Anchor My Faith

Healing Two Blind Men and a Demon Possessed Man

Scripture: Matthew 9:27-34

We ended our previous lesson with Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead. ^{Mt 9:27} “And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” ²⁸ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him.”

As Jesus leaves the home of Jairus, two blind men followed along with the crowd, crying aloud for Jesus to have mercy on them. They referred to him as the “Son of David,” a reference to the promised messianic deliverer from the line of David whose kingdom will continue forever. We learn from Isaiah that the messianic age was to bring healing to the blind: “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see” (Isaiah 29:18 ESV).

It is not clear if Jesus went from the home of Jairus to his own home or the home of a friend there in Capernaum. In either case, Jesus seemed to ignore their cries, but they were determined to get his attention and followed Jesus into the house where he went. ^{Mt 9:28} “Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”’ Finally, Jesus responds to their determination and asks them about their faith in him healing them. They affirmed that they believed that he could heal them, and so Jesus touches their eyes and heals them.

^{Mt 9:30} “And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” ³¹ But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.” The healing of their eyes appeared to be done in relative privacy, as Jesus gave them orders to not tell others about their healing. But like so many other times when Jesus performed a miracle for someone and then gave strict orders to not tell others, these two men disobeyed and told everyone they met.

For whatever reason Jesus came to this house, it is now time to move on and ^{Mt 9:32} “As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. ³³ And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.”’

I confess that as I walk with Jesus and watch his life, I am becoming tired, as I am sure Jesus is, of so much activity and lack of private time. Jesus can’t move about or do anything without a crowd pressing in on him with a request. Just as they leave the house, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. Matthew says little about this healing, leaving the reader to feel as though Jesus wanted to move on. Matthew did comment on the reaction of the crowd, indicating how they marveled and how unique Jesus was when compared to others.

There were others in the crowd that weren’t so excited to see what Jesus was able to do and tried to discredit him. ^{Mt 9:34} “But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”’ These Pharisees were not willing to recognize that God was doing something unique in the teaching and works of Jesus. It was clear to them that Jesus was doing miraculous works and since they would not attribute this to God, they had only one other source to give credit to and that was the prince of demons, the devil.

Prayer

Father, even today so many are unwilling to accept the teachings and works of Jesus as evidence that he is the Son of God and our necessary savior. As the Pharisees tried to remove God from what Jesus was doing, people continue today to try to remove God from any active role in life.