Church Fathers Commentary Mark 9:14-29

"And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude about them, and scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked them, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered him, Teacher, I brought unto thee my son, who hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever it taketh him, it dasheth him down: and he foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast it out; and they were not able. And he answereth them and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him grievously; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long time is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a child. And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And having cried out, and torn him much, he came out: and [the boy] became as one dead; insomuch that the more part said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, [How is it] that we could not cast it out? And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer." — Mark 9:14-29 (ASV)

Theophylact of Ohrid: After He had shown His glory on the mountain to the three disciples, He returned to the other disciples, who had not gone up with Him onto the mountain. Therefore, it is said, “And when He came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them.”

For the Pharisees, seizing the opportunity when Christ was not present, approached them to try and win them over.

Pseudo-Jerome: But there is no peace for humanity under the sun; envy is always slaying the little ones, and lightning strikes the tops of the great mountains. Of all those who run to the Church, some, like the multitudes, come in faith to learn; others, like the Scribes, come with envy and pride.

It goes on, “And straightway all the people, when they beheld Jesus, were greatly amazed, and feared.”

The Venerable Bede: In all cases, the difference between the mindset of the Scribes and that of the people should be observed. The Scribes are never said to have shown any devotion, faith, humility, or reverence.

But as soon as the Lord arrived, the whole multitude was greatly amazed and feared, and ran up to greet Him. Therefore, the text continues, “And running to Him, saluted Him.” ¹

Theophylact of Ohrid: For the multitude was glad to see Him, so they greeted Him from a distance as He was approaching them. However, some suppose that His face had become more beautiful from His transfiguration, and that this is what led the crowd to greet Him.

Pseudo-Jerome: Now it was the people, and not the disciples, who were amazed and feared on seeing Him, for there is no fear in love. Fear belongs to servants, and amazement to fools.

It goes on: “And He asked them, What question ye with them?”

Why does the Lord ask this question? So that confession may produce salvation, and the murmuring of our hearts may be appeased by religious works.

The Venerable Bede: If I am not mistaken, the question that was raised may have been this: why were they, the Savior's disciples, unable to heal the demoniac who was placed in their midst? This can be gathered from the following words: “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.”

St. John Chrysostom: The Scriptures declare that this man was weak in faith, for Christ says, “O faithless generation,” and He adds, “If thou canst believe.”

But although his lack of faith was the reason they could not cast out the devil, he nevertheless accuses the disciples.

Therefore, it is added, “And I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; but they could not.”

Now observe his folly: in praying to Jesus in the middle of the crowd, he accuses the disciples. This is why the Lord, before the multitude, accuses him all the more, and not only aims the accusation at the man himself but also extends it to all the Jews. For it is probable that many of those present had been offended and had held wrong thoughts concerning His disciples.

Therefore, the text continues, “He answereth them and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” By this, He showed both that He desired death and that it was a burden to Him to be among them.

The Venerable Bede: He is so far from being angry with the person, though He rebuked the sin, that He immediately added, “Bring him unto Me.” And they brought him to Him. “And when He saw him, straightway the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.”

St. John Chrysostom: But the Lord permitted this for the sake of the boy's father, so that when he saw the devil tormenting his child, he might be led to believe that the miracle was about to be performed.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He also permits the child to be tormented so that we might understand the devil's wickedness, who would have killed him if he had not been assisted by the Lord.

It goes on: “And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this come unto him? And he said, Of a child; and ofttimes it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him.”

The Venerable Bede: Let Julianⁱ blush, who dares to say that all people are born in the flesh without the infection of sin, as though they were innocent in all respects, just as Adam was when he was created.

For what was there in the boy that he should be troubled from infancy with a cruel devil, if he were not held by the chain of original sin at all? It is evident that he could not yet have had any sin of his own.

Glossa Ordinaria: Now in the words of his petition, he expresses his lack of faith. This is why he adds, “But if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.”

By saying, “If thou canst do any thing,” he shows that he doubts Christ's power, because he had seen that His disciples had failed to cure his son. But he says, “have compassion on us,” to show the misery of both the son who suffered and the father who suffered with him.

It goes on: “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

Pseudo-Jerome: This saying, “If thou canst,” is a proof of the freedom of the will. Again, “all things are possible to him that believeth,” which evidently means all those things that are prayed for with tears in the name of Jesus—that is, of salvation.

The Venerable Bede: The Lord's answer was suited to the petition. The man said, “If thou canst do any thing, help us,” and to this the Lord answered, “If thou canst believe.” On the other hand, the leper who cried out with faith, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean” (Matthew 8:2), received an answer according to his faith: “I will, be thou clean.”

St. John Chrysostom: His meaning is this: “Such a fullness of power is in Me, that not only can I do this, but I will make others have that power. Therefore, if you can believe as you ought to, you will be able to cure not only him, but many more.” In this way, He tried to bring back to the faith the man who was still speaking unfaithfully. ²

The text continues, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

But if he had already believed, saying, “I believe,” how is it that he adds, “help thou mine unbelief?” We must say, then, that faith is manifold; one kind of faith is elementary, another is perfect. This man, being only a beginner in believing, prayed for the Savior to add to his virtue what was lacking.

The Venerable Bede: For no one reaches the highest point at once, but in a holy life, a person begins with the smallest things to reach the great ones. The beginning of virtue is different from its progress and its perfection. Because faith ascends by the secret inspiration of grace through the steps of its own merits,ⁱ he who had not yet believed perfectly was at once a believer and an unbeliever.

Pseudo-Jerome: By this we are also taught that our faith is unsteady if it does not lean on the support of God's help. But faith, through its tears, receives the fulfillment of its wishes.

Therefore, it continues, “When Jesus saw that the multitude came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into him.”

Theophylact of Ohrid: The reason He rebuked the foul spirit when He saw the crowd running together was that He did not wish to perform the cure before the multitude, in order to teach us to avoid ostentation.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: And His rebuking him and saying, “I charge thee,” is a proof of Divine power. Again, by saying not only, “come out of him,” but also “enter no more into him,” He shows that the evil spirit was ready to enter again because the man was weak in faith, but was prevented by the command of the Lord. ³

It goes on, “And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him; and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead.”

For the devil could not inflict death on him, because the true Life had come.

The Venerable Bede: But the one whom the unholy spirit made like death, the holy Savior saved by the touch of His holy hand. Therefore, it goes on, “But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose.”

Thus, as the Lord had shown Himself to be very God by the power of healing, so He showed that He had the true nature of our flesh by His human manner of touch. The Manichaeanⁱ indeed madly denies that He was truly clothed in flesh. He Himself, however, condemned this heresy before its birth by raising, cleansing, and enlightening so many afflicted people with His touch.

It goes on: “And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out?”

St. John Chrysostom: They feared that perhaps they had lost the grace that had been given to them, for they had already received power over unclean spirits.

It goes on: “And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

Theophylact of Ohrid: This applies to the entire class of those afflicted by seizures, or simply, to all persons possessed by demons. Both the person to be cured and the one who cures him should fast. For true prayer is offered when fasting is joined with it, when the one who prays is sober and not heavy with food.

The Venerable Bede: Again, in a mystical sense, on high the Lord reveals the mysteries of the kingdom to His disciples, but on earth He rebukes the multitude for their sins of unfaithfulness and expels demons from those who are tormented by them.

Those who are still carnal and foolish, He strengthens, teaches, and punishes, while He more freely instructs the perfect concerning the things of eternity.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Again, this demon is deaf and dumb: deaf, because he chooses not to hear the words of God; dumb, because he is unable to teach others their duty.

Pseudo-Jerome: Again, a sinner foams with folly, gnashes his teeth in anger, and wastes away in sloth. But the evil spirit tears him when he is coming to salvation. Similarly, those whom he would drag into his grasp he tears apart with terrors and losses, as he did to Job.

The Venerable Bede: For often when we try to turn to God after sin, our ancient enemy attacks us with new and greater snares. He does this either to instill in us a hatred for virtue or to avenge the insult of his expulsion.

St. Gregory the Great: But he who is freed from the power of the evil spirit is thought to be dead. For whoever has already subdued earthly desires puts to death his own carnal way of life and appears to the world as a dead man. Many look upon him as dead, for those who do not know how to live according to the Spirit think that he who does not follow carnal pleasures is completely dead. ⁴

Pseudo-Jerome: Furthermore, his being tormented from infancy signifies the Gentile people, from whose very birth the vain worship of idols arose, so that in their folly they sacrificed their children to demons. For this reason, it is said that the spirit “cast him into the fire and into the water,” for some of the Gentiles worshipped fire, while others worshipped water.

The Venerable Bede: Or, this demoniac signifies those who are bound by the guilt of original sin and, coming into the world as criminals, are to be saved by grace. By fire is meant the heat of anger; by water, the pleasures of the flesh, which melt the soul with their sweetness.

But He did not rebuke the boy, who suffered violence, but the devil, who inflicted it. This is because one who desires to reform a sinner ought, while he exterminates the vice by rebuking and cursing it, to love and cherish the person.

Pseudo-Jerome: Again, the Lord applies to the evil spirit the same terms as the afflictions he had inflicted on the man, calling him a “deaf and dumb spirit,” because he will never hear and speak what the penitent sinner can speak and hear. But the devil, after leaving a person, never returns if that person guards his heart with the keys of humility and charity and holds possession of the gate of freedom.ⁱ The man who was healed became as one dead, for it is said to those who are healed, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Theophylact of Ohrid: Again, when Jesus—that is, the word of the Gospel—takes hold of the hand, meaning our ability to act, then we shall be freed from the devil. And observe that God first helps us, and then we are required to do good. For this reason, it is said that Jesus “raised him,” which shows the aid of God, and that “he arose,” which declares the zeal of man.

The Venerable Bede: Furthermore, our Lord, while teaching the Apostles how the worst kind of demon is to be expelled, gives all of us rules for our life. He wants us to know that all the more severe attacks of evil spirits or of men are to be overcome by fasting and prayer. And again, the Lord's anger, when kindled to avenge our crimes, can be appeased only by this remedy.

But fasting, understood broadly, is not only abstinence from food but also from all carnal delights and, indeed, from all vicious passions. Similarly, prayer, understood broadly, consists not only in the words by which we call upon the Divine mercy but also in all those things we do with the devotion of faith in obedience to our Maker, as the Apostle testifies when he says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Pseudo-Jerome: Alternatively, the folly connected with the weakness of the flesh is healed by fasting; anger and laziness are healed by prayer. Each wound has its own medicine that must be applied to it. That which is used for the heel will not cure the eye; by fasting, the passions of the body are healed, and by prayer, the afflictions of the soul are healed.

1. in Marc., 3, 38
2. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
3. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
4. Mor. x., 30