The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Jesus Gives the Mute Voice:  Mt.9:32 - 33

^9:32 As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’

Mitch* was a student at Boston University.  He came from a Buddhist family but was attracted to the Christian fellowship for various reasons.  To my sadness, after a while Mitch decided that he would start a Buddhist student group instead.  He met with me to ask, ‘What should I do during the meetings?’  I asked, ‘Well, what do you believe?  For example, in the Christian fellowship, we sing songs of worship to God because we want to respond to His love that way, and express our love and adoration for Him.’  He replied, ‘Well, in Buddhism, the goal is to not worship anything, so I guess we wouldn’t do that.’  He paused for a moment.  Suddenly, he exclaimed, ‘Darn!  I really like singing those songs!’  In my mind, I thought, ‘Ah, God hasn’t let you go yet.  You tasted a little bit of His goodness.  He’s still tugging at your heart.’  I think there is something in us that wants to sing – not just simple and sometimes cheesy melodies with other people – but sing about things that eternally matter.  Perhaps that’s why patriotic songs have such appeal; they are attempting to put into song a cause bigger than ourselves. 

I think, ultimately, we want to speak of Jesus, to worship God as Jesus has revealed Him to be, and to praise God.  I think this comes from us being made in the image of God.  I also think we have a basic desire to live in a way where our actions and our words are unified in love for God.  Though we can easily suppress it or deny it, we long for a ‘unity of being’ in the presence of our Creator who loves us and gives Himself to us.

The man in Matthew 9:32 couldn’t speak.  Most often, physical disabilities have simple physical causes.  But in the case of this man, the immediate cause of his muteness was a demon.  Scripture indicates that certain internal choices of rebellion against God make us vulnerable to the demonic, so there were deeper causes behind the demon’s presence.  But in his case, this demon had silenced his mouth because the demons want to muzzle humanity’s ability to speak of the Triune God of love.  Unable to speak, he was unable to praise the God of Israel or talk to others.  Because the man ‘was brought to’ Jesus, presumably by other people, I suspect that the demon hindered his movement, at least in part, in addition to making him mute.

          Jesus cast this demon out.  Matthew does not make mention of any details.  He records the incident as if it were commonplace, as if demon-exorcism were a straightforward act, and as if Jesus did it without batting an eye.  Jesus’ impact is what matters to Matthew:  As soon as the demon was cast out, ‘the mute man spoke.’  What a relief for the man!  At long last!  I’ll bet he had a lot to say.  A lot of meaningful things.

          May it be so with us.  I grew up in a family where it was difficult to communicate.  So as a kid, I was fairly quiet.  Speaking was something that made me very aware of myself.  That is still true today.  Yet, even after I grew out of my shyness, I realized that I wasn’t sure what was worth saying.  I could say a lot of flippant and funny things, and maybe some personal and vulnerable things, too.  But did that make it meaningful and significant?  When I was in college, however, and listened to some sermons by Tony Campolo speaking about Jesus’ love for the outcast and the poor, and other Christian speakers speak from the Scriptures, something in my heart cried out.  I wanted to speak that way.  I wanted my words to be, not just humorous and sometime inane, but meaningful.  I wanted my words to be drawn up into God’s eternal purposes.  I wanted my words to be windows through which people could sense God, whispering to us, on this frail Earth, from out of His vast love.

          I began this section (Mt.8 – 9) by noting that Jesus does ten miracles, evoking the New Exodus envisioned by Isaiah (Isa.40 – 55) and the other Hebrew prophets.  Nine of them Jesus does explicitly by his word.  I assume he does this tenth miracle by his word as well.  But that is not noted.  What Matthew does note is that the mute man spoke.  This was amazing to the crowds, who said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’  This commentary by other Jews is Matthew’s way of piling up evidence for Jesus.  No one – not even Moses – did this.  Jesus is the great deliverer and healer. 

But what does that mean for us?  Jesus calls us to speak of him, to communicate about him.  He removes the obstacles we have.  He calls us to join our words to the eternal purposes he has.  He calls us to speak with him.  This is part of what it means to be delivered and healed by Jesus:  He calls us to speak with him, of him.

          This man man spoke because Jesus delivered him into new life.  And with that tenth miracle, Matthew is readying us, as readers, to be sent out as workers for the harvest (Mt.9:35 – 38).  Jesus calls us to speak of him, sing of him, verbally explain him to others, and apply him to the world’s needs.  How do you speak of your healing(s) by Jesus?  Which songs best put it into words?  Which poems?  What parts of Scripture?  Has he ever physically healed you, to represent the deeper spiritual healing he is doing?  How do you tell your story?