Matthew 17:14-21

Healing of the Demoniac Boy (Mark 9:14 *, Luke 9:37). The story is much shorter than in Mk. The reference to possession does not come till the end; in Matthew 17:15 the child is described as epileptic. Perhaps the story was told in Q. The father's appeal, Lord, have mercy (Matthew 17:15), gives us the well-known Kyrie eleison. Instead of prayer (the verse (Matthew 17:21) in Mt. is spurious) and fasting (Mark 9:29), Jesus here puts the emphasis on faith (cf. Matthew 21:21, Mark 11:22 f.). The Sinaitic Syriac has your unfaith; perhaps little faith is a softening of this.