The Demoniac Boy

S. Mark ix. 14–29

The leader of Israel was absent, communing with God on the Mount. He to whom the people had turned in every danger and difficulty for guidance was withdrawn from their sight, and God was writing on tables of stone those laws which were to be the great bulwark of right, and a restraint upon sin in time to come. It was a crisis with the powers of evil of momentous import. And see what they did. They seized the opportunity to revive in the heart of the people the old spirit of Egyptian idolatry, and sent them to Aaron with the petition on their lips, “Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”

What a contrast it is! On the mountain height their head is holding converse with Almighty God in perfect peace. On the plain at its feet, the people have relapsed into all the tumult and confusion of heathen worship.

Now turn to the counterpart in the scene before us. Christ had gone up with His chosen disciples into the Mount of Transfiguration, and in His absence the spirits of evil were so active that for a time the rest of the Twelve were shaken in their faith, and the enemies of Christ had gained a manifest victory. A poor father, hearing with joy of what the disciples had been doing elsewhere, had brought his boy to be cured by them. It is perhaps the most distressing case we meet with in the Gospels. Some of us know what a terrible anxiety it is to have dependent on our care and love, a person who is subject to epilepsy. Now add to this all the aggravations which the different Evangelists bring out, — to epilepsy lunacy — to lunacy a suicidal mania — and crown all this with that dread mystery of evil which is called “demoniacal possession,” and then, if we are parents, think of this having happened to our only son. We can imagine in some degree the eagerness with which that anxious father betook himself to the disciples, and the misery of disappointment which awaited him!

Christ had given the disciples power to heal diseases, and to cast out devils, and they had done it again and again; and the man knew that they had. Once they waged war so successfully upon the kingdom of Satan that they hurried back into the presence of their Lord, and boasted with pride that “even the devils are subject unto us through Thy Name.”

In the midst of all the confusion that followed upon their present attempt and its failure, Christ descended from the mountain, and “straightway all the people, when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and running to Him saluted Him.”

We know how often it happens in common life. People are quarrelling and wrangling together, some saying one thing, some another, when suddenly a man who is an authority upon the subject in dispute passes by, and is instantly appealed to. Just in the same way, we are told, the people ran to meet Jesus, Who at once inquired into the details of the case. He discerned without difficulty, that there had been a general failure of faith, without which no cure could be expected. It was not merely the unbelieving Scribes and the helpless father, but the disciples themselves, who were included in the stern denunciation: “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto Me.”

And here we would notice especially two points. First, that the child was seized by an attack of unwonted violence directly he was brought into Christ’s presence. “For straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.” It is difficult to say with any confidence how far the evil spirits were able to aggravate the diseases x of the bodies they possessed, but we can hardly read of what happened here, without feeling that there was a special manifestation of their power at this critical moment. And is it not in exact accord with all we know of Satanic influence? Is it not invariably excited most vigorously, just when it is in most danger of being counteracted?

Look at it in its commonest mode of operation, in the suggestion of unhallowed thoughts. Which of us is not all too painfully aware that these are often forced upon the mind, especially in our most sacred engagements? Is it not even the sad experience of some as they kneel in prayer, or draw near to the Blessed Sacrament?

Look at it again in its uncommon manifestation, in what we meet here under the name of “demoniacal possession.” It has often been asked by those who doubt the reality of this mysterious phenomenon, why, if it ever existed, is it altogether unknown now? We believe the answer is, that it was a special exhibition of Satan’s power, called forth at a special time, and under special conditions, — his last desperate struggle, in short, with Him Who came into the world at that crisis for the express purpose of trampling him under foot.

And this is the reason why, when the father brought his child to be healed, he was seized in the presence of his Healer with that paroxysm of incontrollable frenzy. It was the expiring rage, if we may so say, of the demon that possessed him.

And the second point to notice, is the conduct of our Lord in the presence of this grievous calamity. How unlike what ours would have been! We should have been impatient to vindicate our authority and recover the ground that had been lost. We should have thought every moment of importance, and commanded the unclean spirit to come out at once; but Christ never acts in haste. He is always calm and composed, whatever others may be. Much as He must have sympathised with the poor suffering boy before Him, there are others to be thought of, — the bystanders, whose excitement must be calmed by delay, and the unbelieving Scribes, the half-despairing father, and His Own weak and faltering disciples.

The first requisite for the exercise of a miracle was faith; and see how He seeks for some latent germ which He may awake in the parent’s breast. There is no sudden inspiration, but He draws him on step by step, from his doubting appeal, “If Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” “If Thou canst,” says our Lord, giving him back his words. No; not if I can do anything, but if thou canst believe; 1 there is no other bar to the exercise of Omnipotent love but unbelief. And hear the father’s delighted cry. How natural it all is! He has been told that it depends on something in himself, and in the passion of his joy, without staying to reflect, he cries, Lord, “I do believe;” and then, as the recollection of all his doubts crosses his mind, he adds the prayer, “Help Thou mine unbelief;” and his end was gained: his boy was cured. But turn to the disciples. What shame they must have felt! What it was that had shaken their faith, we can only conjecture. Perhaps they had suffered from their Master’s absence, or opposition was too strong for them without the impetuous Peter and the “Sons of Thunder;” or it may be the depressing effect of Christ’s prediction of His death had been too great a strain on their confidence. But whatever the reason, they had experienced a defeat; the cause of Christ had been imperilled, and but for His timely intervention, the triumph of Satan and his allies would have been complete. And then He told them, in answer to their inquiry as to the reason of their failure — and they were remembered words for years, — “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” There is nothing too hard for the man who asks in faith; x even the very mountains, as the Rabbis say, may be uprooted, and cast into the midst of the sea, if the word be spoken by him who never doubts the Omnipotence of God.

But let our closing thoughts revert to the contrast which we dwelt upon at the beginning; and let us learn from the Christian painter the simplest but the most instructive lesson that this page of sacred history or any other can ever teach. In Raphael’s great picture of the Transfiguration we may see at a glance all that we wish to impress upon the mind. The upper part — the mountain top — is a scene of transcendent peace; in the lower, divided from it by a simple belt of clouds, the demoniac boy is the representative of the sin and confusion that is turning the world upside down. And what is it that makes the contrast? Surely it is nothing else than that which makes it in our own heart and life, whether it be sunshine or gloom — unfailing happiness or constant discontent — it is the presence, or the absence, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Note: The power of Satan as the author of physical as well as moral evil is indicated frequently in Holy Scripture: e.g. Job ii. 7 — Satan smote Job with boils; S. Luke xiii. 16 — Satan bound the daughter of Abraham with a spirit of infirmity; 1 Cor. v. 5 — The incestuous sinner is delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Note: Cf. p. 100, n. 3.

Note: If TTiGTevaai be omitted, as in the Sinaitic and Vatican MSS., then, though the sense remains the same, it must be differently interpreted, viz., Jesus said to him, “Do you use the expression ‘If Thou canst’? — why, all things are possible to the man who believes.”

Note: koX vqardq. are omitted in Sin. and Vat. MSS. 2 S. Matt. xvii. 20; Bava Bathra, 3 b.