Friday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 23, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 9:27-35 (NKJV)
9:27 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.
32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”
34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Devotion
Here we once again see the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies about our Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. The blind see and the mute speak. Jesus heals the sick that are brought to Him, and the Gospel is preached in the towns and synagogues.
This also is fulfilled in your hearing of the Gospel, as the spiritually blind see Christ and the spiritually mute will sing out to God. This is known to the Christian as we have seen in our devotions throughout the week. However, the unbelieving world does not see what the Christian knows.
In response to these miracles, the Pharisees remark, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” Notice that they cannot disprove Jesus’ works. They cannot show that our Lord is merely using tricks and deception like some carnival magician. Their denial implies that the miracles are true, or else they would have found some evidence showing that the miracles were faked. All they have is accusation against our Lord’s divine majesty.
Remember this as you ponder the Lord’s work for you. Though the evidence for our Lord’s work and life is abundant, the unbelieving world will still reject what is plainly obvious. It is not our job to make them believe, but to simply confess the truth in this world and let the Lord prove Himself true.
Collect: Almighty and Merciful God, of Whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
