Luke 9:37-42 Fasting and Newt's eyes

Luke 9:37-42 Jesus casts a demon out of a child who is having a grand mal seizure. Parallel passages in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:14-29. We would today say the child has epilepsy or possibly is autistic, both of which have physical causes. Are we to interpret the need for exorcism as a superstitious misunderstanding? And yet, when Jesus rebuked the demon, it left, and the child was healed. We can only accept, in faith, that not all seizures of this type have physical roots and in this case the cause was spiritual. How the demon came to control this child we do not have any information. We are told that the disciples tried unsuccessfully to cast it out and when Jesus rebuked it, it first threw the boy on the ground in a convulsive fit before it left.

         The part that Matthew & Mark add, but is not included in Luke, is the discussion between Jesus and the disciples about why they were unsuccessful in trying to cast it out. Jesus explained to them that this kind of demon would only come out with prayer and fasting. There is a note in some translations that some early manuscripts omit Matt 17:21 and that the words 'and fasting' are not found in all early version of Mark 9:29. What does this tell us?

         I think the point here is that in dealing with unclean spirits, the role of fasting is hotly contested. At this point in the disciples' spiritual development, they were not continuously anointed with the Holy Spirit and power so even though Jesus had given them authority over unclean spirits earlier (Luke 9:1), they weren't always able to exercise it. This limitation in part had to do with the quality of their spiritual relationship with God the Holy Spirit. He was at that time with them but not in them. (John 14:17) But even more, their hearts were not necessarily continuously attuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is where the role of fasting most likely comes in. Fasting is not some magic practice like an incantation or a witch's concoction of newt's eyes that gives a person a special power like in a Harry Potter book. Fasting is a discipline whose primary purpose is to enable the individual believer's heart and soul to focus on and tune to the whispering of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them that He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), and the Holy Spirit is the means by which both Jesus and we discern what the Father is doing.

         The bottom line on this is that casting out demons is not simply some words said according to a pattern shown in the Bible, claiming the authority of Christ. It requires the one exercising that authority to be fully attuned to the Holy Spirit and become, in effect, an instrument through which the Holy Spirit flows. It involves surrendering autonomy because it is God who is doing the work. Perhaps the best analogy would be like a court clerk who is delivering an eviction notice to a tenant. The clerk who delivers the notice doesn't actually force the tenant to leave, but tells him to leave with the understanding that the police will be along on a given date to enforce it physically if he doesn't leave. And so for the clerk's words to have effect (in most cases they are printed in a document) it must be the precise language that the judge has approve so there can be no quibbling later about authority.