When
they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him, saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” Jesus rebuked him, the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.
Matthew 17:14-18
Matthew 17 [11.] Jesus answered them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things, but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.” Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.
Matthew 17 [14.] When they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him, saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.”
Matthew 17 [17.] Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” Jesus rebuked him, the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.
Matthew 17 [19.] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?”
Meaning:
Jesus had just come down from the mountain where Peter, James and John saw him transfigured and heard the Father’s voice (Matthew 17:3-9). On the way down he explained that John the Baptizer was the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 17:10-13). Now, at the foot of the mountain, the glory gives way to human suffering and failure. A desperate father is waiting, and the other disciples have not been able to help. Mark gives a longer account of the same event (Mark 9:14-16).
- “a man came to him, kneeling down to him, saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son’”
The father kneels before Jesus, a sign of humility and urgent need. His cry, “Lord, have mercy,” is the same cry that rose from many needy people in Matthew’s Gospel, such as the Canaanite mother who begged, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David!” (Matthew 15:22). He does not demand anything. He simply throws himself on Jesus’ compassion for the sake of his only son.
- “for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water”
The boy’s condition was terrible and dangerous. Matthew describes it in terms of seizures, but verse 18 makes clear that a demon was behind it. Matthew had earlier listed among those Jesus healed people “possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics” (Matthew 4:24). Mark adds that the spirit had attacked the boy “From childhood,” often throwing him “both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him” (Mark 9:21-22). Evil aims to destroy what God has made.
- “So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him”
This was an embarrassing failure. Jesus had given the twelve authority and sent them to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons” (Matthew 10:8). They had done so before, yet this time they could not. Mark records the father’s words: “I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able” (Mark 9:17-18). The reason is given in the next verses: their unbelief (Matthew 17:19-21).
- “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you?”
Jesus’ words echo Moses’ song, where Israel is called “a perverse and crooked generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5). They also echo God’s complaint in the wilderness: “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?” (Numbers 14:11). Jesus is grieved by the unbelief all around him: in the crowd, in the scribes who were arguing, and even in his own disciples. He knows that his time with them is short, and still they are slow to trust. Yet his rebuke is followed immediately by help.
- “Bring him here to me.” Jesus rebuked him, the demon went out of him
Where the disciples failed, Jesus acted with a word. He rebuked the demon, and it left. Mark tells how Jesus said, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” (Mark 9:25). The boy “was cured from that hour.” Jesus’ power over evil is complete, and his compassion reaches the father and son who had waited so long.
The Significance of Matthew 17:14-18
- Bring your needs to Jesus
The father’s first attempt failed, but he did not give up. He brought his son to Jesus himself. When human help fails, we can still come to the Lord.
- Unbelief grieves the Lord
Jesus’ sorrow over a “faithless” generation is a warning to his followers. Faith is not a technique; it is trust in him, kept alive by prayer and closeness to him.
Cross-References:
Mark 9:19: “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.” Mark’s parallel.
Numbers 14:11: “how long will they not believe in me,” God’s grief over unbelief in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 32:5: “They are a perverse and crooked generation.” The words Jesus echoes.
Mark 9:25: “come out of him, and never enter him again!” Jesus’ command to the spirit.
Conclusion: At the foot of the mountain, a father begged Jesus to have mercy on his son, whom the disciples could not cure. Jesus grieved over a faithless and perverse generation, yet he told them to bring the boy to him, rebuked the demon and healed the child at once. Where human strength and weak faith fail, Jesus’ mercy and power do not.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible