CCXCIII.

THE EXORCISING OF A STUBBORN SPIRIT.

St. Mark ix. 14-16.

And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

1

We can scarcely conceive a greater contrast than between the events of this next day and that of the day before." Jesus on the mountain, and in the valley. Now above with the spirits of just men made perfect, and now below with the spirits of darkness. For peace, confusion. Gloom instead of glory. This depth of misery for that height of happiness. Hell in the place of Heaven. Moses who here appeared with Him in glory, when he descended in ancient time from "his mount of a fainter transfiguration," 3 came upon a contrast also. And he came with a code of condemnation in his hand. Christ descends to deliver them from the power of the enemy. The little band of Disciples had been weakened. Their leader and commander, their David, was away; and together with Him those first three in whom "we may suppose His power most mightily to have resided."3 The Scribes profit by the opportunity to harass the diminished host. Little they cared for this poor father and his afflicted son. Their only desire seems to have been to discomfit the Disciples, and through them to aim at their Master. "But as when some great Captain, suddenly arriving upon a field of battle... with no more than his presence causes the tide of victory to flow, and everything to right itself again, so was it now." Sternly He faces the foe, and "taking the baffled

1 St. Luke ix. 37.

2 Some points of contrast have been seized by Raphael in his master-piece at Rome.

3 Abp. Trench.

7

and hard-pressed Disciples under His own protection,"1 He abruptly asks in His turn a question. "What question there is more, henceforth it must be with Him." Let them know that they have now to deal with another. It is as if a forward scholar should delight in posing a duller but honester than he, till the arrival of the Master confounds him, convicting him of his own shallowness. Very graphic is this description of the conduct of the crowd. They were amazed, it might be, at some rays of glory which still lingered round Him, as it were an after-glow when the sun is set. Yet they were not scared, as Israel of old when Moses came down from his mountain with shining countenance. His glory is a glory that attracts. Almost we may see them running to Him and saluting Him.

ССХСІУ.

THE SAME SUBJECT—continued.

St. Mark ix. 17-19.

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: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him

unto me.

No one of the Scribes, we find, ventures now to take up the gauntlet; but a man comes forth out of the company, and kneeling down to Him,2 presents his petition. He says, "I have brought unto Thee my son." This is what he meant to do. He came to consult the good Physician, but found only His pupils who could do nothing. He beseeches the Master to look upon him.3 It is his only child,3 and there

Abp. Trench.

2 St. Matt. xvii. 14.

3 St. Luke ix. 38.

fore specially dear. He describes his disorder, "lunatic and sore vexed." It was more than mere madness. An unclean spirit had also entered into him. The father, from a notion then prevalent as to the influence of the moon's changes upon such a sufferer, speaks of his son as moon-struck. He describes also symptoms which indicate epilepsy, the falling sickness. But whatever may have been the physical or the mental malady, there was superadded this possession by an evil spirit. The child was doubly afflicted. The devil rendered him deaf and dumb. No articulate sounds at least was he able to utter. Nothing beyond frantic cries. The Lord's reproval seems addressed partly to the people, partly to His own Disciples. These were wanting in faith; those, like their fathers before them, were still a perverse and crooked generation. How much longer must the Master be with His disciples before they will be able to walk alone? How much longer must the King endure subjects whom no clemency can wean from disaffection?"

CCXCV.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. Mark ix. 20-27.

And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him ; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, 1

St. Matt. xvii. 15. 2 St. Luke ix. 42.

3 St. Matt. xvii. 19, 20.

St. Matt. xvii. 17; Deut. xxxii. 5, 20; Ps. lxxviii. 8.

believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people 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. 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. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

So our Champion, our David, advances to encounter this giant who had baffled all before. The sight of goodness excites the rage of the wicked one. As one who cannot reach the object of his hate will yet basely wreak his vengeance on all within his reach,2 so the Dæmon who quails before the King torments His servant. This question the Lord asks, as His manner was, not for information, but to lead to what follows, and to excite the father's faith. He, like the Syro-Phoenician woman, identifies himself with his child. He makes his child's case his own. How patient and instructive the Lord's reply to his request! "If thou canst do anything," he had said. "If thou canst believe," the Lord rejoins. That is the question. It is not a question of power on my part, but of faith on thine. He gives. too the faith He requires. The man becomes conscious, as of the Lord's power, so of his own deficiency; 3 "the little spark of faith which is enkindled in his soul revealing to him the abysmal deeps of unbelief which are there." The prayer against unbelief is a proof of the faith which is at work within. The Lord rebuked the Dæmon, who exhibits this last expiring effort of baffled malice; as some dishonest Tenant who has received notice to quit, and who, in out-going, does what damage he can. No more now shall he, as before in some mysterious way he had been able, go away and come back again, as the inmate of a house

5

Paley remarks upon the "air of reality" in the father's answer, "which could hardly be counterfeited."

Abp. Trench.

5 So Fuller, as cited by Abp. Trench.

1

does, to his dwelling." How life-like these touches! We almost see the people come running together, and hear them saying, He is dead. The Lord takes him by the hand, as that one only daughter of Jairus; and delivers him to his father, as at Nain He delivered to that widowed mother her only son. On the spiritual import of this miracle it shall only be added that our soul is as an only child whose salvation should be all our desire; whose loss is irreparable. "The sinner suffers strange convulsions when he endeavours to forsake his inveterate habits . . . To speak to him concerning renouncing his passions, is almost the same thing as to deprive him of his life."3 There are sins as unlike each other as fire is unlike water, and yet each equally fatal to the soul.

CCXCVI.

THE NEED OF FAITH.

St. Matthew xvii. 19, 20.

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

A sincere disciple will inquire into the cause of his failures. He will not, as some do, attribute it to everybody but himself. He means to succeed, and will take any pains to do so. He is humble, and repairs to his Master for guidance. From the Lord's answer we learn that to expel a stubborn spirit there is need of a strong faith, and that prayer and fasting are the means by which such a faith is fostered; prayer that nerves the mind, and fasting that

4

A Plain Commentary.

2 St. Luke ix. 42.

3 Quesnel.

"The faith which shall be effectual against this must be a faith ex

ercised in prayer, that has not relaxed itself by an habitual compliance with the demands of the lower nature, but has often girt itself up to an austerer rule."--Abp. Trench.