Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro:
We’re going to continue to see Jesus’ credentials as the Messiah in this section.
Because we already know that Jesus is the Messiah, this may not mean very much to us.
And the reason we know that Jesus is the Messiah is because of His resurrection from the dead.
But our faith should not just be built on only one event, the resurrection and then we know hardly anything else about Jesus.
It is the Gospel writers’ intention to get us acquainted with Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Messiah predicted by OT.
In the previous chapter, Jesus has called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath and this is a claim to deity.
The subsequent multiple healings attest to His claim of deity (v15).
In the passage we just read, we’re presented with 2 kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil.
Jesus’ casting out a demon itself should show which kingdom He is from.
But the Pharisees still harden their hearts and claimed that Jesus is from the devil’s kingdom.
Now we see the passage and Jesus’ reasoning with the Pharisees.
I.
The Demon-possessed man and the people’s reaction v22-24
A. Demon-possessed man who is blind and dumb
Note in v22a, only one man was brought to Jesus.
This man was not only demon-possessed but also blind and dumb at the same time.
NASB is a clearer translation.
And in the subsequent verses we see that the Pharisees claims that Jesus cast out demons by the prince of demons.
So the people’s attention is not so much of the healing than the casting out of a demon.
What does this mean?
It means that the man’s muteness and blindness was a result of demon possession.
Of course we can’t conclude that all sickness is a result of demonic activity though we must not rule such a possibility.
I know of many Charismatics when they want to heal a sick person, what they do is to cast out a demon.
In China, we have a lady who was very hesitant to receive the Christian faith because she was from a Charismatic church before.
They tried to cast the demon out of her to the extend that they even kicked her until she pretended that she was cured of her illness.
Otherwise, they’ll continue to assault her.
Such unfortunate incidents should not drive us to the opposite extreme and rule out that sickness can be caused by demons.
I’m not saying that sicknesses are always caused by demons.
Remember Job when God gave Satan permission to afflict him, Job was afflicted with sore boils from head to foot.
And Satan is the prince or ruler of this world .
And he can afflict man with sicknesses though he can’t possess a believer.
And Job was definitely a believer.
Even in his sickness, he still refused to deny God.
So when we pray for the sickness, we are not to totally ignore the spiritual dimension especially when we feel that the sickness is rather unusual.
B. Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed man
Next we see Jesus’ healing.
After the demon was cast out, the man was also healed of his blindness and muteness.
Again the KJV translation is misleading especially in the 2nd half of this verse as we saw that only one man was brought to Jesus.
Although the text says that Jesus healed the man, the context speaks of casting out a demon.
C. The people’s reaction
First, we see the people’s reaction.
They were amazed or utterly amazed based on the Gk word which is used only here in Mat.
This means that this was a very significant as well as a real miracle and not some magic trick.
The miracle was so significant that the people said “is not this the son of David?” Unfortunately, the KJV translation is not good here too as the Gk suggests the crowds were none too sure.
It should be “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?”
The phrase “son of David” can just mean a descendant of David but here the people were actually asking “this couldn’t be the Messiah, could it?”
Being merely a descendant of David is nothing to be marveled at.
But being the Messiah would be a cause for great surprise.
And this is because the people expected the Messiah to perform miracles and so the exorcism cum healing stands in Jesus’ favor.
D. The Pharisees’ reply
Although the exorcism clearly put Jesus on the side of God, the Pharisees would not accept it.
In view of the miracle, the Pharisees had to come up with an explanation.
And the explanation has to involve someone with supernatural power.
Hence, the Pharisees could only say illogically that Jesus cast out the demon by the prince of demons.
Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, is thus equivalent to Satan.
So in essence the Pharisees is calling Jesus, Satan.
II.
Jesus’ Reasoning with the Pharisees v25-27
A. Jesus’ 1st Reasoning
Jesus reasoned twice with the Pharisees and both are logical reasoning.
The first reasoning is that a kingdom that has internal strife will destroy itself.
The demon that possessed the man must have been carrying out the orders of Satan.
If Satan himself cast out a demon that has been obeying him, Satan is destroying his own kingdom.
This is what Jesus meant in v26 when He says “if Satan cast out Satan.”
So basically Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, “don’t be absurd.”
And Jesus further applied the same illustration to a city and even a household.
Everyone can better identify himself with a city and even more with a household.
Imagine yourself setting up a home and then constantly quarrel with your wife.
Will such a family grow?
Many such families either end up in divorce or on the brink of divorce.
((I’ll always counsel the brother, who is head of the family, to apologize to his wife regardless of who is right and who is wrong.
And one brother whose wife threatened to divorce him said to me, can’t a man have any self-respect?
And I replied, “is your ego more important than your family?”))
B. Jesus’ 2nd Reasoning
“Your children” here refers to the Pharisees’ followers.
The thought here is that if the Pharisees’ followers perform little exorcisms and no one doubts it is of God, then Jesus’ super-exorcism all the more has to be from God.
Jesus, by calling the followers of the Pharisees to judge them, is again telling them, “don’t be absurd.”
We can see from Jesus’ 2 reasonings that in view of clear evidence, any unbelief would have to be absurd.
Before we start calling anyone “absurd,” make sure we can present a clear evidence of the Gospel and this is what we call “apologetics.”
And apologetics is not an option for the Christian, it is a command from the Bible.
The word “answer” in Gk is apologia where we get our English word apologetics.
III.
Jesus Calls for a decision v28-30
A. Jesus claimed the arrival of His kingdom
If Jesus didn’t cast out the demon by the prince of the demons, what is the alternative?
Here Jesus not only gives the alternative but tells us the implication of His exorcisms on earth.
The obvious alternative is that Jesus cast out the demon by the Spirit of God.
And the implication is that the kingdom of God has arrived on earth.
Jesus says this not just on the basis of His exorcisms but also on the basis of His many miracles He performed on earth.
And the last miracle is His own resurrection proving beyond doubt that the Messiah has arrived.
esus says this not just on the basis of His exorcisms but also on the basis of His many miracles He performed on earth.
And the last miracle is His own resurrection proving beyond doubt that the Messiah has arrived.
This fact of miracles enables Jesus to say that “before Abraham, I am” where “I am” is actually God’s covenant name, Yahweh in Hebrew.
He can also say in :
And He said to the Sanhedrin in and was sentenced to death as a result but later vindicated by His resurrection.
But Jesus’ exorcisms is a sign that He came to destroy the devil’s kingdom so that He can set up His own kingdom.
Hence implies that Jesus is coming to bind up Satan.
B. Jesus presents only 1 choice
With the Pharisees saying that Jesus is from the kingdom of Satan and Jesus defending Himself as coming from God’s kingdom, Jesus in v30 asked the people to make up their mind.
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