Help Thou Mine Unbelief

The Story

When Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John, He found a crowd arguing with His other disciples.

A father stepped forward. He had brought his son to the disciples. Since childhood, the boy had been tormented by a spirit that left him unable to speak, threw him to the ground, and tried to throw him into fire and water to destroy him. The disciples had tried to help, and they couldn’t.

They brought the boy to Jesus, and right away the spirit threw him into a convulsion.

The father was worn out from years of watching his son suffer. “If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us.”

Jesus repeated his words back to him. If you can? “All things are possible to him that believeth.”

Immediately the father cried out with tears, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Jesus rebuked the spirit and commanded it to come out and never return. The boy went still, so still that many said he was dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he stood.

Later, the disciples asked Jesus privately why they couldn’t help the boy. “This kind can come forth by nothing,” Jesus said, “but by prayer and fasting.”

Reflection