You remember the narrative from which I have taken this verse. Jesus, as
we read, had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and when
He was come to the multitude, a certain man besought him saying, "Have
mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, and I brought him to
Thy disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus rebuked the
devil, and the child was cured from that hour. Thereupon His disciples
came to Him with this inquiry--"Why could not we cast him out? And He
said to them, Because of your little faith. This kind can come forth by
nothing, but by prayer;" or, as our Authorised Version has it, "by prayer
and fasting."

Here, then, we have set before us a very striking and significant
contrast: the contrast between the spiritual power of Jesus fresh from
the Mount of Transfiguration, and the want of such power in His
disciples, who represent to us the common life of the multitude and the
plain. His reply to their question was clearly intended to suggest to
them the cause of their spiritual feebleness. Do you wonder at your lack
of power over the diseases of the soul? "This kind can come forth by
nothing, but by prayer." Now, this suggestive answer is very appropriate
for our consideration at the present time when we are approaching the
season of Lent, which has been observed century after century as a
special season of fasting, prayer, and penitence for sin, through all the
Christian Church.

When we think of these weeks, it is reasonable to believe that such
observance, so universal, so long continued, must have satisfied some
deep need of the heart, especially as it is not based on any particular
dogma. And this incident in the Saviour's life, and these emphatic words
of His, may help us to a clearer understanding of the value of such