And when they came to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
All Commentaries on Matthew 17:14 Go To Matthew 17
John Chrysostom
AD 407
This man the Scripture signifies to be exceedingly weak in faith; and this is many ways evident; from Christ's saying, All things are possible to him that believes; Mark 9:23 from the saying of the man himself that approached, Help my unbelief: Mark 9:24 from Christ's commanding the devil to enter no more into him; Mark 9:25 and from the man's saying again to Christ, If You can. Mark 9:22 Yet if his unbelief was the cause, it may be said, that the devil went not out, why does He blame the disciples? Signifying, that even without persons to bring the sick in faith, they might in many instances work a cure. For as the faith of the person presenting oftentimes availed for receiving the cure, even from inferior ministers; so the power of the doers oftentimes sufficed, even without belief in those who came to work the miracle.
And both these things are signified in the Scripture. For both they of the company of Cornelius by their faith drew unto themselves the grace of the Spirit; and in the case of Eliseus 2 Kings 13:21 again, when none had believed, a dead man rose again. For as to those that cast him down, not for faith but for cowardice did they cast him, unintentionally and by chance, for fear of the band of robbers, and so they fled: while the person himself that was cast in was dead, yet by the mere virtue of the holy body the dead man arose.
