Do You Believe in Miracles? Matthew 9:27-34

Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

You may ask how the two "blind" men followed him.  Good question.  I suppose since he could have just come out of Jairus' house, they could have followed him immediately.  

"It was not easy for these blind men to follow Jesus, but they did. They had to ask others where Jesus was going, and they had to listen to every sound that might guide them. Yet they were determined to follow Him to the best of their ability." (Guzik)

The term "Son of David" was a Jewish term referencing the royal covenant God had made with King David which promised there would never fail to be a descendant of his on the throne.  He also promised him an "everlasting" kingdom, which is indicative of the Messiah who would come from the House of David, and whose kingdom would never end.  

The blind men showed great faith in calling out to Jesus. 

"As these men were blind, they could have no evidence of Christ’s miracles from their senses. They believed them, therefore, on the testimony of others who had seen them. Viewed in this light, their persuasion of Christ’s power to cure them was an exercise of faith highly commendable in them." Benson

28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Yes, Lord,” they replied.

As in many miracles, Jesus looked for faith in the one who was asking for healing.  We don't know where Jesus went indoors, but it suggests that he walked for a while and the blind men followed him.  This in itself showed great faith, and now Jesus directly asks them if they have faith.  

"They firmly believed he had power to do it, they had not the least doubt and hesitation in their minds about it; for though their bodily eyes were at present dark, the eyes of their understandings were enlightened, to see and know Jesus to be the true Messiah, David's Son, and Lord. (Gill)

29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 

Jesus rewards them according to their faith in his ability to heal them.  The blind men had exhibited faith in many ways. 1.) They cried out. 2.) They were unafraid to be embarrassed. 3.) They had faith to recognize Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah. 4.) They had faith to ask for mercy knowing they didn't deserve it. 5.) They had faith that Jesus was able to heal them. 6.) They had faith to say "yes" Lord.  (Guzik)

Notice the many small acts of faith.  We hear about faith the size of a mustard seed.  With each step of faith their confidence, boldness, and resolve grew stronger.  

30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”

Jesus said this many times after healing someone.  Generally speaking he did not want the news about him to spread so fast that it would hasten his being sent to the cross. He had places he needed to go and people he needed to reach first.  

31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

"Despite Jesus’ warning, they couldn’t resist telling others. Though we do not admire their well-intentioned disobedience, we admire their excitement over the work of God. This was their only area of unbelief – they didn’t have the faith to obey Jesus as they should have." Guzik

When signs and wonders like this happen, it is practically impossible to keep the Good News from spreading.  Many movements of God to grow his church in new conversions has happened through signs and wonders happening first. 

32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.

"A man, mute and demon-possessed: In the Jewish understanding of demon possession, this man could not be helped. This was because most rabbis of that day thought that the essential first step in exorcism was to compel or trick the demon into telling you its name. The name was then thought of as a handle by which the demon could then be removed. Therefore, a demon that made a man mute had cleverly prevented the revelation of the name of the demon inhabiting the victim, and therefore prevented the exorcism. Yet Jesus had no problem, the demon was cast out and the mute spoke." (Guzik)

In the previous story, the blind men had the ability to call out to Jesus to be healed. In this case the man could not do this, so he had to rely on someone else to bring him to Jesus.  In a similar way, we might have people who for whatever reason don't feel they can call out to Jesus. Who will bring them to Jesus? Will we? 

33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

"For these reasons this miracle was particularly amazing to the multitudes. It showed not only the complete authority of Jesus over the demonic realm, but also the weakness of the rabbis’ traditions."

There will always be people who try to copy or offer counterfeit miracles outside of the power of Jesus' name.  There were all sorts of magicians and diviners in Jesus' day who tried to do the same thing. But Jesus' miracles all had one thing in common.  When he healed someone it was always a true miracle that could be verified and validated before their very eyes.  They were done in public, so no one could argue the authenticity of them.  

34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

But, of course, the Pharisees in their jealousy still sought to discount these miracles by claiming Jesus was using the very power of the demons to cast out the demons themselves.  This makes so sense.  Why would the prince of demons, Satan himself, be wanting to cast his associates out of a man when he has directed them there in the first place. 

Do you faith in Jesus that he can do miracles in your life, or others you love?  Do you think if Jesus doesn't respond to someone's cry for healing, that it is necessarily because of their lack of faith? How do people try to invalidate miracles that have been done in Jesus' name today?