When
he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”
Mark 9:28-29
Mark 9 [26.] Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose.
Mark 9 [28.] When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”
Mark 9 [30.] They went out from there, and passed through Galilee. He didn’t want anyone to know it. For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.”
Meaning:
The crowd has gone and the boy is free (Mark 9:26-27). Now, in the privacy of a house, the disciples ask the question that had been troubling them since their public failure (Mark 9:17-18). Jesus’ answer is short, but it goes to the heart of all Christian ministry: spiritual power comes only through dependence on God.
- “When he had come into the house … privately”
Mark often shows Jesus teaching his disciples away from the crowds. With the multitude he spoke in parables, “but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). Jesus had defended them in public (Mark 9:14-16), and now he corrects them in private. It is a model of wise and gracious leadership.
- “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”
The disciples’ question is honest and humble, but it also reveals surprise. Jesus had given them authority over unclean spirits, and they had successfully “cast out many demons” before (Mark 6:13). Perhaps they had begun to think of that authority as a power they possessed and could use at will. When it did not work, they did not understand why.
- “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer”
Jesus’ answer points away from technique and toward God. Some spiritual battles are especially hard, and no method or formula will win them. Only God can drive out such evil, and prayer is the expression of trust in him. Jesus himself lived this way. Mark shows him rising early, “while it was still dark,” to go to a deserted place and pray (Mark 1:35). Jesus did not need a long prayer at the scene because his whole life was lived in communion with the Father. The disciples, by contrast, seem to have relied on their earlier success.
Jesus taught the same dependence later: “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul urges believers to stand against spiritual forces “with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18).
- “And fasting”
The World English Bible, following many manuscripts, includes “and fasting”; some early manuscripts end with “prayer.” Either way, fasting expresses the same humble dependence. Jesus had said that after he was taken away, his disciples would fast (Mark 2:20). Fasting sets aside ordinary comforts to seek God wholeheartedly.
The Significance of Mark 9:28-29
- Power through dependence
Christian ministry is not powered by experience, skill or past success, but by God. Churches and believers who stop praying soon find themselves as helpless as the disciples. Those who pray depend on the One who is never helpless. “The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective” (James 5:16).
- Learning from failure
The disciples brought their failure to Jesus and learned from it. Believers can do the same, asking honestly, “Why couldn’t we?” and allowing Jesus to teach them to pray.
Cross-References:
Mark 1:35: "Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there." Jesus’ own life was marked by prayer.
John 15:5: "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Fruitful ministry depends on staying close to Jesus.
Ephesians 6:18: "with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:" Prayer is essential in spiritual warfare.
James 5:16: "The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective." God works powerfully through prayer.
Conclusion: In private, the disciples asked why they could not drive out the spirit. Jesus answered, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.” Past authority and experience were not enough; only humble dependence on God could defeat such evil. The passage teaches believers that spiritual power comes through prayer, and that failures can become lessons when they are brought to Jesus.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible