Mark 9:14-35

When they came [back] to the [other nine] disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes questioning and arguing with them. [Matt 17:14-18; Luke 9:37-42] Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Jesus, they were startled and began running up to greet Him. He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” One of the crowd replied to Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him [intending to do harm], it throws him down, and he foams [at the mouth], and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. I told Your disciples to drive it out, and they could not do it.” He replied, “O unbelieving (faithless) generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” They brought the boy to Him. When the [demonic] spirit saw Him, immediately it threw the boy into a convulsion, and falling to the ground he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he answered, “Since childhood. The demon has often thrown him both into fire and into water, intending to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” Jesus said to him, “[You say to Me,] ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes and trusts [in Me]!” Immediately the father of the boy cried out [with a desperate, piercing cry], saying, “I do believe; help [me overcome] my unbelief.” When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering [around them], He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again!” After screaming out and throwing him into a terrible convulsion, it came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse [so still and pale] that many [of the spectators] said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he stood up. When He had gone indoors, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why were we unable to drive it out?” He replied to them, “This kind [of unclean spirit] cannot come out by anything but prayer [to the Father].” They went on from there and began to go through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know it, because He was teaching His disciples [and preparing them for the future]. He told them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over to men [who are His enemies], and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise [from the dead] three days later.” But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him [what He meant]. They arrived at Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He asked them, “What were you discussing and arguing about on the road?” [Matt 18:1-5; Luke 9:46-48] But they kept quiet, because on the road they had discussed and debated with one another which one [of them] was the greatest. Sitting down [to teach], He called the twelve [disciples] and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all [in importance] and a servant of all.”