When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”
Magical Incantations?Words possess power to heal and destroy. Every parent knows this. So do politicians. But does the right combination of words tap into a power beyond themselves? Can certain phrases control the gods? Or the goddess, Mother Earth and her forces of nature? Or as Christians believe, the One God over all, in all, and through all?
One could accuse the Bible of sending mixed signals. It condemns the practice of witchcraft, in part because instead of placing us in a position of submission to the Almighty, it teaches ways to manipulate divine forces for good or evil (white and black magic).
Today Jesus associates prayer – words in sentences – with power over evil forces. Another time he declared, “Ask anything in my name and I will do it for you,” as if using his name could be used as a magical incantation. Many, I think, use Jesus’ name just this way. Yet, if prayer is nothing more than the right words used to get God to act according to human will, then Christianity aught not condemn paganism! The proverbial pot calls the kettle black.
Jesus’ association of prayer and this miracle must be understood in the context of his words that criticize the faithlessness of all those involved in this sad scene, including, and perhaps especially, his disciples.
Jesus does not associate prayer with power to accomplish miracles; rather, prayer draws the disciple into deep communion with God where faith flourishes. Prayer digs an ever deepening well of confidence in God, and more, it forges a life entirely defined by the mind and heart of God. This kind of existence is capable of great power, not to manipulate God, but to act in sync with God’s heart and mind for people the world over.
Almighty God, I want to live in complete communion with you. I want my heart and mind to love and know nothing except that which you love and know. Teach me the kind of prayer life that will draw me into this relationship. - Mike Leamon
Prayer
There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to do something you know you can do. I see this particularly with people who have dementia or the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. These people know there is something they should remember, they know it is there somewhere and that they used to be able to do it with no problem, but now the brain is failing them and they cannot do it.
The disciples must have felt this way. It was not a matter of disbelief on their part; it was a matter of misdirected power. Jesus tells them, this kind only comes out by prayer. The disciples were most likely using the name of Jesus, they were most likely speaking with belief and yet nothing was happening. Frustrating!
The words Jesus uses don’t sound much like a prayer; they are commands, statements with authority. Perhaps this is what prayer is: statements of authority, but not our authority. I don’t know what the disciples said, Mark does not tell us, but they evidently did not possess the authority needed. Only God does. Only God possess the authority needed, and our access to that authority is prayer.
Prayer is not simply coming to God with our laundry list of requests; it is exercising the spiritual authority of God in this world. It is claiming that God is greater than the forces of destruction and proclaiming it boldly. Jesus does just that: “Listen you spirit that is causing this, come out and never return.” No wavering, just stating God’s authority in the situation.
Jesus is able to do this because he has been in the presence of God and knows God’s authority in his own life. His own life has been submitted to this authority making him a perfect conduit to express God’s authority in the world. When our lives reflect the same submission to God as we find in Christ, we too can be a conduit of God’s authority through prayer.
Master of the universe, of all the earth and my life, I bow before you today submitting all of my life to your authority. I want to be a pure conduit of your authority in the world. Teach me to pray with confidence and in the authority of God. - Dan Jones
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