The King Meets the Need of a Speechless Man

“As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.” Matthew 9:32-34 (KJV).

The blind men who have received their sight do the obvious thing. They go and bring a demon possessed, mute man to the Lord. They had gone and told this mute of a man who could heal him, and brought him to Jesus. We are told to go and tell, but we won’t. Have we forgotten, or did we ever know the greatness of our Lord and Savior and King?

When Jesus cast out the demon the man was able to speak. It seems probable that the man was deaf and mute caused by demonic possession. Very often deaf people – especially those born deaf – are unable to speak. They have no means to learn to speak if they cannot hear. When Jesus casts out the demon the man now can speak, so if we assume that this man was deaf as well as mute he is now completely healed, no more oppressed by the demon; he can now hear and he can speak.

There is a man in this scene who is even worse off than the demon possessed. The man is controlled, not by a single demon or a number of demons, but controlled by hatred, fear, and the holding of tradition of his religion over truth. He attributes the works of Jesus to the works of satan. He is blind to the truth of who Jesus is, and those who condemn Jesus, thus condemn themselves. They are sentenced to the same destiny as the devil and his demons. To blaspheme the name of Jesus puts one in great peril, but to equate the work of Christ to the devil is to blaspheme the Spirit of Christ, and there is no repentance for that.