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9:32

As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mutewas brought to him.

And when the demon had been cast out, the mute manspoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seenin Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”– Matthew 9:32-34

Opening remarks

Teilhard de Chardin, the anthropologist, priest, and author, once wrote,

“

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritualbeings having a human experience.” Turning our attention to a fact that we rarely face up to Chardin directs us back tothe fact that we long for direction, guidance, and truth that is grounded within ourhearts and souls, not just scientifically and physically. Jesus comes and gives us in each healing account is the one bridge between thesetwo elements: the physical and the spiritual. He heals the heart with salvation, andheals the body that we might see the inward change that has happened. He healsthe poor and improvised with mercy, and feeds their stomachs as a reminder. And,like today’s verses, he casts out demons, and the possessed become free of theirbodily ailments.Beloved, there is more to life than the flesh and bone that we see every day in themorning mirror. This morning we look to the healer to see what he would have forus, what he would have to reveal to our inner man of that truth that we desire. Sothat we might rejoice like David in Psalm 103,“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is

within

me, bless his holy name!Bless the Lord … who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love andmercy, [and] who satisfies you with good…” (vv.1-5a)Let’s begin this morning by re-reading the story of the healing of the mute demonicagain.

9:32

As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mutewas brought to him.

And when the demon had been cast out, the mute manspoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seenin Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

The difference of demon-oppression

Jesus just cannot escape the continual desire of people to seek him for healing.Matthew begins this story like the past narrative by talking of how as Jesus and hisdisciples were leaving another man was “brought to him” (v.32).

But this man and his healing account is different. We have heard of a paralyzedyoung man, gynecological hemorrhage of blood, the natural death of a little girl,and the blindness of two men. All of these accounts are physical in their nature. They can be deduced down to medical, natural, genetic, and/or physical origins, butthis man, his account is different.Matthew calls out this difference in verse 32,

As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mutewas brought to him.We are told here in this verse that the injury is different from the normal muteness.Whether he has chosen not to speak or if he is physically unable to speak we do notknow, but what we have a picture of before us is a man that is demon-possessedand silent before Jesus Christ.

(ill. Demon-oppression)

Now I agree with the withholding that the translators of the translation that I use, the ESV, in that they chose to use ‘demon-oppressed’instead of ‘demon-possessed’. Oppression is a word that comes from a Latin originthat means “press against, crush”. We get a picture from the word oppression of agrape being trampled on until all its juice has been purged and all that is left it theskin and pulp. This is exactly the best picture that we can have of demon-oppression, a crushingand pressing out of the person until all that is humane is gone. Only the shell of aman, his flesh, is left standing while within the evil, immoral, and sinful has crushedand now rules over him. This is how this story is different, because we do not see so much the faith that isproducing the healing, but rather we see directly in front of Jesus the sin andunbelief that is hindering it. The man is unable to speak for himself, which is a greatillustration of the fact that this oppression has over-ruled his heart, hind, and spirit.He is silent in regards to saving himself, and is brought before Christ,

the

Savior, forhealing.

(ill. Torchlight in a cave)

Like a cave being seen as dark within, because the torchin our hand is casting a contrasting light around us, so also we are exposed by therevealing light of God’s Word in this story. We see the darkness of a sinful soul, thedarkness of our own souls in sin, as people that stand mute and unable to saveourselves from the reign of sin. There is a depravity of our hearts that sin has totally crushed what we would holdup as a means salvation. Like Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 we know that,“… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”And that, in the words of John,“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”(1 John 1:8)

We know in the deepest depths of our hearts that we like this man stand beforeChrist, alone, sinful, and completely oppressed. There is no way out for us, no wayof self-healing, self-help, or self-salvation, and we deceive ourselves if we do notopen our eyes to the hardness of our very hearts.

The contrast of the Pharisees

But look at the rest of this story, verses 33-34, because there is an interestingelement of contrast the helps us see the lesson that Matthew is giving us thisnarrative for.

And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And thecrowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.”

Butthe Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” Throughout this 9

chapter of Matthew we have talked of how he uses an elementof contrasting characters. We had the paralyzed man and the scribes, Jairus and thewoman with the hemmorage, the two blind men calling out “Have mercy on us, Sonof David” and the rest of Israel that was blind to the true meaning of the “Son of David”. Matthew loves contrast.Here there is the contrasting element of the Pharisees, the high rulers and nit-pickylegalist of the Hebrew traditions and religion. These men turn around at the healingof the demon-oppressed man and they are struck not by the image of the man, orthe healing, but by anger, anger towards Jesus.Here is the joy of this miracle, the greatness of this healing act being spread aboutand witnessed to, and these Pharisees they try to oppress it. The trample their feeton Jesus’ authority and influence by putting out the official word from the truereligious people by saying,"He’s expelling devils because he is in cahoots with the head devil." (v.34,

CPT

)

(ill. Luke 11:14-22)

These gentlemen go so far as in Mark to call Jesus, “…possessed by Beelzebul” (Mark 3:22). But it is not very impressive, and even theirlogic is quickly dashed to pieces by Jesus in the gospel of Luke. I want us to turnthere now, Luke 11:14-22, because it is here that we see why Matthew is usingthese Pharisees as a comparison.

11:14

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon hadgone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”

while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

Buthe, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided againstitself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.

And if Satan also isdivided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I castout demons by Beelzebul.

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whomdo your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

But if it is