On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."
Luke 9:37-40
Jesus deals with demons quite a bit throughout the gospels. The thing I am continually struck by is that Jesus never gets mad at demons. He deals with them pretty unemotionally actually. He exercises authority over them. He expels them. He saves people from them. But He doesn't tie himself into an anxiety ridden pretzel over them.
Conversely, Jesus does seem to get very frustrated with people. And in every situation that I can think of, He is annoyed at their lack of faith. He calls the Pharisees hypocrites because they say they have faith in God but their actions prove otherwise. They are depending on their works. Not God. This bothers Jesus big time.
In this story from Luke, Jesus rebukes his disciples for their inability to heal a little boy. Their lack of faith kept them from removing the demon that oppressed the child. Jesus seems just exasperated with these guys. Here's the verse:
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Luke 9:41
A little context might be helpful here also. This occurs right after Peter, James and John witness Jesus' transfiguration. The transfiguration is preceded by the feeding of the five thousand. These fellas had witnessed two pretty major miracles in as many days. And yet, when faced with a demon, they were powerless.
And so I'm wondering if we don't, all too often, head off to battle with the wrong weapon. If Jesus deals with demons without even raising his voice while calling his best buds 'perverse' for their lack of faith, them maybe we should pay attention.
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