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Luke 9:37–43a
“Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.’ While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father” (vv. 41–42).
Soon after the transfiguration (Luke 9:28–36), Jesus once again entered the tragedy brought into the world by the fall into sin, for He met a father who desperately needed Christ’s help for his son. As we see in today’s passage, the very next day after He had appeared in glory with Moses and Elijah, Jesus healed a boy who was being seized by a demon and thrown into epileptic convulsions (vv. 37–43a).
The first thing to note about this healing is that its occurrence right after the transfiguration highlights the compassion of Christ and the purpose of His coming. Jesus’ glory was on full display on the Mount of Transfiguration, and then He veiled it and came down to minister to the sick child. This was a picture of the larger truth that the Son of God did not consider equality with God something to be exploited for His own advantage but rather humbled Himself and entered a world of sin and death to rescue His people from their transgressions (Phil. 2:5–11). In principle, Jesus could have remained on the Mount of Transfiguration, enjoying the revelation of His divine glory, but He had such compassion for human beings that He willingly came down from the mountain to extend His healing touch. We marvel, then, at the God we serve—the almighty Creator of all who exercises His power and glory not in an exploitative manner but for the benefit of His undeserving creatures.
We see in Luke 9:37–40 that Jesus healed the man’s son because the disciples could not. Remember that only three disciples were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration—Peter, James, and John (Luke 9:28)—leaving nine other disciples at the foot of the mountain to minister to the people. Evidently, the man had tried to get the nine to exorcise the evil spirit that tormented his son, but they were no help (Luke 9:40). This prompted Jesus, just before healing the son, to rebuke that “faithless and twisted generation” (Luke 9:41). It is not entirely clear whether Christ was speaking against the crowds of people or the disciples, but it may not be that we are forced to make an absolute choice between the two options. Although the disciples, because they had chosen to follow Jesus, certainly had greater faith than the crowds and so were not completely faithless, the Gospels also tell us that they failed at many points to trust God. Sadly, the church often does not demonstrate any more trust in the Lord than the unbelieving world does. May that not be true of us.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Too often, even Christians can be like the world in our lack of trust in God. Thanks be to the Lord that He forgives us for not trusting Him. Yet let us not take that forgiveness for granted but ever strive to know and believe God’s promises. As Jesus tells us elsewhere, God can even move mountains when we trust Him (Matt. 17:20).
for further study
- Deuteronomy 32:36
- Psalm 56
- Isaiah 26:4
- Mark 9:14–29
the bible in a year
- 1 Kings 17–18
- John 1