When I encountered this text, one thing I wondered about was what happened before Jesus arrived on the scene. It would be the scene before this scene. We know what Jesus had been doing. Jesus and Peter, James, and John had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration. We believe the normal name for that mountain was Mount Tabor, but I’m happy just to call it the Mount of Transfiguration. It was a glorious moment there on the mountain. Jesus had been praying. He was transfigured. His clothes became dazzlingly white. Moses and Elijah made appearances. The Father in heaven spoke to the disciples. It was a glorious moment. It would have been good to stay up there on the Mount of Transfiguration. But there was more work to do down in the valley. So down they went – Jesus and the Three. And they found an ugly situation at the foot of the mountain.

We know what Jesus and the Three had been doing, but we don’t know what was happening at the foot of the mountain, down with the crowd and the boy and the hapless disciples. I wonder what happened down there before Jesus arrived on the scene.

That poor boy had an evil spirit that seemed intent on killing him. And the boy’s father was beside himself about it, and naturally so. And the disciples? They turned out to be no help. The father brought the boy to Jesus. Did you catch that part? The father brought the boy to Jesus, and all he found were the disciples. They couldn’t do anything. “No, I’d really like to speak to the manager. Is he around?” “No. He’s up on the mountain. What can do for you?” It caused quite a commotion. The skeptical scribes were there in the crowd, heckling from the back row. “You guys can’t do anything!” It was an ugly scene.

I guess I’m primarily curious to know how the disciples tried to cast the demon out of that boy. The disciples weren’t exactly novices at casting out demons. They had done it before. Not long before this story, Jesus had sent them out two by two, like pent-up animals out of the freshly landed ark – out into the world – and Jesus gave the disciples authority over demons. And the disciples went out in six directions. They were successful. Mark tells us in chapter 6, “So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them” (Mark 6:12-13).

So the disciples were like high school boys in auto shop class, just after they’d changed the oil in their first few cars. I imagine them brimming with confidence. They were ready to work on the head gaskets. But then the disciples encountered this one particular demon there at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. It was a difficult case. That demon didn’t respond like the other demons had responded.

I wonder how the disciples tried to cast out that demon. What were their methods? I assume the disciples tried to do things the way Jesus did. That’s the best tactic. Learn from the master.

They probably tried rebuking the evil spirit. That’s what Jesus did. He rebuked the demons. To rebuke something means to express disapproval of it or to level a criticism. But you have to be rather sharp about it if it’s a true rebuke. “You evil spirit! You are tormenting this poor boy!” Something like that. Exclamation points are required.

At the very start of Jesus’ ministry, just after Jesus called the disciples to follow Him, He encountered a man with an unclean spirit in Capernaum, on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-28). It happened right there in the synagogue, in the middle of the sermon Jesus was preaching. The demon called out from the man who was sitting there in the congregation, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.” Mark says Jesus rebuked the spirit and said, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the spirit did.

I think the disciples must have tried to rebuke that evil spirit at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. “You evil spirit, making this boy mute!” And then I imagine they commanded the spirit to come out of the boy. That’s probably the most important part of the whole project of casting out demons. “Thomas, give it the command. Tell it to ‘Come out!’”

That’s another thing they’d seen Jesus do. It worked for Jesus. Over on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus cast a demon out of a man and into a large herd of pigs (Mark 5:1-20). The pigs rushed down the hill into the sea and drowned. Jesus was resolute. “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Jesus had done the same thing in Capernaum. Perhaps those were the magic words – “Come out!”

I think the disciples, surrounded by that crowd at foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, must have tried to command the spirit to come out of that boy. “Come out of him. Now.”

It didn’t work. “Andrew, you try it.” “OK. Come out, you demon. Now! … We mean it!” It didn’t work. The rebuking didn’t work. The commands didn’t work. This demon was stubborn.

Maybe the disciples tried asking the demon its name. Jesus once did that. On that hillside on the far shore of the Sea of Galilee – to that evil spirit He sent into the pigs – Jesus asked the demon its name. “What is your name?” That might have been important. The people standing there may have needed to know what Jesus was dealing with. That demon’s name was Legion. Jesus not only had authority to cast out demons one at a time. But He also could throw out a thousand of them with just a word. People needed to know that.

“Philip, ask the demon its name.” I imagine they might have done that. That didn’t work either. I think this was a quiet demon.

Maybe they tried to move the demon into some animal. Jesus had done that, too. Remember the pigs on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, drowned in the lake. I imagine the disciples looke around. “Does anyone here have … a pig?” No success.

What do you do when you can’t rebuke, you can’t cast out, you can’t make headway – when you can’t do the things that have worked in the past? What do you do? What do you do when you simply are stuck, when your own efforts are futile, when you just don’t know what to do? What do you do when there are no magic words, magic bullets, magic numbers?

I wonder what the disciples tried before Jesus showed up. We only can speculate.

Fortunately, Jesus did arrive. I imagine the disciples were happy to see Jesus. The people brought Jesus the boy. The spirit saw Jesus and sent the boy into new convulsions. So Jesus did what the disciples had seen Him in the past. He rebuked the demon. “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And that was that. The moment was dramatic. At first, they thought the boy suddenly died, right there in front of them. But Jesus took the boy by the hand and raised him up. The boy was fine.

Later, when the disciples were all alone with Jesus, they asked Him about it. It was an embarrassing situation, really. Things had gotten ugly out there. They didn’t want to get in a situation like that again. So the disciples asked Jesus. “Why could we not cast it out?” Did they tell Jesus all the ways they tried to cast it out? We don’t know. But I think Jesus knew. He certainly knew one thing they didn’t try.

Jesus said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

That might be disappointing to know. Not by anything but prayer. Some demons could be driven out by other methods, I suppose. Rebuking them. Calling them out. Sending them into the pigs. Some demons could be driven out by bold disciples speaking bold words in faith. Never forget the faith. But some demons – “this kind” – you’ve got to pray.

Not by “anything but prayer,” Jesus said. I guess we say that, too. But we modify it sometimes. We don’t say, “Not by anything but prayer.” We just say, “Anything but prayer.” That’s a mentality you can have. That mentality wants to become our quiet, subconscious, unspoken mantra in life. “Anything but prayer.” We don’t even realize this is how we think.

“I’ll do anything but pray. I’ll figure out how to accomplish this hard task on my own. I don’t have a lot of time in my day. I don’t have time to pray. I’ve got my work. I’ve got my kids. I’ve got the commute. I’ve got the house. I’ve got my parents. I’ve got my hobbies. I’ve got projects. Busy, busy, busy. So I’ll just do it myself, by my own power. I’ll use any method but prayer. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ Didn’t my dad say that? Anything but prayer.”

…

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Early in Mark’s gospel, we just got to meet Jesus. We just got done shaking His hand, and there He goes – off by Himself to pray. Didn’t Jesus know the people needed Him – that Jesus could do something for them?

…

“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Many people have said it: If you want to do great works for God, you’ve got to be a person of great prayers to God.

Jesus always was doing great works for God. And He always was praying. He always was opening Himself up to His Father, living in communion with Him, living in dependance upon Him. And Jesus seemed to be telling His disciples, “If you want to cast out this kind of a demon, this kind of intractable, hard, entrenched, mute and deaf spirit, you must do the same. You must be men of prayer.”

Have you given up your praying? Men and women of faith always are people of prayer. Always. That’s what they do.

You can’t convince your child or your brother or your parent or your neighbor or your co-worker of the gospel? “Why can’t I do this?” You must pray.

You can’t bring yourself peace, free yourself from anxiety, eliminate your pride, end your self-serving narcissism, cast out your lustful tendencies, fix your children, fix your parents, fix your spouse, fix yourself? “Why can’t I do this?” You must pray.

You can’t make your community turn to Christ? You can’t grow your church? You can’t spark a revival or a spiritual awakening? “Why can’t I do this?” You must pray.

In the final analysis, your methods aren’t good enough. Are we, as a church, people of prayer? Are you, as a Christian, a person of prayer?