In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. 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.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 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.” 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.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
The words the father speaks to Jesus in our Gospel reading today may seem strange, almost a contradiction: ‘I believe; help my unbelief.’ If he believes, why does he ask for help? And why help with his unbelief?
But the Fathers assure us there is no contradiction here. It is not that the man does not have faith, but rather that he seeks that his faith be strengthened. For, as the Fathers go on to tell us, faith is something we grow in. We do not begin in it at full strength.
When beginning, we may think of it as being like a seed. A seed, an acorn for example, has the potential to become a tree, and a mighty one at that. But it is not even a sapling, not even a sprout when it is first planted. In order to become the tree, the conditions must be right.
When it comes to our faith, we must do our best to foster those conditions. We must tend to it, to make sure that it grows and develops. We must work hard to ensure that all the evils we will face, temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil, will not choke our faith, causing it grow poorly, stunted and weak; or worse, to wither and die.
How do we do this? We may recall here what our Lord told His disciples about how to drive out demons of the type that afflicted the man’s suffering son: prayer and fasting.
Fasting, of course, is something we are particularly aware of during this holy season of Great Lent. But it is something that we must be aware of always. Fasting is our spiritual exercise. In it we train ourselves to resist the temptations we face by denying ourselves the good things of this world so that we may have the strength not to fall prey to the bad things and sin.
Fasting, as the Fathers tell us, is a powerful way to strengthen ourselves in this regard. When the belly is always full with the good things we enjoy, it is easy to slip and go past what is permitted and do what is not. You may recall the old saying about how a man may dig his own grave with his knife and fork. That, of course, speaks of damaging one’s health and shortening one’s life as a result. But that same knife and fork may also dig a tunnel for us down into hell if we cannot bring ourselves to use them with some restraint.
With respect to prayer, it is good that the father appealed to Jesus for help. This is something we must do, not only in times of need, but always. We do this by keeping faithfully our daily prayer rule and attending the service of the Church, especially the Divine Liturgy. And we must also take care to read the Holy Scriptures and good spiritual books.
Given that this Sunday in Lent we recall St John of the Ladder, his great work, The Ladder of Divine Assent, is one to consider in particular when it comes to spiritual reading. Indeed, it may be especially appropriate, given what I mentioned previously about what the Fathers had to say about recognising that we do not enter in the spiritual life fully formed, but must grow in it little by little. The Ladder, as no doubt you are aware, concerns ascending spiritually step by step.
Speak with your spiritual father about your own life of prayer and fasting. And perhaps also call out daily to God ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.’ Our Lord answered the prayers of the father that day. He will surely answer yours also. Amen.
