The Epileptic Child

1
The Epileptic Child
2
The Records

• Matthew, Mark and Luke all have records of this
  incident.
• Trying to get the whole picture from three
  different accounts can be confusing.
• Its helpful to collect into one place everything
  that is recorded in the three sources ...

3
Collated Texts (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9)
(RSV) On the next day, when they had come down
from the mountain(Lk 937) to the disciples, they
saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing
with them.(Mk 914) And immediately all the
crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed,
and ran up to him and greeted him.(Mk 915) And
he asked them, What are you discussing with
them?(Mk 916) And behold, a man from the
crowd,(Lk 938) kneeling before him,(Mt 1714)
cried, Teacher,(Lk 938) Lord,(Mt 1715) I beg
you to look upon(Lk 938) (and) have mercy on(Mt
1715) my son, for he is my only child.(Lk 938)
I brought (him) to you for(Mk 917) behold,(Lk
939) he has a dumb spirit,(Mk 917) is an
epileptic and suffers terribly.(Mt 1715)
Wherever (the spirit) seizes him,(Mk 918) he
suddenly cries out(Lk 939) it dashes him down
and(Mk 918) convulses him till he foams,(Lk
939) grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.(Mk
918) (It) shatters him, and will hardly leave
him.(Lk 939) And I begged your disciples to cast
it out, but they could not(Lk 940) heal him.(Mt
1716)
4
And Jesus answered(Mt 1717, Mk 919, Lk 941)
them,(Mk 919) O faithless(all) and perverse(Mt
1717, Luke 41) generation how long am I to be
with you?(all) How long am I to bear with you?
Bring(Mt 1717) your son(Lk 941) here to me.(Mt
1717) And they brought the boy to him.(Mk 920)
When the spirit saw him,(Mk 920) while he was
coming,(Lk 942) the demon tore him and convulsed
him(Lk 942) he fell on the ground and rolled
about, foaming at the mouth.(Mk 920) And Jesus
asked his father, How long has he had this? And
he said, From childhood.(Mk 921) And it has
often cast him into the fire and into the water,
to destroy him but if you can do anything, have
pity on us and help us.(Mk 922) And Jesus said
to him, If you can! All things are possible to
him who believes.(Mk 923) Immediately the
father of the child cried out (with tears)(Many
ancient authorities) and said, I believe help
(me overcome)(NIV) my unbelief!(Mk 924)
5
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running
together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying
to it, You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you,
come out of him, and never enter him again.(Mk
925) And after crying out and convulsing him
terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a
corpse so that most of them said, He is
dead.(Mk 926) But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up, and he arose,(Mk 927) and the
boy was cured instantly.(Mt 1718) (So Jesus)
gave him back to his father.(Lk 942) And all
were astonished at the majesty of God.(Lk 943)
But while they were all marvelling at everything
he did, he said to his disciples,(Lk 943) Let
these words sink into your ears for the Son of
man is to be delivered into the hands of men.(Lk
944) But they did not understand this saying,
and it was concealed from them, that they should
not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him
about this saying.(Lk 945)
6
And when he had entered the house, his disciples
asked him privately, Why could we not cast it
out?(Mk 928) He said to them, Because of your
little faith.(Mt 1720) And he said to them,
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but
prayer.(Mk 929) For truly, I say to you, if you
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will
say to this mountain, Move from here to there,
and it will move and nothing will be impossible
to you.(Mt 1720)        In this
transcript, some unimportant words have been left
out, some punctuation has been changed, and a few
words in black have been added in brackets so as
to make the collated text more easily readable
and include important ideas from other sources.
Otherwise the words in colour are transcribed
verbatim from the RSV, and nothing is omitted.
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Subtext 1 Jesus Deals With Sin

• The boys dominating evil spirit models our
  bondage to sin.
• The evil spirit is personified (Mark 920) like
  Sin in (eg) Romans 77 ff.
• The boys condition was from childhood and left
  him as dead (Mark 926). Similarly, before
  knowing the Lord, we were dead in trespasses and
  sins (Ephesians 21) because of sin in the
  flesh (Romans 83).
• Jesus raised up the boy (Mark 927) and gave
  him back to his father (Luke 942). Hes done
  the same for us, in baptism (Romans 64). Both
  the healing and our baptism are figures of
  resurrection to divine nature at his coming (cp
  John 524, 25 and 28, 20).

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Subtext 2 A Kingdom Parable

• Jesus is absent.
• His disciples are in conflict.
• Jesus returns in glory.
• His coming astonishes and immediately arrests
  attention. All eyes are fixed on him.
• He raises the dead.
• The conflict is settled (see Luke 943).

9
A Time-Line for Jesus Ministry
10
The Transfiguration

• Took place about 7 months before Jesus death.
• It was a week after Jesus tested the disciples
  faith (eg Matt 1613-20) as preparation for ...
• His first teaching the disciples about his death
  and resurrection (Matt 1621 Mark 831ff).
• Then he took Peter, James and John up a high
  mountain (Hermon?) apart to pray (Mark 92
  Luke 928).
• Moses and Elijah appeared to him in glory, and
  spoke of his forthcoming death (Luke 931).
• It was after the transfiguration that Jesus set
  his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 951).

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Collated Texts (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9)
(RSV) On the next day, when they had come down
from the mountain(Lk 937) to the disciples, they
saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing
with them.(Mk 914) And immediately all the
crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed,
and ran up to him and greeted him.(Mk 915) And
he asked them, What are you discussing with
them?(Mk 916) And behold, a man from the
crowd,(Lk 938) kneeling before him,(Mt 1714)
cried, Teacher,(Lk 938) Lord,(Mt 1715) I beg
you to look upon(Lk 938) (and) have mercy on(Mt
1715) my son, for he is my only child.(Lk 938)
I brought (him) to you for(Mk 917) behold,(Lk
939) he has a dumb spirit,(Mk 917) is an
epileptic and suffers terribly.(Mt 1715)
Wherever (the spirit) seizes him,(Mk 918) he
suddenly cries out(Lk 939) it dashes him down
and(Mk 918) convulses him till he foams,(Lk
939) grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.(Mk
918) (It) shatters him, and will hardly leave
him.(Lk 939) And I begged your disciples to cast
it out, but they could not(Lk 940) heal him.(Mt
1716)
12
And Jesus answered(Mt 1717, Mk 919, Lk 941)
them,(Mk 919) O faithless(all) and perverse(Mt
1717, Luke 41) generation how long am I to be
with you?(all) How long am I to bear with you?
Bring(Mt 1717) your son(Lk 941) here to me.(Mt
1717) And they brought the boy to him.(Mk 920)
When the spirit saw him,(Mk 920) while he was
coming,(Lk 942) the demon tore him and convulsed
him(Lk 942) he fell on the ground and rolled
about, foaming at the mouth.(Mk 920) And Jesus
asked his father, How long has he had this? And
he said, From childhood.(Mk 921) And it has
often cast him into the fire and into the water,
to destroy him but if you can do anything, have
pity on us and help us.(Mk 922) And Jesus said
to him, If you can! All things are possible to
him who believes.(Mk 923) Immediately the
father of the child cried out (with tears)(Many
ancient authorities) and said, I believe help
(me overcome)(NIV) my unbelief!(Mk 924)
13
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running
together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying
to it, You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you,
come out of him, and never enter him again.(Mk
925) And after crying out and convulsing him
terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a
corpse so that most of them said, He is
dead.(Mk 926) But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up, and he arose,(Mk 927) and the
boy was cured instantly.(Mt 1718) (So Jesus)
gave him back to his father.(Lk 942) And all
were astonished at the majesty of God.(Lk 943)
But while they were all marvelling at everything
he did, he said to his disciples,(Lk 943) Let
these words sink into your ears for the Son of
man is to be delivered into the hands of men.(Lk
944) But they did not understand this saying,
and it was concealed from them, that they should
not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him
about this saying.(Lk 945)
14
And when he had entered the house, his disciples
asked him privately, Why could we not cast it
out?(Mk 928) He said to them, Because of your
little faith.(Mt 1720) And he said to them,
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but
prayer.(Mk 929) For truly, I say to you, if you
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will
say to this mountain, Move from here to there,
and it will move and nothing will be impossible
to you.(Mt 1720)        In this
transcript, some unimportant words have been left
out, some punctuation has been changed, and a few
words in black have been added in brackets so as
to make the collated text more easily readable
and include important ideas from other sources.
Otherwise the words in colour are transcribed
verbatim from the RSV, and nothing is omitted.
15
The Epileptic Child