- Gospels and Acts(NT) Matthew 17:14~23
JESUS HEALS A DEMON-POSSESSED BOY
Question
JESUS HEALS A DEMON-POSSESSED BOY
Matthew 17:14-23
Key Verse: 17:17
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long
shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring
the boy here to me."
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Review what had happened on the mountain and on the way down the
mountain. What was Jesus trying to teach his top three disciples?
2. Read verses 14-16. What were the other nine disciples doing at the
foot of the mountain? Why did a man come to Jesus begging his mercy?
Describe the symptoms of his son. What made matters worse?
3. Read verses 17-19. What did Jesus say and do? Why did he call that
generation unbelieving and perverse? How about our generation?
4. What did the disciples ask? (19) According to Jesus, what was their
real problem? (20) What did Jesus teach them about the power of
faith? How can we have such faith?
5. What did Jesus again teach his disciples when they came together in
Galilee? How was their reaction different this time?
Manuscript
Message
JESUS HEALS A DEMON-POSSESSED BOY
Matthew 17:14-23
Key Verse: 17:17
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long
shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring
the boy here to me."
In the last passage Jesus took Peter, James and John to the
Transfiguration Mountain. Jesus showed them his transfigured
appearance. 17:2 says, "There he was transfigured before them. His face
shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." His
figure immediately showed them that he was originally God. But he came
to this world and was despised and rejected, and he wore ordinary
people's clothes, old and rugged. Jesus took the disciples to the
Transfiguration Mountain so that they might prepare for his upcoming
death and resurrection without fear, but with courageous faith. It is
indeed amazing to see Jesus' transfigured appearance on the
Transfiguration Mountain. It is indeed amazing that later the apostle
John in exile described his image. Revelation 1:14-16 says, "His head
and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like
blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his
voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held
seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His
face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Jesus'
transfiguration was also for the purpose of meeting the suffering
servants, Moses and Elijah, so that Jesus might prepare himself for his
upcoming crucifixion, death and resurrection. In today's passage Jesus
heals a demon-possessed boy. Matthew's account of this event is
different from the other Gospels in description and wording, but the
main point is the same. Today let's learn what the unbelieving
generation is like and how to cast out demons.
First, the boy's father (14-16). When Jesus, together with Peter, James
and John, came down to the foot of the mountain where the other nine
disciples were waiting, a great and baffling event was taking place. As
soon as Jesus and his three disciples arrived, a man approached Jesus,
knelt before him, and beseeched Jesus, "Lord, have mercy on my son. He
has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or
into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not
heal him" (15-16). This father was at a loss because his son was doing
dangerous things. To him, it was sure that his son was having seizures.
So he brought his son to Jesus' disciples, but they could not heal
him.
Through the experience of the evangelistic journey (Mk 6:7-13),
Jesus' nine disciples were very sure that they could heal this boy, who
was violently throwing himself into the fire and the water. It was
because they had great experiences by driving out many demons and
anointing many sick people with oil and healing them. They had healed
many people. So they thought this one little boy would be no problem to
heal. According to the other Gospels, some Pharisees and the desperate
father were intently watching for the boy to be healed. At the moment,
one of the disciples struck a pose, made a gesture and shouted, "Boy,
you get well immediately!" But his condition was just the same. Several
other disciples did the same. But the boy was not healed. At that time
Jesus was coming down the Transfiguration Mountain. The boy's father
met Jesus and told him the truth about what had happened. "Lord, have
mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly.
He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your
disciples, but they could not heal him." Jesus' disciples had cast out
many demons and had healed the sick when God gave them the power of the
Holy Spirit during their evangelistic journey. But this time they had
no power of the Holy Spirit. So they became the objects of ridicule.
They were greatly embarrassed. They learned that old experience doesn't
work newly. Modern people would see such a boy as a psychiatric patient
and take him to a mental clinic, give him heavy doses of drugs and make
him worse, not better. What was the boy's real problem? It was demon
possession.
There was a pretty young woman, a born-pianist. If she practiced
piano hard, she might have been a contestant at the Tchaikovsky piano
competition in Moscow. So in the hope of raising her as our Chicago
pianist, we applied for her permanent residency. Soon she received
permanent residency. Then we came to know that she was going to a young
boy's house, and had slept with the boy for almost one year. Not only
so, she also cooked many other boys. We thought that we could help her.
So many shepherds, especially Pastor Mark Vucekovich, worked hard. But
she could not leave the boy alone. She stuck to him like a rat sticks
to flypaper. After much pain, we sent her to her home country, where
her father was. There was a UBF full-time staff shepherd. His ministry
was prosperous. But he was seized by a foxy woman and only listened to
the lady; he refused to listen to his senior shepherd. We could not
believe how he could do that. Soon his ministry crumbled and
disappeared. In 1982 a 19-year-old country boy came to Chicago UBF. He
looked as if he had some problem. So a shepherd asked him, "What's
your problem?" He answered, "I have a great marriage problem."
Everybody was surprised that he had a great marriage problem and was so
heavy when he was just 19 years old. His desire was too mean; he could
not be a young man of vision and dream. It was not the 19-year-old boy
who talked about his great marriage problem, but obviously the demon in
him. Many young people do things that they could not even imagine
doing. A great question arises in our hearts: Why? They are not
themselves; they are possessed by demons.
Second, Jesus rebuked the unbelieving generation (17-18). When Jesus
saw the generation, he saw that the people were all unbelieving.
History proves that there were unbelieving generations and there were
believing generations. Believing generations were blessed by God, and
unbelieving generations seemed to be cursed by God.
"In God We Trust" was once in American people's hearts. "In God We
Trust" enabled American people to cultivate this vast land. In order to
cultivate this vast land, many American people died young, on average
at age 40. They worked so hard to cultivate this country. Whenever we
drive the highways of this land, we are amazed at the greatness of the
highways all around the country. Once I went to the southern part of
this land, hoping to see the Mississippi River. At that time I saw
cotton fields which seemed to be so big that they stretched endlessly
from east to west, and from south to north. Our American forefathers
cultivated this land when they had strong faith, in spite of
innumerable hindrances and obstacles. As I said, I went to see the
Mississippi River, but my tour guide was so poor that I never got to
see it.
Now there is a strong impression that America has changed to an
unbelieving generation. Dr. Joseph Chung and Dr. John Lee were arrested
on the Loyola campus and were handcuffed, simply because they were
inviting students for Bible study. They slept overnight in a government
motel. On the other hand, Loyola allowed Muslim people to build a big
mosque inside the campus. What a surprise in the sight of God! Harvard
University was originally founded as a Bible school. But at last year's
graduation ceremony, they invited a Muslim leader and a Christian
pastor and both prayed the opening prayer. What a surprise in the sight
of God!
UBF has been teaching the Bible to students so that they might
accept the teachings of the Bible and live by them. But anti-Christians
have attacked UBF unbearably for the last 19 years. Even though
anti-Christians attacked UBF, UBF prayed for the present and future
America to be blessed and to be a blessing to the people of the whole
world. Once a renowned journalist interviewed Evangelist Dr. Billy
Graham: "What would you do if you lived once more in this world?"
Evangelist Dr. Billy Graham answered, "If I could live again, I would
study the Bible quietly and teach the Bible person-to-person." We are
doing what the famous evangelist is aspiring to do, even in his dreams.
In this respect UBF is very prophetic and practical and doing what is
indispensable for this generation, that is, one-to-one Bible study and
discipleship training. One of the IVF leaders visited UBF and said, "If
any organization does not compromise with the culture of the time, it
is a cult." Some of their great leaders of the past: Stacy Woods, David
Adeney, and Hans Burke, were indeed life-giving and life-sacrificing
servants of God and they considered UBF a brother organization. How
could this IVF leader talk like that? Frankly speaking, he belongs to
the unbelieving generation, although his body is in IVF. Jesus rebuked
his disciples that they were people of the unbelieving generation. But
in truth, Jesus rebuked the people of that entire generation. Many
problems crush the people of each generation. But unbelief is the most
serious problem. John Tower was the head of the Judiciary Committee for
the Iran-Contra hearings. He was stern, and sharper than a knife in
dealing with Oliver North, who simply obeyed his senior's order. So
many people were impressed that Senator John Tower was a holy man. But
he soon died when his own plane crashed. After his death people
described him as an "animal man." His appearance as an animal man in
Time Magazine was so funny.
Jesus is most sorry when a generation is unbelieving and
perverse. An unbelieving generation causes most people to be
unbelieving. America seems to be prosperous outwardly. But Jesus is
very sorry for America because she is so unbelieving. After lamenting
for the unbelieving generation, Jesus rebuked the demon and he came out
of the boy, and the boy was healed from that moment.
Here we learn a great lesson. Many people think they will be free
and happy if they abandon God. But it is not so. In man there is both
flesh and spirit, or a soul. We must fill our physical body with many
kinds of delicious foods to make it alive. Likewise, we must also fill
our souls with the word of God. Otherwise, our souls are occupied by
demons. There is a story of a young man who lived according to his
sinful nature. Later he was possessed by 6,000 demons. A godless life
seems to be free. But those who live godless lives are tormented by
many demons, and they are extremely unhappy. It is because they are not
themselves; they are the possession of demons. I heard that a 69-year
old man, who is the father of one of our missionaries, divorced his
wife, saying that his wife is not beautiful. What a wretched man he is!
He pretended to be happy all the time. But he is not happy^not because
of his aging wife^but because of demons driving his soul. He thinks
joyful people, peaceful people and sacrificial people in Jesus are all
crazy. But he is mad.
Third, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed (19-21). Those nine
disciples who failed to heal the demon-possessed boy were greatly
embarrassed by the Pharisees, before so many people. They made such
excellent gestures to heal the boy. But they only became the objects of
ridicule. Then they came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't
we drive the demon out?" Jesus answered as follows. Look at verse 20.
"He replied, ^Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth,
if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you.'" Here we learn that faith is everything. If we
have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing is impossible. When our
American forefathers had a little faith, "In God We Trust," they could
establish this vast nation. The establishment of this country is
greater than throwing a mountain into the sea. All of us agree
unanimously that the establishment of our nation within such a short
period of history is indeed great. America was established because of
her people's faith. America was established because God blessed her
people's faith, and blessed it more than enough.
In Mark's Gospel, Mark wrote not only the word "faith," he also
included the word "prayer." Mark 11:24 says, "Therefore I tell you,
whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and
it will be yours." Prayer is the same as faith. When we have faith in
God, we can pray to God. When we have faith and pray, God will answer
our prayer; anything can be done. We have a prayer topic: May God
establish America as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It seems
to be too big a prayer topic for us. But it is too small compared with
God's prayer topic for the whole world's salvation. Still our prayer
topic^may God establish America as a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation^seems to be too big for us. Sometimes we feel very vague, and
it seems impossible to be done. Of course, we cannot do it. But we can
pray so that our prayers may be answered and God would do it for us. We
are weak, but we are very confident that everything is possible because
God promised that he will hear our prayers. Therefore, we must pray
that we may have true faith in our hearts, faith as small as a mustard
seed. Then God will pour his power into our hearts through his Holy
Spirit. When we pray, we must believe that God will answer our prayer
and "it will be ours." We should not make Jesus sorry like his nine
disciples did. They did not have faith as small as a mustard seed. So
they could not drive out the demon from the boy's soul.
Fourth, Jesus' prediction of his death and resurrection (22-23). What
the disciples didn't like was to hear from Jesus about his death and
resurrection; they were most afraid of it. But Jesus again predicts his
death and resurrection. Verses 22-23a say, "When they came together in
Galilee, he said to them, ^The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into
the hands of men. They will kill him and on the third day he will be
raised to life.'" What was the disciples' response? The disciples were
filled with grief. Jesus' death and resurrection gives man final
victory, unutterable happiness, remarkable joy, and the most
undisturbed peace. But his disciples were filled with grief. Most
people of the world are filled with grief because they do not accept
Jesus' death and resurrection as a living hope and as man's final
goal.
We want to do something great, like those nine disciples who were
at the foot of the mountain. But if we do something without faith and
prayer, it is indeed in vain. Even if we do something, if we do it
without faith it is like building a house on the sand. Therefore, we
must ask God to give us faith as small as a mustard seed, and a clear
prayer topic so that God can accept our faith and give us the power of
mountain-moving faith and hear our prayer and change America as a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation. May God help us to overcome the
unbelieving generation.