Matthew 17:14-20

The Demoniac

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

This is a story about faith.

The disciples knew everything they needed to know about Jesus. They were assured He was the Messiah, God’s Son — they heard it from God Himself. Jesus had given them the power and authority to be able to heal this boy, yet they couldn’t. This is the 5th time He’s had to talk to the disciples about their little faith (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8). Do you ever feel that way? You come across seemingly impossible situations…maybe the answer is faith. Faith that God can get you through any situation. Charles Spurgeon said this about faith, “Weak though I am, yet through His might, I all things can perform.”

Prayer: God, You have the power to heal and rescue those in my life who need it. Bring them Your healing love and transform their lives with Your grace.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation (www.lockman.org)