Having worked in the field of public education as a teacher, and later as a school principal, I appreciate the importance of learning. This means that I’ve welcomed reading the Gospels to learn how Christ Jesus taught his disciples.

There is an account in the book of Mark (see 9:14–29) about a man appealing to Jesus’ disciples to heal his son, who was suffering with a “dumb spirit,” or what today might be termed epilepsy. The disciples could not heal the boy. The man then approached Jesus and implored him to help. Unimpressed by and unafraid of the circumstances, Jesus “rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” The spirit came out of him, leaving him “as one dead,” but Jesus “took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.”

The disciples witnessed what Jesus did. With a deep desire to learn from him, they asked why they hadn’t been able to heal the boy. Jesus answered, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” To me, this means that sometimes we need a willingness to set aside, or “fast” from, our fears and assumptions about why something doesn’t appear to be healed. It’s our eagerness to learn the truth about God and ourselves as God’s loved children, spiritual and whole, that moves us forward and opens the door to healing.