The Epileptic Son
THE EPILEPTIC SON
And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “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. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 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.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 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. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.
Matthew 17: 14-23
Possible Discussion Questions:
1. Why did Jesus treat this as a case of demon possession and not illness?
2. Why couldn’t the disciples heal the boy?
3. Does this “mustard seed” have any correlation with the parable of the mustard seed?
4. Who are the “faithless and perverse generation”? The Jewish people? The disciples? The boy’s father? We ourselves?
5. Did the father need the help of the Lord to grow in faith? Do we?
6. How do we make use of the power and faith the Lord has given us?
7. Why can’t prayer and fasting be separated? Is either optional? Why or why not?