We’re nine chapters into Mark’s Gospel, and the disciples are finally starting to figure some things out with respect to Jesus’ identity—their spiritual blindness is being lifted. However, even though they were getting closer to grasping who Jesus was, they were miles away from understanding/accepting why he came, what he was going to do, and how they were to operate in this new kingdom of God.

But this passage isn’t just about the disciples in their journey of following Jesus. Mark does something interesting here. Yes, while it’s another demonstration of the authority of Christ displayed in an exorcism, as most commentators note, Mark doesn’t focus so much on Jesus’ power over the demonic. Instead, he turns our attention to the disciples’ failure—at the beginning and end of the passage— and to a father’s need for faith in the middle).