible prejudices and inveterate obstinacy. The Lord had been long with them; but how little the result seemed to be! how few had chosen the good part! He would not remain much longer among them; his tender forbearance must have an end at last. We must be patient, when the Lord most holy had so much to bear; we must not repine when our work seems disheartening, unsatisfactory. The servant is not above his Lord. But mark the Saviour's calm consciousness of power. "Bring him hither to me," he said. The disciples might fail; he could not fail when it pleased him to exercise his healing energy, for he was God Almighty.

3 . The evil spirit cast out . St. Mark gives us, as his wont is, the deeply interesting details: the conversation with the father; the great word, "All things are possible to him that believeth;" the answer of the intensely anxious parent, so often echoed since by trembling souls coming to Christ in earnest entreaty and utter self-abasement, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Then came the word of power, "Thou deaf and dumb spirit" (for the demon had destroyed the poor lad's power of hearing, and his only utterances were wild, inarticulate cries), "I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him." We notice the tone of authority, the emphatic "I," especially in the original. The demon despised the nine apostles; he must obey the Lord. He must never again dare to enter the heart from which the Lord himself had driven him. He let loose his fury on the lad; he cried, and rent him sore; but he came out of him at once. The Lord gently raised the poor boy. He was exhausted, and to all appearance lifeless; but Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and delivered him again to his father. We mark the gentleness of the Lord Jesus. Very gentle he was to the unhappy boy, to the afflicted, almost despairing father. We mark his power. He can drive out the devil, even from those over whom he has the firmest hold. "He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him." Let us come. The father came, though he was almost hopeless; the evil spirit was so fierce, so strong. So we may pray for cases that seem almost desperate. The poor lad could not pray for himself; the Lord listened to the father's prayer. Let us pray for others, for our relations and near friends, for all who need our prayers. Only let us take heed that our prayers are lifted up in faith. There is no limit to the power of a true and living faith, for it is limited only by the power of God, which is without limit. And if we feel (and who does not?) that our faith is wanting in depth and earnestness, then pray we again in the words of that memorable cry, which seemed wrung from the very heart of the almost despairing father, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

III. THE CONVERSATION WITH THE NINE APOSTLES .

1 . They came to Christ . They came to him privately, into the house, St. Mark says; and asked him the reason of their failure. He had given them power to cast out evil spirits: why could they not cast this one out? We should come to Christ in our spiritual disappointments, when we have failed to conquer this or that sin in ourselves, to convince this or that sinner of his danger. We should come to him in secret prayer, asking him the reason of our failure. He will tell us, if we come in humility and 'sincerity. But let us not be satisfied till we have discovered the cause of our want of success, and set ourselves seriously to overcome it.

2 . The Lord ' s answer . The cause of their failure was simple; it was want of faith. Possibly the three apostles who were nearest to the Lord might have been able to cast the devil out; the nine could not. Some saints are stronger than others; some can do more than others in converting souls; their strength is in proportion to their faith. Faith is strength; for it is, in truth, the strength of God that worketh in his people, and that strength is manifested in those who trust wholly and absolutely in him. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." It is only in union with Christ that the Christian can do all things. "Without me ye can do nothing." The victory which overcometh the world is the strength of Christ, but in another sense it is our faith; for faith maintains a living union with Christ, and thus. the strength of Christ is ours. Our faith may be small, like a grain of mustard seed, but if it be only true, it can remove mountains (the Lord seems to have pointed to the towering mass of Hermon as he said the words)—mountains of difficulties, mountains of perplexities, mountains of sin. Faith is realized in different degrees. To a true and perfect faith, the Lord says, nothing is impossible; for a true anti perfect faith reflects the almightiness of God. "Lord, increase our faith."

3 . The special difficulty of the case . There was this to be said in palliation of the apostles' failure. The evil spirit was one of exceptional energy and malignity. Christians who would fight against such enemies must be doubly armed; by constant fervent prayer they must keep themselves in the love of God, in that close communion with him which is the secret of spiritual strength; by continued and voluntary self-mortification they must fortify themselves against the temptations of sensual pleasure. In prayer and fasting the Lord overcame Satan for us; in prayer and fasting the true disciple follows the Lord's example and shares his victory. In the sermon on the mount the Lord enumerates almsgiving, prayer, and fasting as three principal exercises of devotion; here he describes prayer and fasting (the reading, however, is doubtful) as the chief weapons of the Christian warrior in the holy fight against the deadly enemy.

LESSONS .

1 . We cannot always be on the mount in a rapture of devotion; we must work for Christ among scenes of sin and sorrow.

2 . Come to Christ in your troubles, come with tears, come kneeling before hint; he can save.

3 . Pray for continually increasing faith; pray for yourself, pray for others.

4 . Tell Christ of past failures; search out the cause; seek his strength for the future.