The Mute Demoniac is the man brought to Jesus after two blind men left seeing
—
and the crowd said they had never seen anything like this in Israel.
As they were going away,
behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to Him.
When the demon had been cast out,
the mute man spoke.
The crowds marveled,
saying,
Never was anything like this seen in Israel.
But the Pharisees said,
He casts out demons by the prince of demons.
Matthew will stage the slander again when a man is both blind and mute.
This first mute mouth is already enough to split the room.
The chapter has already given a paralytic pardon and legs, a dead girl a hand up, a twelve-year bleed peace, and two beggars sight. Now a man who cannot talk is led in. No dialogue. No if You will. Friends carry the need. The demon goes out; speech comes in. Isaiah said the tongue of the mute would sing. Israel hears a sentence it claims it has never heard. Never like this is true of the stack of mercies, not only of one throat. The Pharisees will not join the marvel. They reach for the prince of demons while the man is still testing new words. The pattern is set: works pile up, and so does the explanation that keeps them from kneeling. Luke later records a mute demon cast out and the same Beelzebul charge, then the finger of God. Mark’s Capernaum demoniac could scream. This man could not even do that until the spirit left. Silence had been the prison. Speech is the sign. The slander is the afterword some will always write.
A demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to Him. When the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke.
Never was anything like this seen in Israel.
He casts out demons by the prince of demons.
The tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. O Lord, open my lips.
He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.
Do not let the slander be louder than the new voice in the room. Friends brought him. Jesus loosed him. Israel had not seen this stack of mercies. Marvel rightly. Do not credit the prince. Opened lips are for praise, not for renaming the Spirit.
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