CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 17:15. Lunatick.—Epileptic (R.V.). “The child was a possessed epileptic lunatic.”
Matthew 17:20. Grain of mustard seed.—See note on Matthew 13:31. The proverbial type of the infinitely little (Plumptre). Ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence.—Such expressions are characteristic of the vivid imagery of Eastern speech generally. To “remove mountains” is to make difficulties vanish. The Jews used to say of an eminent teacher, he is “a rooter up of mountains” (see Lightfoot ad loc.) (Carr).
Matthew 17:21. This kind, etc.—In his eighth edition of the New Testament text, Tischendorf has omitted the twenty-first verse altogether, imagining that it has crept in from Mark 9:29. And indeed it is not found in the original Sinaitic text; or in the Vatican MS.; or in No. 33, “the queen of the cursives.” It is wanting, too, in some of the oldest MSS. of the old Latin translation, as also in Cureton’s Syriac version, and the Jerusalem Syriac, etc. We could suppose that Tischendorf is right in this case. The twentieth verse is complete and needs no appendix of reply (Morison). The verse is omitted in the R.V.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 17:14-21
A lesson in faith.—The disciples of Jesus were called upon in an especial manner at this time “to walk by faith and not by sight.” Things were to happen which would be wholly contrary to what they naturally expected (Matthew 16:21-22). Therefore it was, perhaps, that our Lord spake to them as in Luke 9:44. And, therefore, perhaps, that He gave to them such a “lesson in faith” as we find in this passage. How this lesson was conveyed may be seen by considering, first, the striking contrast here described, and, secondly, the two-fold explanation of it which is afterwards given.
I. The striking contrast.—On one side of this we have, first, the utter failure of the disciples of Jesus. When those who have been on the Mount of Transfiguration come down again to the rest of their company, they find them in the midst of a large and agitated assemblage (Mark 9:14). Out of these there comes one to the very feet of the Saviour (Matthew 17:14). He has a sad story to tell Him. He has a son—an only child (Luke 9:38)—who is described as an “epileptic” (Matthew 17:15 R.V.)—one “grievously” vexed. At times, indeed, to such an extent as to be ready to fall, in his helplessness, into the “fire” or the “water”—and so be in uttermost danger of wholly losing such life as he has. This helpless case the father had brought to the notice of the Saviour’s disciples during His absence, only to find, however, that, in their way, they were as helpless as it. Whatever they had been able to do in other cases (Matthew 10:8), they could do nothing whatever in this (Matthew 17:16). On the other side, we have, in regard to the same instance, the complete success of the Saviour. What the disciples had thus attempted in vain He accomplishes fully. He does this also, as in other cases, by the simple authority of His word (Mark 1:27). A “rebuke” from Him (Matthew 17:18) is enough. However strong and unwilling (cf. Mark 9:25-26), the demon hears and goes out. He goes out also in such a manner that there is no recurrence of the evil (Mark 9:25). The child was cured—and cured permanently—“from that hour” (Matthew 17:18). In every respect, in short, on the Saviour’s side, there was every evidence of success. Instead of nothing, everything was accomplished. Utter helplessness had been followed up by irresistible power.
II. A twofold explanation.—Twofold because supplied to us from two opposite sides. From the side of the applicant first. With all the father’s depth of distress, and all the urgency of his love and entreaty, we cannot doubt the fact of there being, at first, some deficiency in his faith. This seems implied from what the Saviour said when first He heard of his case, and was told by the man how he had “spoken” to His disciples, but altogether in vain (see Matthew 17:17, also Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41). It certainly comes out in the case of his second application to the Saviour as related by St. Mark. “If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us” (Mark 9:22). Also, this same smallness of faith is just as certainly at once rebuked and encouraged by the Saviour’s reply—a reply which says, in effect (see Mark 9:23), “If I can;” that is not the question. “If thou canst believe;” that is the point. For “all things can be to him that believeth.” A reply also which the poor father evidently took in exactly that sense, as shown by the tenor and urgency of his immediate response—“Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” Nothing is plainer, in short, so far, than that all turned upon faith. Lack of faith in coming was one great reason of that signal lack of success which had marked the first part of this case. The same is true, also, when we look at it, next, from the side of the disciples. Nothing, indeed, can be more express than our Saviour’s own words on this point. “Why could not we cast it out?” “Because of the littleness of your faith” (Matthew 17:20). And nothing stronger than the cogency of the reasoning by which He demonstrates the truth of this saying. For what is this faith—this true faith—of which He is speaking? It is a principle of activity, like that “grain of mustard seed” of which He once told them before (Matthew 13:31-32), which grows of itself. If you have any at all of it, therefore, you have that which is quite certain to grow into more; and, therefore again, that which will be competent, ultimately, to remove the greatest obstacles that can be. Nothing, in short, can be beyond the power of such true faith to accomplish (Matthew 17:20). Nothing, therefore, is to be sought by us more! (So we may gather from Mark 9:29, as it stands in R.V.) Even, if need be, at the cost of much self-denial in other respects. (So we may understand the addition which “many ancient authorities” make to that verse.)
1. Here is a general lesson to all.—Let all those who come to God come to Him in faith (Hebrews 11:6). Let them have faith enough in any case to be desirous of more. The poor man in this story does not appear to have had more than this to begin. But this little faith—this mere “mustard seed” of it—did all he wished in the end.
2. Here is a special lesson to some.—Even to all such as seek, in any way, to help in ministering the word. Let them believe in it themselves! Let them seek to realise both what it is and how much it can do. Oh, the amount of sterility in the field of the kingdom because of deficiency here! Why is it that we have done so little although having the truth itself in our hands? Because of the littleness of our faith. Because we have not realised, on the one hand, that it was really the truth! And have not realised, on the other hand, that truth vanquishes all!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 17:14-18. Household trouble.—We have here—
1. A household in misery because of one of its members. Trouble may be intensive as well as extensive. One prodigal may destroy the peace of a whole family.
2. A household troubled by an uncontrollable circumstance. The sufferer in this case was not blamable. Some troubles we bring upon ourselves; others are put into our lot by a power beyond us.
3. A household united in deep concern for one of its members. The father spoke not for himself only, but also for others, “Have compassion on us,” etc. (Mark 9:22). An unfeeling heart is a greater calamity in a family than the most painful affliction.—J. Parker, D.D.
The church and humanity.—The incident may be viewed not only from the point of the household, but from the point occupied by the church. 1. The church expected to have restoring energy.
2. The church overborne by the evil which confronts it.
3. The church publicly rebuked for its incapacity.
4. The church shown to be powerless in the absence of Christ.—Ibid.
The position of Christ.—
1. Christ calm in the midst of social tumult.
2. Christ exposing Himself to severe reprisals in the event of failure. He spoke rebukingly before He performed the miracle.
3. Christ asserting His independence. “Bring him to Me.” Jesus needed no help. “Without Me ye can do nothing,” but without us He can do everything.
4. Christ overruling and destroying evil. He never put evil into any man; always He sought to cast it out.—Ibid.
The restoration of men.—
1. The worst of cases are not hopeless.
2. Devils do not come easily out of men.
3. Jesus Christ not only expels the devil, He gives His own personal help to the recovered man (Mark 9:27). We need Jesus even until we are set in heaven. The devil throws down, Jesus lifts up.—Ibid.
Matthew 17:19-21. Christian work at home and abroad.—
I. The lesson of the failure.—The failure must have been a trial of no mean severity to the disciples. It was failure to fulfil the commission with which they had been entrusted. It was failure under the unsympathetic and scornful eye of the multitude. It was failure after they had been braced by success and lifted up with strange, not to say wild, hopes. It was a sore humiliation, yet was it full-charged with blessing to them. It was of the nature of that baptism of fire by which true men are made more true, and strong men more strong, and which in some form all men undergo who are appointed to signal service in the kingdom of heaven. Our main concern must be to discover the cause of the failure.
1. The failure of the disciples was to our Lord a question of their spiritual life. It was a question of their attainments and habits in the matter of faith, prayer, and fasting. The faith which our Lord desiderated concerned the deepest springs of life and force in the soul. “Prayer and fasting!” It was no mere matter of abstinence from meats and drinks, or of the observance of seasons and forms in prayer and sacrifice. We know how little store, comparatively, our Lord set by these things. Here was a question rather of faith’s maturity and practical prevalence throughout the whole sphere of the spiritual life, of faith’s triumph over everything which tended to bring the man under the dominion of the present and visible; of a faith which would lift the soul into habitual communion with God, and enrich the will with the energies of self-restraint. The cause of failure thus concerned the very element of life which distinguished them as religious and spiritual men, from men who were carnal and irreligious. Here was no question of the want of tact, or aptitude, or courage, or readiness, or energy, or of any of the secondary and accidental qualifications of good workmen, but a question of vital spiritual force.
2. To our Lord the failure of the disciples in this particular instance was a question of degree in the fulness of the spiritual life. His explanation was that there was a disproportion between the inherent difficulties of the case and the power which the disciples had brought to it. “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Faith grows by culture—it may be weakened by neglect, it may be corrupted by sin. Had the disciples yielded to weakening and corrupting influences? They had been giving forth spiritual energy in the service of Christ; had they been careful to have the springs of that energy replenished from time to time by communion with God?
3. To our Lord the failure of the disciples was a question exclusively of their spiritual life and attainments, and the spiritual power which these engender. The case was admitted to be exceptionally difficult, but it is implied that a robust faith, a spiritual power duly nurtured by prayer and chastened by fasting, would not have been put to shame in dealing with it. Our Lord’s exposure of the cause of the disciples’ failure thus reveals to us a law of the Christian service—that the power in which the labours and conflicts of the kingdom of heaven on earth are to be sustained is spiritual in kind—the power of a genuine religious life; and that the power is in the proportion in which the life is full.
II. The application of the lesson.—We have failures to deplore as well as successes to celebrate. To our “Why?” the Master might say, “Because of your unbelief,” etc. The demons we seek to cast out of the nations are of a kind which will not go out except on the imperative of a spiritual power of the highest order. The subject has a bearing:—
1. On our national life.—Alas for the apostles of a faith which is discredited by the life of the nation which sends them forth!
2. On the spiritual condition of the churches.—Our missionaries, with few exceptions, will be men who represent the average spiritual power and moral enthusiasm of the churches. We have to look to the churches for the men who are to conduct its affairs at home, and also for material and moral support. Causes of anxiety:
(1) Conformity to the world.
(2) Some popular tendencies of theological opinion.
3. On the spiritual attainments of those more immediately engaged in the service.—Ultimately the question is a personal one.—A. Hannay, D.D.
Matthew 17:21. Prayer and fasting. (A Lenten Sermon.)—Here is an undoubted approval of two things very much called in question—prayer and fasting.
I. The true thought touching prayer is that it makes us more fitted to receive, not that it makes God more ready to give.
II. Jesus couples prayer with fasting to secure Heaven’s choicest gifts.—“This kind,” etc. The church of England, in its staid sobriety of doctrine, recognises the value of the discipline of the soul upon the body, and orders all Fridays throughout the year to be observed as days of abstinence, together with the whole of Lent, the forty days from Ash Wednesday, until Easter; also the Ember-days of the four seasons, with other days named. Jesus Himself, moreover, stamps with authority the practice of the church in this matter, and gives special directions relative to fasting. Hence says He, “When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,” etc. (Matthew 6:16-18). The common-sense view with reference to fasting is this: We ought to be as little indebted to earth as possible; tethered here and pinned to this world by as few material things as will serve; bound by as few cords to animal existence and fleshly life as alone are needed to keep body and soul together. “Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth.” This injunction of the Lord Jesus should be the text held in remembrance throughout Lent: “Chasten with stripes the inner man.” There are various ways of doing this. There are many ways in which we may specially now—as at all times we ought to—deny ourselves for our neighbours’ good. Some luxury, doubtless, there is which we, without any great hardship, may give up—some luxury which may minister to the necessity of our poorer neighbour, and make, to a brother that lacketh and hath need, his woeful want less bitter. Yea, let those who have much of this world’s good laid up in store for many years just fast a little during Lent, that those who from chronic want and penury have to keep Lent right through the year may now feast a little, and even in my suggested breach to them of a church rubric, their indulgence shall not be cursed, while our austerities shall be blessed.—Archdeacon Colley.