Daily Devotional For Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Good morning Southside. Just as Jesus had done two miracles, Jesus left Jairus’ home and was immediately asked to do some more miracles. Here is our next text in Matthew. It’s Mathew 9:27-34:
“After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind Him, shouting, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’ (28) They went right into the house where He was staying, and Jesus asked them, ‘Do you believe I can make you see?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ they told Him, ‘we do.’ (29) Then He touched their eyes and said, ‘Because of your faith, it will happen.’ (30) Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this.’ (31) But instead, they went out and spread His fame all over the region. (32) When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus. (33) So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. ‘Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel!”’they exclaimed. (34) But the Pharisees said, ‘He can cast out demons because He is empowered by the prince of demons’” (NLT).
It seems in Matthew, Jesus goes from one miracle to the next doesn’t it? So, Jesus leaves Jairus’ home and immediately two blind men follow behind Him and plead with Him to heal them and restore their sight. They asked Jesus to have mercy on them. Matthew may have had in his own mind the prophecy concerning the Messiah about showing mercy. We see this in Isaiah 29:18, Isaiah 35:5-6 and in Isaiah 42:7. By addressing Jesus as “Son of David,” they were affirming they believed Jesus was the Messiah. We see this in Isaiah 9:7.
Did you notice that with these 2 blind men’s requests, Jesus did not immediately answer? When He didn’t, they followed Jesus into the house where He was staying. Jesus questioned their faith in Him to heal their blindness and they responded by calling Him “Lord.” This was an affirmation of His deity and authority and power to heal. Jesus healed them and warned them not to spread the healing. Obviously, Jesus was concerned that people might only see Him and want to use Him solely for physical healing, not spiritual healing.
Blindness was common in the first century and Jesus healed more people of blindness than any other illness. People became blind due to the heat, accidents, sand in their eyes, bacteria in their eyes and bodies, malnutrition, war, and infectious diseases. Obviously there was no way to hide the healing. Two former blind men now with sight to see would stand out. I think Jesus told them to keep the healing to themselves to think about what God had done for them and then later share it with others. I think Jesus wanted them to worship Him as the Messiah instead of worrying about how they might get the news out or what they might do the next time they need healing and He was not around. I understand their excitement to tell people and to give credit to Jesus. It is possible there was more in the healing than they realized had they thought about it more.
No sooner does Jesus heal these 2 blind men, when a demon-possessed man approaches Him who was mute. Jesus cast out the demon and the man began to speak. To me the main miracle here is not that Jesus cast out the demon, but that this man began to speak fluently. The Bible says he could not talk. This is the Greek New Testament word [κωφός; kophos], which literally means “ to beat, pound, blunted, dull.” It is typically used to refer to both deaf and mute. As we have already seen in previous devotionals, while Jesus was on the earth demons were very active. Matthew does not give us the details of the exorcism but that it happened.
Once it was done, the man could speak perfectly. But the devil and his demons were not finished yet. While the people were amazed and praised God, the religious leaders accused Jesus of being demonic Himself. This was their way of showing their total rejection of Jesus and from this point on they will work to get rid of Him. In this chapter the Pharisees have been doing everything they can to discredit Jesus. They have accused Him of blasphemy, befriending socially and religiously outcasts, impiety and being used by the devil to do His miracles.
So, why did the religious leaders reject Jesus? I think it was due to jealousy and envy. Jesus was not one of them. He did not have the right credentials. He had not been to their schools. He was a simple carpenter turned itinerant Rabbi. They accused Him of having an illegitimate birth (John 8:41). Since they could not control Him they decided to curse Him with all kinds of false accusations. Jesus said His authority was from the Father and the religious leaders based their authority on their traditions and from one another.
Whereas the common people really did not have much to do with their own religious leaders, Jesus had thousands following Him and listening to His teaching. Jesus challenged their long held traditions and He exposed their hypocrisy. Jesus was popular and they were not (Matthew 21:46). The religious leaders were caught in a pickle. They could not doubt the miracles He did. They knew some of the people Jesus had healed. Since the religious leaders chose not to bow to Jesus’ authority and accept Him as the Messiah, all they could do now was attempt to malign the source of His power to do miracles – the devil.
Assignment: Think back through your past for a moment. Has anyone ever attempted to malign your character because they could not control you or they did not agree with you and tried to do something against you? Did your faith in Christ have anything do with their false accusations against you? Who do you know who has totally rejected Jesus that you could today begin to pray they come to Christ? This man above was probably deaf, which made him also mute. How would the Lord grade you on being open to listening and applying His Word to your life, your attitudes and actions?
Scripture To Meditate On: Mark 4:9, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Father, I do not care what others think of me and my relationship to You. I want to have spiritual ears to hear what You want me to hear so that I can obey You fully. Please convict me if I unfairly malign others and their walk with You. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly