Hi everyone, welcome back to our podcast, where we take a look at
the Gospel reading from today's mess.
And today, we're just going to jump straight into it.
So we'll start by reading the passage which is from Mark
chapter 9. Verse 14 to 29.
When Jesus with Peter James and John came down from the mountain
and rejoined, the disciples, they saw a large crowd around
them and some scribes arguing with them.
The moment they saw him, the whole crowd was struck with
amazement and ran to greet him. What are you arguing about with
them? He asked A man answered him from
the crowd master. I have brought my son to you.
There is a spirit of dumbness in him and when it takes hold of
him at throws him to the ground and he Foams at the mouth and
grinds his teeth and goes rigid and I asked you two cycles to
cast it out and they were unable to You faithless generation, he
said to them in reply, how much longer must I be with you?
How much longer must I put up with?
You bring him to me. I brought the boy to him and as
soon as the spirit saw Jesus it through the boy into convulsions
and he fell to the ground and lay writhing their foaming at
the mouth. Jesus asked the father, how long
has this been happening to him from childhood?
He replied and it is often thrown him into the fire and
into the water in order to destroy him.
But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.
If you can retorted Jesus, everything is possible for
anyone who has faith. Immediately the father of the
boy, cried out. I do have faith helped a little
faith. I have And when Jesus saw, how
many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean
Spirit, deaf and dumb Spirit. He said, I command you come out
of him and never enter him again.
Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions.
It came out shouting and the boy lay there, so like a corpse.
So like a corpse that most of them said he is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up and he was
able to stand. When he had gone indoors the
disciples asked him privately. Why will be unable to cast it
out? This is the kind, he answered
that can only be driven out by prayer.
So, let's start by thinking about the context, so, what's
just happened is the Transfiguration.
So remember, Jesus goes up the mountain with the, in a group of
disciples and now they've come down the mountain and they're
rejoining, the larger group. Verse 14, they saw a loud large
crowd around them. So while Jesus has been up the
crowd with the, in a group, the rest of his disciples have a
large crowd gathering around them.
And apparently the the the guy has brought his son to try and
for the disciples to try and exercise the the Sun.
So there's a large crowd gathering in there.
Some, scribes arguing with them. So, remember, the scribes are
like the experts in the law. They were the ones who were able
to read and interpret the law. For the Jews and they thought
they were the ones who basically had the right understanding.
So probably what's happened by now is the Disciples of try to
exercise the boy and the scrubs have begun disputing with the
disciples about their ability to exercise.
Remember they did that with Jesus in verse in chapter 3,
verse 22. Now they're probably doing it
with the disciples. How do you have the right to
exercise? Verse 15, all the crowd when
they saw him were amazed. So why is the crowd amazed?
The mark doesn't tell us but it's probably because he could
still be shining his face could still be shining from after the
Transfiguration. That actually happened with
Moses. After Moses went up the
mountain, he was glowing and then when he came back down the
mountain, he was still glowing. That's in Exodus chapter 34,
verse 29 and apparently the same thing happened to Jesus here.
Verse 16, Jesus asks the the disciples.
What are you arguing about with them?
Verse 17, the man, the man in the crowd speaks up master, I
have brought my son, I brought my son to you.
So apparently, that's what's agitated.
The scribes this boy who's possessed by the demon, the man
goes on. There is a spirit of dumbness on
him. Excess of today will tell you
this demons. Some demons can get certain
control over certain parts of the body and apparently this one
was making the boy dumb. Some Scholars would say the most
literal translation here is that there is a mute Spirit which
suggests that the demon itself might be mute because remember
most demons in Mark, cry out in a loud voice.
Who are you? Why are you here?
Son of God. But this one doesn't say
anything which suggests that maybe it could be mute, although
it does share out a bit later on.
The father continues when it takes, hold of him and throws
him to the ground. He Foams at the mouth and grinds
his teeth and goes rigid. So, these are very severe
symptoms. So, this indicates, we're
dealing with a very strong demon.
Now, lots of skeptical Scholars, have looked at this passage and
said, oh, that's epilepsy, the boy has epilepsy.
I think for us as Christians who take the Bible?
Seriously. We need to say there's more
going on here and probably the reality is demonic possessions
can manifest in symptoms that are similar to epilepsy, not to
say that, every single case of epilepsy is demonic or
something, but the demons can cause symptoms like that.
The father continues. I asked your disciples to cast
it out, but they were unable to now.
This is very strange because earlier in Mark the disciples
were given the power of exorcism.
So they should be able to do it. Usually, they can cast out the
demons but there's something different about this demon verse
19, Jesus. Says, o faithless generation.
So Jesus by saying this oh faithless generation.
This is probably directed mostly of the disciples.
His probably implying that the reason they haven't been able to
cast the demons out is because they or maybe the crowd has a
lack of faith. Had they had more faith, this
wouldn't be an issue. That might seem strange but all
throughout mark. This theme keeps coming up.
The more faith you have the more miracles the more it's more
possible the more becomes possible for God to work
miracles in that area. And then he says, some fairly
harsh things. He says, how much longer must I
be with you. How much longer must I put up
with you? So, Jesus.
Here is indicating frustration and disappointment.
If the people and the disciples in particular have more faith,
it will be so much easier to bring the kingdom to them.
So he's kind of lamenting the fact that the people don't have
enough faith. So then he says, bring him to
me. So that's a command to the
apostles, just as the crowded brought the boy to the apostles.
He now says, to the apostles, bring him to me.
So Jesus is now going to deal with the exorcism himself, verse
20, when the spirit saw Jesus and we know from earlier and
Mark that this the demons recognize Jesus, and they're
pretty frightened of him because they think he's going to punish
them it through the boy into convulsions.
So that the spirit takes over the boy's body and causes him to
have these convulsions. It's the spirit making the
convulsions. He fell to the ground and lay
writhing their foaming. At the mouth.
This must have been a very strange sight for the crowd.
Just to see this boy arriving at the mouth and apparently large
large crowds see this and start to gather from all over the
place as we soon discover. Verse 21.
The father tells Jesus that the boy has been possessed by the
demon since childhood. So Jesus does a background
check. He says how long has the boy
being possessed? The father says since childhood.
Why is that detail important? Well, it probably tells us that
the the child is in is innocent. He hasn't done anything to bring
the demon into his life. Verse 22, the father says it is
often thrown him into the fire and the water So the father here
is probably a faithful Jew, he knows what's going on.
He knows that his son is possessed by a real demon and
the demon is trying to destroy the boy.
He's trying to get the boy to commit suicide.
So he apparently made the boy, walk through fire and drown in
water and all that sort of stuff that hasn't worked so far, but
it's a very malicious demon. And the father says, but if he
can do anything. So in other words, Jesus, if it
is within your power, have pity on us and help us.
So he's begging for Jesus assistance. and then Jesus says
this strange thing in verse 23, if you can, everything is
possible for anyone who has faith, So what does Jesus mean
here? The teaching appears to be that
for the person who has genuine Faith, there are no barriers to
God doing his work in their life.
So in theory, for someone who has enough faith, God can do any
possible Miracle. He's not saying that God will do
anything possible or anything. The person asks for but he is
laying down this principle that if you don't have enough faith
that is a barrier to God working.
So the more faith you have, the more it becomes possible for God
to do. That's what Jesus is saying.
Since this generation that he's talking to is somewhat
faithless. So far, they haven't been able
to cast The Demon out. Verse 24, immediately the father
of the child cried out. So the father here is crying
out, a deep Cry of faith and he says, I do have faith, help, the
little faith I have. Or the more familiar translation
or more literal version of that would be, I believe, help my
unbelief. So what does that mean?
I believe, help my unbelief. We're probably all in the same
position. Really the man recognizes that
he does not yet have the complete faith that he should
have, but he does believe that Jesus can save his son.
So he asked Jesus to have mercy on him despite his imperfect
faith and to get him to the greater level of faith that he
knows he needs. So he knows the Jesus.
Can heal his son. He knows that Jesus can give him
more faith. And he, he asks, Jesus for those
things. So, at this point verse 25,
Jesus hasn't cast out the demon yet and he sees how many people
were pressing around him. So, people are coming from all
over to watch this, spectacle, the crowds getting bigger, and
Jesus, in response to that. Decides.
This can't go any longer. I can't have too many people
seeing this. So we decided to do the exorcism
on the spot. Normally, he, if this was the
situation, he didn't want the crowds to see something.
He takes the person away in private, but he can't do that
with the boy because the boy is writhing on the ground.
So to get it over and done with this quick as possible.
Jesus just does the exes exorcism now, so that not too
many people, see it. And here's what he says, deaf
and dumb Spirit. Now, that's interesting.
We learned that the, it's causing both deafness and and
dumbness in the boy, I command you.
He says, I command you. So that's like a military
command and the demon is going to have to submit to it.
Come out of him and never enter him again.
So that last part is important because as we know from
elsewhere in the gospels, sometimes, when demons are cast
out, they can come back. But Jesus here, commands, the
demon. You're never allowed to come
back to this boy. First 26, throwing the boy into
convulsions. It came out shouting, so the
demons putting up a fight. It doesn't want to leave.
And it's probably tormented by Jesus hear it screaming because
it's being tormented. This is actually the final
exorcism in the gospel of Mark. There are no more after this
point. The boy lie there like a corpse.
Why is the boy lying there? He's probably passed out.
He's probably looking pretty pale, and he's passed out, and
people think he's dead verse 27. Jesus took him by the hand and
helped him up. And there's important
theological principle. They are not only just Jesus
cast out the evil, he replaces it with something positive,
which is himself. He helps the boy up.
First 28. So that's the end of this little
incident when he'd gone indoors or more literally, when he had
entered the house. So Jesus is going back into
whatever house is staying at this point.
See him in the disciples in there and they asked him
privately. Why will we unable to cast him
out? Little fair question, because
the Apostle's have been able to cast out most other demons
because Jesus gave him gave them the power to do that and the
authority to do it. Why couldn't they cast out this
one? They're wondering.
Verse 29. Jesus says this kind by the way
that tells us that there are different kinds of demons.
This kind can only be driven out by prayer.
So the most literal sense that tells us that the apostles
basically hadn't been praying enough.
Maybe they become reliant on their own abilities, and maybe
had stopped praying, and they've started to just use exorcism is
like a magic formula and they'd forgotten to pray, but they're
probably also a general principle here which is that
some demons are harder to cast out than others and that
sometimes you need certain kinds of people or certain kinds of
prayers in order to cast them out.
Exorcist will tell you that still applies today.
Sometimes the demon can only be cast out through intense prayer
that does appear to still be a principal today in exorcisms.
Now, this last verse here, this kind can only be cast out
through prayer, some manuscripts have this as can only be cast
out through prayer and fasting. The lectionary version that we
have doesn't say that, but it's worth noting that some
translations say a prayer and fasting is required.
And that would make sense because the Jews did believe
that fasting was a spiritual discipline that has real power
in the Book of Tobit. Tobit is able to cast out a
demon in connection with fasting as well.
So that's your passage quite an interesting one.
Where does this appear in the catechism?
Probably not in the sections, where you think it would?
You would think that there would be a lot.
The catechism says, here about demonic possession exorcisms,
but actually, that doesn't get referenced in the catechisms
teaching on those things. But it is a reference in a
couple of other places. So in paragraph, 2 6, 10 in the
section on prayer. It says, just as Jesus prays to
the father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts.
So he teaches us, fill your boldness, whatever you ask in
prayer, believe that you will receive it and you will, such is
the power of Prayer. And have faith that does not
doubt. All things are possible to him,
who is who believes Jesus is a saddened by the lack of faith of
his own neighbors. And the paragraph goes on from
there. So you'll hear their the
reference to Jesus disappointment in the people's
lack of faith. In Mark chapter 9, informs the
Catholic, teaching about how we need to have faith when we pray.
And then in paragraph 16 to. So quite early in the catechism
in the section about how we need to persevere in faith, that
says, faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man.
We can lose this Priceless gift as Saint Paul indicated to st.
Timothy wage, the good Warfare holding faith and a good
conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain
person's have made shipwreck of their faith.
To live grow and persevere in the faith until the end.
We must nourish it with the word of God.
We must beg the Lord to increase our faith.
And then it goes on from there. And of course, the reference
there, there is 2. When the father says, Lord,
increase my faith. So, that's the end of today's
podcast. If you think others would
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again tomorrow.