Hi everyone, welcome back to our podcast, where we take a look at the Gospel reading from today's mess. And today, we're just going to jump straight into it. So we'll start by reading the passage which is from Mark chapter 9. Verse 14 to 29. When Jesus with Peter James and John came down from the mountain and rejoined, the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them. The moment they saw him, the whole crowd was struck with
amazement and ran to greet him. What are you arguing about with them? He asked A man answered him from the crowd master. I have brought my son to you. There is a spirit of dumbness in him and when it takes hold of him at throws him to the ground and he Foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid and I asked you two cycles to cast it out and they were unable to You faithless generation, he said to them in reply, how much longer must I be with you?
How much longer must I put up with? You bring him to me. I brought the boy to him and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it through the boy into convulsions and he fell to the ground and lay writhing their foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, how long has this been happening to him from childhood? He replied and it is often thrown him into the fire and into the water in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.
If you can retorted Jesus, everything is possible for anyone who has faith. Immediately the father of the boy, cried out. I do have faith helped a little faith. I have And when Jesus saw, how many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean Spirit, deaf and dumb Spirit. He said, I command you come out of him and never enter him again. Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions. It came out shouting and the boy lay there, so like a corpse.
So like a corpse that most of them said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors the disciples asked him privately. Why will be unable to cast it out? This is the kind, he answered that can only be driven out by prayer. So, let's start by thinking about the context, so, what's just happened is the Transfiguration.
So remember, Jesus goes up the mountain with the, in a group of disciples and now they've come down the mountain and they're rejoining, the larger group. Verse 14, they saw a loud large crowd around them. So while Jesus has been up the crowd with the, in a group, the rest of his disciples have a large crowd gathering around them. And apparently the the the guy has brought his son to try and for the disciples to try and exercise the the Sun. So there's a large crowd gathering in there.
Some, scribes arguing with them. So, remember, the scribes are like the experts in the law. They were the ones who were able to read and interpret the law. For the Jews and they thought they were the ones who basically had the right understanding. So probably what's happened by now is the Disciples of try to exercise the boy and the scrubs have begun disputing with the disciples about their ability to exercise.
Remember they did that with Jesus in verse in chapter 3, verse 22. Now they're probably doing it with the disciples. How do you have the right to exercise? Verse 15, all the crowd when they saw him were amazed. So why is the crowd amazed?
The mark doesn't tell us but it's probably because he could still be shining his face could still be shining from after the Transfiguration. That actually happened with Moses. After Moses went up the mountain, he was glowing and then when he came back down the mountain, he was still glowing. That's in Exodus chapter 34, verse 29 and apparently the same thing happened to Jesus here. Verse 16, Jesus asks the the disciples. What are you arguing about with them?
Verse 17, the man, the man in the crowd speaks up master, I have brought my son, I brought my son to you. So apparently, that's what's agitated. The scribes this boy who's possessed by the demon, the man goes on. There is a spirit of dumbness on him. Excess of today will tell you this demons. Some demons can get certain control over certain parts of the body and apparently this one
was making the boy dumb. Some Scholars would say the most literal translation here is that there is a mute Spirit which suggests that the demon itself might be mute because remember most demons in Mark, cry out in a loud voice. Who are you? Why are you here? Son of God. But this one doesn't say anything which suggests that maybe it could be mute, although it does share out a bit later on. The father continues when it takes, hold of him and throws
him to the ground. He Foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. So, these are very severe symptoms. So, this indicates, we're dealing with a very strong demon. Now, lots of skeptical Scholars, have looked at this passage and said, oh, that's epilepsy, the boy has epilepsy. I think for us as Christians who take the Bible?
Seriously. We need to say there's more going on here and probably the reality is demonic possessions can manifest in symptoms that are similar to epilepsy, not to say that, every single case of epilepsy is demonic or something, but the demons can cause symptoms like that. The father continues. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were unable to now. This is very strange because earlier in Mark the disciples were given the power of exorcism.
So they should be able to do it. Usually, they can cast out the demons but there's something different about this demon verse 19, Jesus. Says, o faithless generation. So Jesus by saying this oh faithless generation. This is probably directed mostly of the disciples. His probably implying that the reason they haven't been able to cast the demons out is because they or maybe the crowd has a lack of faith. Had they had more faith, this wouldn't be an issue. That might seem strange but all
throughout mark. This theme keeps coming up. The more faith you have the more miracles the more it's more possible the more becomes possible for God to work miracles in that area. And then he says, some fairly harsh things. He says, how much longer must I be with you. How much longer must I put up with you? So, Jesus. Here is indicating frustration and disappointment. If the people and the disciples in particular have more faith, it will be so much easier to bring the kingdom to them.
So he's kind of lamenting the fact that the people don't have enough faith. So then he says, bring him to me. So that's a command to the apostles, just as the crowded brought the boy to the apostles. He now says, to the apostles, bring him to me.
So Jesus is now going to deal with the exorcism himself, verse 20, when the spirit saw Jesus and we know from earlier and Mark that this the demons recognize Jesus, and they're pretty frightened of him because they think he's going to punish them it through the boy into convulsions. So that the spirit takes over the boy's body and causes him to have these convulsions. It's the spirit making the convulsions. He fell to the ground and lay writhing their foaming. At the mouth.
This must have been a very strange sight for the crowd. Just to see this boy arriving at the mouth and apparently large large crowds see this and start to gather from all over the place as we soon discover. Verse 21. The father tells Jesus that the boy has been possessed by the demon since childhood. So Jesus does a background check. He says how long has the boy being possessed? The father says since childhood. Why is that detail important? Well, it probably tells us that
the the child is in is innocent. He hasn't done anything to bring the demon into his life. Verse 22, the father says it is often thrown him into the fire and the water So the father here is probably a faithful Jew, he knows what's going on. He knows that his son is possessed by a real demon and the demon is trying to destroy the boy. He's trying to get the boy to commit suicide.
So he apparently made the boy, walk through fire and drown in water and all that sort of stuff that hasn't worked so far, but it's a very malicious demon. And the father says, but if he can do anything. So in other words, Jesus, if it is within your power, have pity on us and help us. So he's begging for Jesus assistance. and then Jesus says this strange thing in verse 23, if you can, everything is possible for anyone who has faith, So what does Jesus mean
here? The teaching appears to be that for the person who has genuine Faith, there are no barriers to God doing his work in their life. So in theory, for someone who has enough faith, God can do any possible Miracle. He's not saying that God will do anything possible or anything. The person asks for but he is laying down this principle that if you don't have enough faith that is a barrier to God working.
So the more faith you have, the more it becomes possible for God to do. That's what Jesus is saying. Since this generation that he's talking to is somewhat faithless. So far, they haven't been able to cast The Demon out. Verse 24, immediately the father of the child cried out. So the father here is crying out, a deep Cry of faith and he says, I do have faith, help, the little faith I have. Or the more familiar translation or more literal version of that would be, I believe, help my
unbelief. So what does that mean? I believe, help my unbelief. We're probably all in the same position. Really the man recognizes that he does not yet have the complete faith that he should have, but he does believe that Jesus can save his son. So he asked Jesus to have mercy on him despite his imperfect faith and to get him to the greater level of faith that he knows he needs. So he knows the Jesus. Can heal his son. He knows that Jesus can give him
more faith. And he, he asks, Jesus for those things. So, at this point verse 25, Jesus hasn't cast out the demon yet and he sees how many people were pressing around him. So, people are coming from all over to watch this, spectacle, the crowds getting bigger, and Jesus, in response to that. Decides. This can't go any longer. I can't have too many people seeing this. So we decided to do the exorcism
on the spot. Normally, he, if this was the situation, he didn't want the crowds to see something. He takes the person away in private, but he can't do that with the boy because the boy is writhing on the ground. So to get it over and done with this quick as possible. Jesus just does the exes exorcism now, so that not too many people, see it. And here's what he says, deaf and dumb Spirit. Now, that's interesting.
We learned that the, it's causing both deafness and and dumbness in the boy, I command you. He says, I command you. So that's like a military command and the demon is going to have to submit to it. Come out of him and never enter him again. So that last part is important because as we know from elsewhere in the gospels, sometimes, when demons are cast out, they can come back. But Jesus here, commands, the demon. You're never allowed to come
back to this boy. First 26, throwing the boy into convulsions. It came out shouting, so the demons putting up a fight. It doesn't want to leave. And it's probably tormented by Jesus hear it screaming because it's being tormented. This is actually the final exorcism in the gospel of Mark. There are no more after this point. The boy lie there like a corpse. Why is the boy lying there? He's probably passed out.
He's probably looking pretty pale, and he's passed out, and people think he's dead verse 27. Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up. And there's important theological principle. They are not only just Jesus cast out the evil, he replaces it with something positive, which is himself. He helps the boy up. First 28. So that's the end of this little incident when he'd gone indoors or more literally, when he had
entered the house. So Jesus is going back into whatever house is staying at this point. See him in the disciples in there and they asked him privately. Why will we unable to cast him out? Little fair question, because the Apostle's have been able to cast out most other demons because Jesus gave him gave them the power to do that and the authority to do it. Why couldn't they cast out this one? They're wondering.
Verse 29. Jesus says this kind by the way that tells us that there are different kinds of demons. This kind can only be driven out by prayer. So the most literal sense that tells us that the apostles basically hadn't been praying enough.
Maybe they become reliant on their own abilities, and maybe had stopped praying, and they've started to just use exorcism is like a magic formula and they'd forgotten to pray, but they're probably also a general principle here which is that some demons are harder to cast out than others and that sometimes you need certain kinds of people or certain kinds of prayers in order to cast them out. Exorcist will tell you that still applies today.
Sometimes the demon can only be cast out through intense prayer that does appear to still be a principal today in exorcisms. Now, this last verse here, this kind can only be cast out through prayer, some manuscripts have this as can only be cast out through prayer and fasting. The lectionary version that we have doesn't say that, but it's worth noting that some translations say a prayer and fasting is required.
And that would make sense because the Jews did believe that fasting was a spiritual discipline that has real power in the Book of Tobit. Tobit is able to cast out a demon in connection with fasting as well. So that's your passage quite an interesting one. Where does this appear in the catechism? Probably not in the sections, where you think it would? You would think that there would be a lot.
The catechism says, here about demonic possession exorcisms, but actually, that doesn't get referenced in the catechisms teaching on those things. But it is a reference in a couple of other places. So in paragraph, 2 6, 10 in the section on prayer. It says, just as Jesus prays to the father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts.
So he teaches us, fill your boldness, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it and you will, such is the power of Prayer. And have faith that does not doubt. All things are possible to him, who is who believes Jesus is a saddened by the lack of faith of his own neighbors. And the paragraph goes on from there. So you'll hear their the reference to Jesus disappointment in the people's
lack of faith. In Mark chapter 9, informs the Catholic, teaching about how we need to have faith when we pray. And then in paragraph 16 to. So quite early in the catechism in the section about how we need to persevere in faith, that says, faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this Priceless gift as Saint Paul indicated to st. Timothy wage, the good Warfare holding faith and a good
conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain person's have made shipwreck of their faith. To live grow and persevere in the faith until the end. We must nourish it with the word of God. We must beg the Lord to increase our faith. And then it goes on from there. And of course, the reference there, there is 2. When the father says, Lord, increase my faith. So, that's the end of today's
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