A man brings his son to Jesus for rescue, only to discover that Jesus and the closest three disciples are gone. The son is speechless, as he has been for years. An evil spirit has tried to kill the son. The nine disciples can’t help the boy.

When Jesus returns from the mountain, after sorting through the situation, he says, “Bring the boy to me.”

And a conversation begins between the father and Jesus.

At one point, the man says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

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Though I’ve not heard dads in the hospital for four months, I’ve led two memorial services, been to a couple funeral callings, have talked with friends and family in tough physical and financial and relational and emotional places. The man’s words are echoed all around me, all around us.

“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

If you’ve read the story or heard it preached, you know Jesus pushes back. “If I can?” And we think about Jesus being on the mountain, glowing, and then coming down to confusion.

The man’s response is repeated all the time and everywhere by desperate parents and children: “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” As if it is an incantation, a formula. An attempt to believe enough so that God will act.

But as I read the story to write to you, I ended up at the end, where Jesus says, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” What if the lesson isn’t to believe hard enough or to say the right prayer. What if the lesson is that the man had an honest conversation, listening to and talking with Jesus?

We may not get what we’re asking for. But we will be in conversation with the right person.