(Text and Audio)
Title: The Mute Man
- The Situation
We go immediately from a miracle of healing two blind men to healing a mute man, but we see that this man was also demon-possessed.
Notice this man was brought to Jesus, whether this was because he was unable, or unwilling to go on his own, we do not know. But what we do see is Jesus’ willingness to heal both those who come of their own accord (the woman with the bleeding, the two blind men) and those who need others help to met Jesus (this woman, Jarius’ daughter). My point: Jesus is willing to heal us, no matter how we arrive at his feet.
How many of you were saved because someone led you to Christ?
How many of you had a personal epiphany and thus surrendered?
How many of you “just always knew” that Christ was truth?
Anyone here get saved when they were dragged somewhere by other believers?
This was a different type of possession than the two men we read about a couple months ago in the garden of Gergesenes. Those men, under the compulsion of their possession, were blaspheming Jesus. This man was rendered mute, so that even the idea of asking another for help was unavailable.
POINT: Satan works in a variety of ways to hinder us. This man who was unable to ask for help was just as much at the mercy of his possession as the two men who blasphemed Christ as the demons were being driven from him.
- The Great Physician
If I were to have disgusting mucus flowing from my nose, eyes, ears and mouth, and I went to see my doctor and my doctor offered me a box of kleenex for my woe, but did nothing further, what would my reaction be? Why?
A good physician will treat not just the symptom but the cause. A great physician will erase the cause forever.
Imagine if I go to the doctor with this cold and he gives me a Z pack of antibiotics and within five days I feel much better, that’s pretty good, right?
But imagine my physician instead gives me a lifetime supply of magic pills and says, “Now at the first sign of any cold; a sneeze, a cough, anything, you take one of these pills and you will never have a cold. Ever again. You will never be under the power and influence of this disease again. Ever.”
That’s not a good physician, that’s a great physician. Because he’s curing the immediate symptom, he curing the cause of the symptom, and he’s curing it forever.
Of course my theological point here is to stress that we remember that Jesus, in dealing with this man’s blindness, is dealing with the cause of this man’s blindness. He is casting out this demon and binding him. Jesus is not symptom control, he is preventative medicine.
Yet, how does the world, even many Christians, most usually treat Jesus?
As symptom management.
Give me some examples of this.
- Two Distinct Reactions
We see two opposite reactions recorded from Matthew in this passage.
On the one hand, the multitudes marvel and proclaim, “It was never seen like this in all of Israel!”
That’s a pretty substantive thought. Let me put that comment in perspective.
If I were to proclaim, “Steve Rohr is the greatest quarterback ever to come out of Ashland!” What context does that give you? He’s better than Taylor Housewright. He’s better than Billy Cundiff. Not bad. Not true, but not bad.
But if I say, “Steve Rohr is the greatest quarterback to ever come out of Ohio or Pennsylvania!” That changes the game a bit. Now I’m saying that Steve is superior to such players as Bernie Kosar, Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Smith, Joe Montana, and Dan Marino. (To some of you, that analogy doesn’t mean much…trust me, it’s great.)
My point is that for these masses to say, “It was never seen like this in all of Israel” is something else. These people have seen a few miracles in their time. They’ve seen seas stand on end, they’ve seen people resurrected from death, they’ve seen chariots of fire, they’ve seen 10 plagues and 10 commandments. Yet, despite all this, they are willing to proclaim THIS has never before been seen.
And they don’t even realize how right they are.
Yet, on the other hand, we have the Pharisees. And what do they say in response to Jesus’ miracle? “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
Now, this is a pretty vile comment to be sure, but when you look at this reaction of the Pharisees in the wider context of all of chapter 9, we see it is the final insult they have left.
Consider what the Pharisees have said so far about Jesus in Chapter 9:
- They question his authority to forgive sin (v 3)
- They chastise him for talking and eating with sinners (v11)
- They question him on fasting (v14)
Now, these first three, though misguided, had some semblance of honor behind them. The Pharisees were trying to reconcile how Jesus could do these things and not be in contradiction to Jewish Law.
But this last accusation, an accusation that Jesus will deal with down the road a bit in chapter 12, is simply vile. So vile Jesus will soon pronounce it the unpardonable sin.
As Matthew Henry wrote, “Because the people marveled, they must say something to diminish the miracle, and this was all they could say.”
It is beyond sad what men will do when the concept of a power greater than themselves threatens their own power.