 |  |
No.17.
9: 24 - 10: 23.
pp. 45 - 49
After the raising of the ruler's daughter, Matthew records the healing of two blind men
(9: 27-31), and again in 20: 30. Mark twice records the healing of one blind man
(Mark 8: 22; 10: 46). In view of the prediction of the Messiah's witness and work in
Isa. 35: 5, 6, these are not the only occurrences of giving sight to the blind. This
miracle was probably of frequent occurrence together with other healing miracles, and we
have only a selection of them recorded in the Gospels. The Lord, in His wisdom, restricts
the publishing of His healing work. He wished to avoid the cheap publicity and
popularity that this would bring. The time for the complete revelation of Himself to the
nation had not yet come.
After the giving of life to the dead and sight to the blind, we have the third miracle of
this Triplet, the restoration of speech to the dumb (9: 32, 33). The cause of the
dumbness was demon-possession, which only goes to show that these evil spirit can
affect the body as well as the mind.
One important result of this miracle was to increase the hatred of the Pharisees.
Unable to deny the reality of the miracles, they were becoming desperate and could only
discredit them by associating Christ with Beelzebub, the prince of demons, otherwise
Satan himself. This occurs again in chapter 12: 24 and is linked with the unforgivable
sin by the Lord (12: 31 and 32). We shall have more to say on this matter when we reach
chapter 12:
At this point in chapter 9: Matthew gives a summary of the Messiah's work as a
whole:
"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and sickness.
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and
helpless, like sheep, without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, `the harvest is
plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out
workers into His harvest field'." (9: 35-38, N.I.V.).
The Evangelist stresses the great compassion of the Lord as He regarded the crowds
(9: 36; 14: 14; 15: 32; 20: 34). He realized that their leaders were not meeting their
needs, either spiritual or temporal. Matthew uses a strong word (eskulmenoi) to express
their distress. They were like sheep without a shepherd or pasture to feed upon, and were
"harassed and helpless" (N.I.V.), not knowing where to get satisfaction. Not only this,
but the numbers were so great that it was impossible to reach them all. They needed
more workers, hence the Lord's call for prayer recorded in verses 37 and 38.
He Himself is going to meet this need; hence the calling of the Twelve recorded in the
next chapter. It is to be noted that Mark puts a considerable interval between the
selection of the Twelve and their being sent out to preach the gospel of the Kingdom