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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Mark 9:14 - 9:29
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_9:14-29
14When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. 16And He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?" 17And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." 19And He answered them and said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" 20They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23And Jesus said to him, "'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 24Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." 25When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again." 26After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!" 27But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. 28 When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not drive it out?" 29And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer."
Mar_9:14 "When they came back to the disciples" Jesus had left the rest of the disciples at the bottom of the mountain. Luk_9:37 says they returned the next day.
▣ "a large crowd. . .scribes arguing" Both of these things characterized Jesus' ministry and now the disciples were experiencing a foreshadowing of Jesus' existential situation and also their coming ministry. These were recurrent problems, but also opportunities.
Mar_9:15 "immediately" See note at Mar_1:10.
▣ "they were amazed" Some see this amazement as referring to Jesus' face still glowing related to Exo_34:29-30, but the context seems to imply that Jesus' appearance came at an opportune moment for ministry and teaching.
NASB "began running up to greet Him"
NKJV "running to Him, greeted Him"
NRSV "they ran forward to greet Him"
TEV "ran to him and greeted him"
NJB "ran to greet him"
This is an imperfect tense, which can mean (1) the beginning of an action (cf. NASB) or (2) a repeated action in past time. This crowd was excited to see Jesus and one after another ran up and greeted Him.
Mar_9:16 "What are you discussing with them" Jesus addresses this question to the crowd. The scribes were not concerned with the young boy, but with the theological aspect of the disciples' inability to effect a cure.
Mar_9:17 "possessed with a spirit" The Gospels make a definite distinction between demon possession and physical illness. In this particular case there seems to be a blurring of this distinction. The symptoms described by the father and the implication of several Greek words in the text imply epilepsy, especially a grand mal seizures. This physical element was aggravated or instigated by demonic possession. See Special Topic: The Demoniac at Mar_1:23.
Mar_9:18 "stiffens out" This is a description of a grand mal seizure.
▣ "I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it" The disciples were surprised also. Jesus gave them the power over the demonic in Mar_6:7; Mar_6:13, but in this case their attempts failed!
Mar_9:19 Jesus uses two rhetorical questions in Mar_9:19 to express His disappointment at the lack of faith of the disciples, the crowd, and the scribes.
Mar_9:20 "when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion" This was demonic possession manifesting itself in epilepsy.
Mar_9:21 There are several accounts in the Gospels of demon possession of children. How and why this occurred is never stated.
Mar_9:22 The destructive nature of the demonic is clearly seen in the father's description of this boy's life.
▣ "destroy" See Special Topic: Apollumi at Mar_3:6.
▣ "if" This is a first class conditional sentence that is assumed to be true from the author's perspective or for his literary purposes. This was the father's affirmation of faith in Jesus' ability to heal.
▣ "'take pity on us and help us'" This father had faith in Jesus even when the disciples failed to deliver his son.
In Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1. p. 113, M. R. Vincent makes the point that this father identified completely with his son's problems, as did the Syro-Phoenician woman to her daughter (cf. Mat_15:22).
Mar_9:23 "'If You can'" This is a repeat of the man's statement of Mar_9:22. It is another first class conditional sentence. This man affirmed Jesus' ability; now Jesus tests his faith.
▣ "'All things are possible to him who believes'" This is not a blank check for humanity, even believing humanity, to manipulate God, but a promise that God will do His will through believing faith (see Gordon Fee, The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels). There are two conditions: (1) God's will and (2) believing faith! See Special Topic: Effective Prayer at Mar_11:23.
Mar_9:24 "'I do believe, help my unbelief'" This is a present active imperative. Remember it is the object of faith, not the quantity, that is crucial (cf. Mat_17:20; Luk_17:6). Notice that Jesus worked with this man's doubts, as He will with ours.
Jesus deals with the father's faith, not the boy's, because he has been possessed since he was a child. One wonders if one of the reasons the disciples could not exorcize the boy was the father's lack of faith in them. Jesus often focused on parent's or friend's faith in effecting cures and deliverances. This father's words admit his need and beseeches Jesus' help to further his faith. This is a prayer we could all pray!
The Textus Receptus adds kurie (i.e., the vocative of Lord), which may be a scribal addition to show the father's faith by addressing Jesus as Lord, but this addition is not in any modern English translation besides KJV and NKJV.
Mar_9:25 "a crowd was rapidly gathering" It is uncertain how this relates to the exorcism. It is opposite of the Messianic Secret found so often in Mark. Jesus demonstrates His power and authority in a situation the disciples could not handle. The press and curiosity of the crowd was always a problem, but also an opportunity. This could be the same crowd as Mar_9:14-15 or a large number of new arrivals.
▣ "'You deaf and mute spirit'" Apparently this was just another aspect of this boy's physical problems (cf. Mar_9:17) related to the demonic possession.
▣ "'come out of him and do not enter him again'" This is an aorist active imperative and an aorist active subjunctive that meant "get out and do not ever start to come back."
Mar_9:26 The physical manifestations accompanying the departure of the demonic appear to have been common in NT exorcisms.
▣ "the boy became so much like a corpse" This is another symptom of a grand mal seizure.
Mar_9:27 "Jesus took him by the hand and raised him" This procedure showed Jesus' concern and compassion (cf. Mar_1:31; Mar_5:41). He was not afraid to touch the sick and possessed!
Mar_9:28 "'Why could we not drive it out'" They were surprised! Earlier they had been able to cast out demons; why not now? Mat_17:20 says it was because of the smallness of their faith.
Mar_9:29 "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer" Many other Greek manuscripts add "and fasting." However, this in not found in à or B, nor the Greek manuscript used by Clement. The addition of the phrase is very ancient and wide-spread, probably because of the early church's propensity from Judaism in this area. It is included in MSS P45, à cf8 i2, A, C, D, K, L, W, X, and the Diatessaron. See Special Topic on Fasting at Mar_2:18-20. The UBS4 gives the shorter reading an "A" rating (certain).
Theologically this account implies that there are different kinds of demons which require different techniques. See Special Topic at Mar_1:25.