Matthew 9:32-35
Mat 9:32-35 The King and those possessed with Devils 32. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. As a pair of patients leave the surgery, another poor creature comes in. Note the "behold." The case is striking. He comes not freely, or of his own accord: "they brought" him: thus should we bring men to Jesus. He does not cry for help, for he is "a dumb man." Let us open our mouths for the dumb. He is not himself, but he is "possessed with a devil." Poor creature! will anything be done for him?
33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. Our Lord does not deal with the symptoms, but with the source of the disorder, even with the evil spirit. "The devil was cast out"; and it is mentioned as if that were a matter of course when Jesus came on the scene. The devil had silenced the man, and so, when the evil one was gone, "the dumb spake." How we should like to know what he said! Whatever he said it matters not; the wonder was that he could say anything. The people confessed that this was a wonder quite unprecedented; and in this they only said the truth: "It was never so seen in Israel." Jesus is great at surprises: he has novelties of gracious power. The people were quick to express their admiration; yet we see very little trace of their believing in our Lord's mission. It is a small thing to marvel, but a great thing to believe.
O Lord, give the people around us to see such revivals and conversions, as they have never known before!
34. But the Pharisees said, He. casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. Of course, they had some bitter sentence ready. Nothing was too bad for them to say of Jesus. They were hard pressed when they took to this statement, which our Lord in another place so easily answered. They hinted that such power over demons must have come to him through an unholy compact with "the prince of the devils." Surely this was going very near to the unpardonable sin.
35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. This was his answer to the blasphemous slanders of the Pharisees. A glorious reply it was. Let us answer calumny by greater zeal in doing good.
Small places were not despised by our Lord: he went about the villages as well as the cities. Village piety is of the utmost importance, and has a close relation to city life. Jesus turned old institutions to good account: the "synagogues " became his Seminaries. Three-fold was his ministry: expounding the old, proclaiming the new, healing the diseased.
Observe the repetition of the word "every" as showing the breadth of his healing power. All this stood in relation to his royalty; for it was "the gospel of the kingdom" which he proclaimed. Our Lord was "the Great Itinerant": Jesus went about preaching, and healing. His was a Medical Mission as well as an evangelistic tour. Happy people who have Jesus among them! Oh, that we might now see more of his working among our own people!