Matthew 17:14–21

¹⁴ And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” ¹⁷ Then 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 here to Me.” ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. ¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁰ So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”  

Commentary 

Vs. 14-16 ¹⁴ And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 

Having then returned to the multitude of people, a desperate man now comes to the Lord Jesus and kneeling down before Him pleading with Jesus to heal his severely afflicted epileptic son. An affliction that was born out of demonic oppression (vs. 18, also see Mark 9:17-18; Luke 9:38-40). Now the man had already brought the boy to the disciples, but as he now declares to Jesus they were unable to cure him. 

Vs. 17 Then 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 here to Me.” 

Having previously been glorified before the disciples, clearly Jesus was frustrated with both them and the multitudes who had likewise witnessed many of His miraculous healings and works, because what should have been inspiring greater faith in both the disciples and multitudes had not yet taken root. Nonetheless Jesus tells them to bring the child to Him. 

Vs. 18 “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.” 

Where the disciple’s faith was weak, the Lord was still strong, and so with a Word He rebuked the demon and the child was cured from that very hour. 

Vs. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 

With the Lord Jesus easily and immediately casting out the demon, the disciples now come to Him and ask Him privately why they could not cast it out, for previously when Jesus sent them out they could do this and so much more (see Matt. 10:5-42). 

Vs. 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 

Jesus response to them is plain and simple, because of their unbelief they could not cast it out. Now Jesus also strengthens that need for faith to accomplish anything through Him by also saying, “…for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Therefore, faith of a mustard seed (the smallest of all seeds) is all that is required of us to stand on God’s Word and Promises and then have them enacted in our lives. For though God requires faith from us to move mountains for us, it’s not the size of our faith that makes things happen, it’s the Greatness and Limitedness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves when we believe Him and keep Him as the sole object of our faith. 

Vs. 21 “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

Having made faith the prerequisite for accomplishing anything through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ now tells the disciples that this kind of demon which they could not cast out, only comes out by prayer and fasting. Now though this verse is excluded from many modern translations it is supported in a majority of the ancient manuscripts and thus should not be overlook in this process.

Scripture Quotations

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.