Anchor My Faith

Can This Be the Son of David?

Scripture: Matthew 12:22-24; Mark 3:22

With our last lesson, we finished a section on how to pray. With this lesson, we open a new section about Satan’s divided kingdom.

^{Mt 12:22} “Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to [Jesus], and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. ²³ And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

The man that was brought to Jesus was oppressed by a demon that may have caused the man to become blind and unable to speak. The reason this is a possibility is because the man both spoke and saw as soon as Jesus had cast out the demon.

Try to put yourself in the crowd that watched this man being brought to Jesus. Try to imagine what you might have seen and thought as the encounter between the man, the demon and Jesus started. What do you think Jesus said and did, based on previous encounters similar to this, that resulted in the demon being extracted from the man? How do you think the man reacted when the force of oppression was gone, and he could again see and speak? What do you think he might have said? Were you amazed like the people around you who then questioned if Jesus might be the Son of David?

Looking at 2 Samuel 7:12 – 16 we gain an understanding of the meaning of Son of David. There would be a person, who we know as Jesus, who would come from the offspring of David, who would establish a kingdom that shall be made sure forever and whose throne shall be established forever. Since David was a warrior and king, the people assumed that the Son of David would be a liberator and free them from the suppression of Rome. As the people followed Jesus around, they witnessed his power and authority, but they also saw his gentleness and that caused them to wonder if this was indeed the Son of David, the promised Messiah.

^{Mk 3:22} And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” ^{Mt 12:24} “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

The scribes arrived from Jerusalem and they express their opinion of who they think Jesus is. They don’t think he is the Son of David, but is a man who is possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. They implicitly acknowledge his undeniable power but attribute that power to this prince of demons, not to the fact that he is the Son of God veiled in the flesh of man.

“Beelzebul” means “master of the house” and is a reference to Satan, thus these scribes were making the accusation that Jesus was really Satan. How shocking and perverse this is, and if it is happening to Jesus should not his disciples and us as followers of Jesus expect to be falsely accused and maligned also? This view held by these scribes that Jesus was a sorcerer was common among the Jews even into the early centuries of Christianity.

Conclusion

The comments made by the scribes that the power of Jesus was not from God but from Beelzebul, the prince of demons, who we know as Satan, will not go unchallenged by Jesus as he will direct some strong logical comments to them in the next lesson.