Daily Devotions
Matthew
Tragedies of Life
Text: Matthew 12 : 22 - 37
Being ill is part and parcel of life. To suffer from a problem of both blindness and dumbness must be considered a special tragedy of life. This thought is made even worse when the work of demons is identified.
“Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed,
blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute
both spoke and saw.”
MATTHEW 12:22
Matthew recorded that Jesus healed a mute on a previous occasion. Let’s take time to review this incident when Jesus healed him.
“As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man,
mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out,
the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying,
‘It was never seen like this in Israel!'”
MATTHEW 9:32-33
We can well understand how Jesus must have felt! He must have felt deep compassion for the people who were not only ill but plagued by demons too! Naturally, His heart yearned to help them. Graciously He healed them!
UNCALLED-FOR REMARKS
On the first occasion when Jesus healed the mute, the crowds marveled. To counter this growing respect for Jesus and His ministry, the Pharisees countered with this statement.
“He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
MATTHEW 9:34
On the second occasion, when Jesus healed the man who was both blind and mute, the multitudes had this to say.
“And all the multitudes were amazed and said,
‘Could this be the Son of David?'”
MATTHEW 12:23
The Pharisees realized that their earlier remarks about Jesus had not done much damage to His reputation. The crowds in fact seemed to be even more drawn to Jesus. They were even wondering if Jesus might not in fact be the Messiah after all. That they were inclined to think that Jesus was the Messiah is indicated by a well-known fact about the identity of Jesus. He would come from the line of David. The Messiah may rightly be called “The Son of David”. This title has special reference to His role as the Messiah-King.
This time round, the Pharisees made an even stronger remark against Jesus.
“Now when the Pharisees heard it, they said,
‘This fellow does not cast out demons except
by Beelzebub (Beelzebul), the ruler of the demons.’ ”
MATTHEW 12:24
This was a truly uncalled remark. It was also irresponsible and of course without any justification whatsoever.
CHALLENGED BY JESUS
Jesus did not challenge the first remark made by the Pharisees. However, this time round, He felt that He needed to make a response.
“But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:
‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,
And every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.
How then will his kingdom stand?'”
MATTHEW 12:25-26
1. Exposing the dark secrets of the heart
The Pharisees must have been astonished that Jesus actually understood their thoughts, their very process of reasoning. They had indeed believed that Jesus was in league with Satan himself.
2. Exposing flawed reasoning
The Pharisees knew that there were loopholes in their reasoning. The common people would probably not be able to pick out these thoughts, but could Jesus find out that they harboured the worst of opinions in their hearts against Him? To their horror, Jesus did not only know their thoughts, He actually exposed them as well!
They had hurled invectives against Jesus! They had cast aspersions too! They had reasoned that Jesus must have been in league with Satan! But if that was true, then Satan’s kingdom would be severely divided. How would his kingdom stand if there were such divisions? How foolish this line of reasoning was!
TAKING THE ARGUMENT FURTHER
The Pharisees could have denied that they had such thoughts of course, but they would not be able to answer the following statements Jesus made.
“And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom
do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall
be your judges.”
MATTHEW 12:27
The religion of the Pharisees allowed for exorcism. Some of them sought to cast out demons too. By what power did their exorcists attempt to cast out demons? If they were to check things out carefully, they would not make foolish remarks!