Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 17:14-18

"And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a man, kneeling to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic, and suffereth grievously; for oft-times he falleth into the fire, and off-times into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked him; and the demon went out of him: and the boy was cured from that hour." — Matthew 17:14-18 (ASV)

Origen of Alexandria: Peter, eager for such a desirable life and preferring his own benefit over that of many, had said, “It is good for us to be here.” But since charity does not seek its own, Jesus did not do what seemed good to Peter. Instead, He descended to the multitude, as it were, from the high mountain of His divinity, so that He might be of use to those who could not ascend because of the weakness of their souls.

This is why it is said, And when he was come to the multitude; for if He had not gone to the multitude with His chosen disciples, the man about whom it is added would not have come near to Him: There came to him a man kneeling down, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son.

Consider here that sometimes those who are themselves the sufferers believe and plead for their own healing; sometimes others plead for them, as he who kneels before Him praying for his son; and sometimes the Savior heals on His own, unasked by anyone.

First, let us see what the following means: For he is lunatic, and sore vexed. Let the physicians say what they will, for they do not think it is an unclean spirit but some bodily disorder. They say that the humors in the head are governed in their motions in sympathy with the phases of the moon, whose light is of a humid nature. But we who believe the Gospel say that it is an unclean spirit that causes such disorders in people.

The spirit observes the moon's changes so that it may deceive people into believing that the moon is the cause of their sufferings, and so prove God's creation to be evil. In the same way, other demons lie in wait for people, following the times and courses of the stars, so that they may speak wickedness in high places, calling some stars malignant and others benign—whereas no star was made by God to produce evil.

Regarding what is added, For ofttimes he falls into the fire, and oft into the water,

St. John Chrysostom: it should be noted that if man were not fortified here by Providence, he would have perished long ago. For the demon who cast him into the fire and into the water would have killed him outright if God had not restrained him.

St. Jerome: In saying, And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him, he subtly accuses the Apostles. Yet the impossibility of a cure is sometimes the result not of a lack of power in those who undertake it, but of a lack of faith in those who are to be healed.

St. John Chrysostom: Notice also the father's folly, in that he appeals to Jesus against His disciples in front of the multitude. But Jesus clears them from shame, attributing their failure to the patient himself, for many things show that he was weak in faith.

However, Jesus addresses His rebuke not to the man individually, so that He might not trouble him, but to the Jews in general. For it is likely that many of those present had improper thoughts concerning the disciples, and therefore it follows, Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?

His question, How long shall I be with you? shows that death was desired by Him, and that He longed for His departure.

Remigius of Auxerre: It should also be known that the Lord had borne the Jews' stubbornness not just now, but for a long time, which is why He says, How long shall I suffer you? It is as if He were saying, “I have now endured your iniquities for a long while, and you are unworthy of My presence.”

Origen of Alexandria: Alternatively, because the disciples could not heal him, being weak in faith, He said to them, O faithless generation, adding perverse to show that their perverseness had introduced an evil beyond their nature. But I suppose that because of the perverseness of the whole human race, oppressed as it were with its evil nature, He said, How long shall I be with you?

St. Jerome: We must not think that He was overcome by weariness of them, or that the meek and gentle One broke out into words of wrath. Rather, He is like a physician who, seeing a sick man acting against his instructions, would say, “How long must I visit your room? How long must I waste my skill, while I prescribe one thing, and you do another?”

That He is angry with the sin and not the man, and that in the person of this one man He convicts the Jews of unbelief, is clear from what He adds: Bring him to me.

St. John Chrysostom: After He had vindicated His disciples, He leads the boy's father to a cheering hope, encouraging him to believe that he will be delivered from this evil. And so that the father might be led to believe the coming miracle, he saw that the demon was disturbed even when the child was only called.

St. Jerome: He rebuked him—that is, not the sufferer, but the demon.

Remigius of Auxerre: In this act, He left an example for preachers to attack sins but to assist people.

St. Jerome: Alternatively, His rebuke was to the child, because he had been seized by the demon for his sins.

Rabanus Maurus: Figuratively, the lunatic is one who is hurried into new vices every hour. At one moment he is cast into the fire, with which the hearts of adulterers burnⁱ; at another, he is cast into the waters of pleasure or lust, which still do not have the strength to quench love.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, the fire relates to anger, which aims upward, while water relates to the lusts of the flesh.¹

Origen of Alexandria: Concerning the changeableness of the sinner, it is said, The fool changes as the moon (Ecclesiasticus 27:12). We may sometimes see an impulse toward good works come over such people, when suddenly, as by a seizure of a spirit, they are laid hold of by their passions and fall from that good state in which they were thought to stand.

Perhaps his father represents the Angel who was assigned the care of this lunatic, praying to the Physician of souls to set his son free. The son could not be delivered from his suffering by the simple word of Christ's disciples because, as a deaf person, he cannot receive their instruction. Therefore, he needs Christ's word so that from then on he might not act without reason.

1. Quaest Ev., i, 22