The boy was exhibiting symptoms of a neurological disorder when his dad sought out a healing method he had heard could help. But when the treatment failed, the man was heartbroken. He wondered how that could have happened. However, undeterred, the man went looking for the originator of this system of mental treatment. Then, after a brief encounter, the father saw his son healed. What joy!
This will sound familiar to those who know the Bible. It is an account, found in the book of Matthew, of a man who came to Jesus’ disciples seeking healing for his epileptic son. But when they couldn’t help him, the man went directly to Jesus, who consummated the healing (see 17:14–21).
I have often thought of those disciples with compassion, for this must have been a very difficult moment for them. How hard it must have been to see that father, who had counted so much on their help, despair when the boy was no better. Perhaps the disciples experienced what in our time is called “impostor syndrome”—a condition experienced by an individual when they doubt their abilities or accomplishments and have an internalized fear of being a fraud.
