Jesus Heals a Blind and Mute Man

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Sep 12, 2015 7103

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come’ (Matthew 12:22-32).

In the eastern world, where people looked to first causes, all illness was ascribed to the malignant power of demons. When the Lord healed a man who could not see or speak, the people asked themselves if Jesus might be the long promised Messiah, the Son of David who would establish God’s eternal kingdom.

The Pharisees, however, claimed Jesus’ power to work miracles came from the devil and not from God. They said this because Jesus did not fit their concept of what the Messiah would be like. They asked, “If Jesus is the Messiah, why hasn’t he driven out the Romans and restored the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus challenged their false view by pointing out that if he was driving out Satan by the power of God, then the kingdom of God had come to Israel. That was difficult for the Pharisees to accept, because, in their thinking, the kingdom of God should be driving out the Romans, not demons. And the kingdom of God should be elevating them as the rulers of the Earth, not sinners such as this blind and dumb man who had been punished by God because of either his or his parents’ sin.

Jesus’ kingdom is far grander than any earthly kingdom the Pharisees envisaged. Jesus, instead of invading the Roman citadels and carrying off their earthly treasures to enrich the Jews, was invading Satan’s citadel and was carrying off the devil’s captives to set them free.

The Pharisees’ concept of God’s kingdom was local and limited to their time and place; God’s true kingdom, by contrast, is universal and includes everyone, both Jew and Gentile. Liberation to the Pharisees meant liberation from the rule of Rome, but liberation to the Lord meant liberation from Satan, sin and all its effects.

– Ritchie Way