<p>9:17 <em>And one of the crowd answered him: Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a dumb spirit</em>- When the father of the dumb child brought him to <em>the disciples</em>, he tells Jesus that &ldquo;I brought to <em>you</em> my son&rdquo;, but the disciples couldn&rsquo;t cure him; he perceived Jesus as His followers, just as folk do today. The Lord had earlier given them power over &ldquo;unclean spirits&rdquo; (Mt. 10:8)- but still they couldn&rsquo;t heal him. The power given to them was therefore potential power, but it was no guarantee that they would actually do the works. Alternatively, we could conclude that that power was only given to them temporarily. Or, that there is a difference between the twelve, and the more general &ldquo;disciples&rdquo; / followers of Jesus. However it would have been strange indeed if the man had not brought his son to the group of the twelve in the hope of healing. And it is the disciples, presumably the twelve, who then come to the Lord and ask why they could not perform the cure (:28).</p>