The Fruits of My Labors and Ordinary Time

Luke 9:37 On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. 38And a man from the crowd shouted, saying, "Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only boy, 39and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. 40"I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not."

41And Jesus answered and said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here." 42While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43And they were all amazed at the greatness of God But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,

I was taken with several things in this passage. One—a child was being ravaged by a demon. How is that possible? How can a demon oppress a child? They are innocent and most likely have not sinned at this tender age. Perhaps it was a the sins of the parents? Two—the disciples had no power. Oh, I could relate to that. I have tried to do “exploits” myself to no avail. Or so it seemed.  I cynically laughed at this passage.  Three—Jesus’ rebuke. Oh my! I was shaken by it. It seemed so mean and undeserved. Why not teach them more? Why not comfort them? After all, they were trying to mimic Him, their teacher. Four—Jesus rebuked, delivered, healed and gave the boy back to his father. Wow, I thought. These are the works of Jesus in our lives. He delivers us from sin, then He heals us of our wounds, sets us upright like a man, then gives us back to the Father. This I understood experientially. But what about the rest? And what did that have to do with me and the situation I found myself in that day. I was observing a little boy being terrorized by a spirit, although I did not discern it at the time. He only looked sad. 

As I meditated on this I found that for whatever reason, the child did have a demon. It did control and oppress him, with or without his parents permission. I don’t think it was a matter of the “sin of the fathers” for the father appears to be very loving and concerned for his child. So...moving on I at first thought, the disciples were chastised for being a faithless and twisted generation. Aha...they lacked faith and their worldview were twisted. They lacked truth, they were products of their secular education. But then what about Jesus’ remarks? For this reason, the disciples lacked power! Yes! That’s it. But my soul was not satisfied. 

Then the Holy Spirit asked me? To whom is Jesus talking? He is not talking to the immediate context. He is looking to heaven and saying to the Father? How long O Lord? How long before I can go to the Cross, suffer and be buried? How long before I can send the Holy Spirit to my lads? How long must I bear with their inability to heal in my My Name when there are so many needs out here? Yes, his words were a prayer to the Father. He looked forward to his passion SO THAT we might be filled and deliver His lambs from evil. 

Then I knew that this child I had been with all day, could be delivered with a simple prayer, and that Jesus would deliver him back to his father. In the case I was looking at the child had been distant all day from his parents, uncommunicative and dull. Not the usual smiling happy boy. And now that I too was filled with the Spirit, I could ask Jesus to deliver this young man from evil and it would be done. I was not like the disciples at this stage in their training. I was a daughter of the Cross. So I prayed, very simple, very naturally asking the Father to remove the oppressor from this child. I did not have to jump or shout or scare anyone, I just asked, in His name. Sure enough, in a matter of moments the child began to smile, and a big smile!

As I prayed my voice quaked, thinking of Jesus’ faithfulness as we read the Scriptures and to apply them to our daily lives. But I also thought of Hans’ absence. Surely there must be an answer for me too somewhere in these pages. It will come, when I am ready.