Mark 9:29 — Community Reflections

MARK 9:29 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”

He replied, this kind can come out only by prayer — the answer is a single word of diagnosis: prayer. The disciples had been given authority (Mark 6:7) and had exercised it successfully (6:13), but the kind of spirit in this boy — ancient, deeply embedded, destructive from childhood — required the prayerful dependence that the disciples apparently attempted without. The principle is not about exorcism technique but about the disciples' operating posture: they acted on their own authority rather than dependence on the Father through prayer.

Church Fathers on Mark 9:29

After He had shewn His glory in the mount to the three disciples, He returns to the other disciples, who had not come up with Him into the mount; wherefore it is said, 'And when He came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them.'
Theophylact · 11th century

But there is no peace for man under the sun; envy is ever slaying the little ones, and lightnings strike the tops of the great mountains. Of all those who run to the Church, some as the multitudes come in faith to learn, others, as the Scribes, with envy and pride.
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

In all cases, the difference between the mind of the Scribes and of the people ought to be observed; for the Scribes are never said to have shewn any devotion, faith, humility, and reverence, but as soon as the Lord was come, the whole multitude was greatly amazed and feared, and ran up to Him, and saluted Him; wherefore there follows, 'And running to Him, saluted Him.'
Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 3, 38

Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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