Using Explanatory Notes: Mark 9:14-29: A Possessed Boy
The present article seeks to illustrate the four rules outlined previously by a reading of a story from Mark's Gospel.
Before proceeding with this article, I would ask the guest to first, download the New American Bible text of Mark 9:14-29 and then, read it intelligently by
- identifying the setting (with special attention to transitions)
- identifying the principal actors
- identifying the action performed and by whom
The context of the story: Application of Rule 1. The episode is found within a sub-section called: "The Mystery Begins To Be Revealed" which contains the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah (through Peter), the two pronouncements regarding his destiny as the Suffering Messiah, and the Transfiguration. The sub-section ends with a statement about the death and resurrection of Jesus -- a statement that the disciples failed to understand and did not question him about because of fear. The immediate context of the episode is the Transfiguration and explains why Jesus was separated from the group of disciples who were approached first for the healing of the possessed boy. This is discernible from the way the NAB divides the story into parts (see the NAB Introduction) and from the subheadings provided.
Highlights of the story. One immediately senses that this is not an ordinary story about an exorcism. There are too many new elements here that sets the story off from the preceding exorcisms involving Jesus:
1. The exasperated reaction of Jesus in v. 19 which reflects some kind of impatience regarding his disciples' lack of faith. The sarcastic remark of Jesus in v. should also be noted.
2. The conversation between Jesus and the boy's father who speaks for the crowd in answer to Jesus' query in v. 16, and from whom Jesus learns about the boy's years of enslavement to the mute spirit. From the father, Jesus learns of the incapability of the disciples to expel the evil spirit (these were the same disciples who have been commissioned to exorcise, see...) and the boy's pitiful condition.
3. The resistance offered by the unclean spirit and the violence with which he left the boy. It was as if the spirit had so completely possessed the boy that when it finally leaves him, the boy "died."
4. The explanation of why the disciples were unable to drive out the unclean spirit makes the event of the demon-possessed boy similar to a parable that Jesus had to clarify in private for his associates. For one who works in association with Jesus then, the episode becomes an object lesson about the necessity of prayer.
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