“A Difficult Exorcism Task” (Luke 9:37-42)
Anything that torments us and makes our life miserable is clearly the work of the devil. As such, it may prove too difficult for us to handle and too strong for us to counter; and we may even find ourselves desperate and about to lose our faith. The Lord, however, wants us to keep our faith in Him. Maybe He allowed it to happen to us to test our faith because, after all, He can save us anytime and take us out of it. He is God almighty, and He can do everything that He wills. Evil spirits may not fear or respect us, but they fear Jesus. So let’s just keep our faith in Him because nothing is difficult for Him and nothing is impossible for Him. Let us hold on to our faith in Jesus to the very end and never let go.
It happened, on the next day when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child. Behold, a spirit takes him; he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams; and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely. I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t.” Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you Bring your son here. While He was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. (Luke 9:37-42)
This story is told in greater detail in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. However, to the extent that it is narrated here, let’s try to draw out some life lessons and spiritual truths. We go about it by describing the prominent characters in the story, which will serve as our topic divisions.
The Unclean spirit
Too Strong for the Disciples
“I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t” (40).
This isn’t the first time the disciples have cast out demons from demon-possessed individuals, so they thought that this task was just another one among others which they’ve dealt with in the past with the same pace and regularity. But to their surprise, dismay, and embarrassment, they found themselves faced with a formidable foe which got them stuck to where they’re standing and put them to their wits’ end.
The situation showed them that though they may be skilled and had some experience in the work of the Kingdom, they’ll always have limitations and will always be dependent on their Master. They realized that it is God who does His work, only using them as vessels, and that their knowledge, skill, and spirituality are of little consequence.
Too Violent for the Child
Behold, a spirit takes him; he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams; and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely (39).
The demon inside boy is not like any other demons that the disciples have encountered. It’s excessively furious, violent, and unruly. Its muscles are conspicuously protruding, so much so that the boy’s young mind and body couldn’t contain its overpowering evil force. It took overall control of the child’s brain functions and made him go into exaggeratedly-violent and self-destructive fits that his budding fragile form was not built to do, handle, and endure.
The evil spirit made a totally unrestrained and unscrupulous use of its helpless victim. This thing, which is obviously ten times stronger than the other demons, chose to inhabit, of all people, a little boy. Either it didn’t discriminate or it actually picked its choice so as to inflict the worst misery imaginable and to show how strong it is and how extremely cruel it can get.
We see here one of the many sad ironies of life The big evil bully never picks someone of its own size but sadistically victimizes the small and weak because it is also a coward. In our story here, there’s a noticeably-wide disparity between the evil spirit, the pest, and the teenage boy, its host.
This tells us that fallen angels are not reasonable creatures. We can’t expect anything good from entities who are bent on evil and who are the very representation of evil. Consideration, moderation, discretion are not in their vocabulary. Their one-track mind only tells them to sow death, destruction, misery, tumult, sicknesses of the body, confusion of the mind, and the like.
As a result, the boy may have been significantly defaced from all that crying out, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. We can imagine him having scratches, wounds, and lumps all over his body. Some of his teeth may have been broken. It’s conceivable, considering the extremely-violent nature of the evil spirit who inhabited him and the feebleness his body. The pest doesn’t care about the safety of its host. It just does whatever it wants.
And the thing is enjoying every single minute that it is there inside the boy’s body, tormenting him and the people around him. It refuses to go, as the father said. It seems to have developed an attachment to the pillows and other amenities in its five-star luxury hotel.
The father
Desperate
Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child (38).
We can detect from the father’s speech a tone of desperation, which is normal and understandable. Faced with similar circumstances, we would also lose our poise and act a little bit disgraceful as we’re asking help from someone who can help. The father may have perspired to his very forehead, acted like a buffoon, and assumed a demanding tone before Jesus.
Because who wouldn’t be desperate if we are in the father’s shoes. It may look simple on the surface. But if we go deeper, we realize that the evil spirit actually deprived the father of the company of his only child. He was his only child, and the demon made the boy abnormal, useless, and a burden to his house because of the boy’s periodic epileptic seizure as it were.
As his only child, the boy is very dear to him; and the situation that the demon created made him unable to shower his affections on his only child. He couldn’t feed him and attend to his basic needs normally, much less baby-talk him, bear-hug him, kiss him on the head or forehead, or comb his hair. The demon definitely wreaked havoc in his house and robbed them of peace and tranquility.
That’s how vile and malicious Satan usually works. We shouldn’t expect him to be gentle and nice even for just a second because he doesn’t have an ounce of it. And if possible, he’d make a combo hit when he decides to afflict. Not only would he attack us physically or materially but also mentally and emotionally. He would accompany the physical hurt with deep emotional pain. He wants us to feel his attack not only in our flesh but also in the innermost corners of our minds so that we’d go totally crazy and lose our sanity. He wants us to curse our existence and curse God. That’s his goal.
Lacks Faith
Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you” (41a).
For some reason I still don’t understand until now, the Lord saw lack of faith in the father of the demon-possessed child. How so Allow me to try to figure it out here
Maybe faithlessness here actually means lack of patience and perseverance in faith.
The father may have heard the news about Jesus. He heard that this fellow from Capernaum heals sicknesses and casts out demons. And people call Him Lord. Maybe He is the Son of God. If so, he really needs His help right now. He’s desperate. When he heard that He is somewhere near the vicinity, he went there; but whom he met was not Jesus but His disciples. When he learned who they were, he just turned to them for help anyway since his problem needs urgent response. Maybe it’s the same thing as asking Jesus.
However, when what he thought the solution led to another problem, he lost that spark of faith he initially had and it never rekindled. Where he went wrong is when he didn’t hold on to his faith to the end although it was of the mere size of a mustard seed.
God, in His wisdom, may intentionally hide His face and make His presence not felt even during the times when we desperately need Him. It is during these times when He is testing our faith in Him. Will we consistently trust Him even when we feel that He’s not working or at least present Actually, He’s never been away; He only made Himself indiscernible momentarily.
It’s easy to feel spiritual and profess faith in God when all things are okay and smooth-sailing, when adversity, persecution, and tribulation are but mere concepts for discussion and not biting realities of life. But what if they become real and life from being rosy becomes ugly Will we be as spiritual as ever
Our faith in Jesus is the kind of faith that perseveres no matter what. A healthy and vigorous faith grows with time and is not dependent on the changing of the seasons and winds of doctrine. This faith is consistent even though people and our surroundings are not consistent.
Therefore, let not adversity and disappointment put out the spark of our faith in God in the same way it did to the father of the demon-possessed child. His sentiment is understandable, but Jesus wants us to step up. Sometimes, we need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps by continually trusting God even when we’re faced with the impossible.
Jesus
Indignant at the Lack of Faith
Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you” (41a).
More than teaching them the kingdom of God, healing their sicknesses, and casting out their demons, Jesus also teaches the crowd who follow Him to have the right kind of faith in God the Father and in Him. He does this by His words and by the way He interacts and gets along with them. He trains their minds so that it can develop the right attitude toward God and thus obey the laws of God in their fullest sense. He does this in a way that they can understand.
So when the father of the demon-possessed boy came up to Him with a negative attitude, Jesus couldn’t help but exclaim, “Faithless and perverse generation!”
As a human with human emotions, He finally got exasperated at the lack of faith that this man who came up to Him exemplifies. His intensive efforts seem to be producing little to no results. What happened to everything He has taught them Were they even listening It’s like His world fell apart.
And as the Son of God, lack of faith in Him is simply unacceptable. Period.
Feared by the demons
While He was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently (42a).
If there is one Person whom the demons fear no matter how strong they are, it is Jesus. Fallen angels may be muscular bullies which don’t have the slightest regard or respect for human beings they’d gladly inhabit and use at every given opportunity, but they certainly fear Jesus. They recognize Jesus’ authority as the Son of God. They know that it is He who at the consummation of the age will put them in them in their proper place in the lake of fire.
So whenever they see Him approaching to cast them out even from a mile away, they suddenly get thrown into consternation. They become like wolves whose usual menacing barks suddenly turn into melancholy howls. They melt like butter out of the refrigerator. They’d wish to just flee and get out of the person they’re inhabiting, but they won’t be able to unless Jesus tells them.
So when the time came for this particular evil spirit to say goodbye to its favorite pillow, it became even more uncontrollable than ever because it realizes the authority of the Person doing the evicting. The demon took one last shot at wreaking more havoc, but Jesus allowed it no longer. And out the demon goes by just one single word from Jesus.
After this, Jesus turned to the boy and healed him. He repaired the damage that the evil spirit has done to his body and mind and made him whole and brand new as if nothing happened to him, as if he didn’t go through anything. Maybe he became even more beautiful than he ever was because that’s the amazing thing about God’s restorative work He blesses us with tenfold blessings after allowing us to be ravaged by Satan’s handiwork and may even exalt us to a state higher than we were in before going through hell.
Able to Handle the Difficult
Jesus answered… “Bring your son here.” Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father (41b,42b).
After scolding the father of the boy for his lack of faith, Jesus uttered the words, “Bring your son here,” still with the exasperated tone to say in effect, “Let’s bring this issue to a close since you still seem unable to stand on your own feet.”
These words also indicate Jesus’ absolute confidence in His ability to take on any challenge laid at His feet as long as He sees that it is well-meaning and that the persons asking aren’t just trying to ensnare Him. He solved in less than a minute the problem that took His disciples hours.
Anything that torments us and makes our life miserable is clearly the work of the devil. As such, it may prove too difficult for us to handle and too strong for us to counter; and we may even find ourselves desperate and about to lose our faith. The Lord, however, wants us to keep our faith in Him. Maybe He allowed it to happen to us to test our faith because, after all, He can save us anytime and take us out of it. He is God almighty, and He can do everything that He wills. Evil spirits may not fear or respect us, but they fear Jesus. So let’s just keep our faith in Him because nothing is difficult for Him and nothing is impossible for Him. Let us hold on to our faith in Jesus to the very end and never let go.
Passage by Passage Luke 9 series, episode 1
by: Marven T. Baldo
