Healing The Helpless

Healing the Helpless

Matthew 12:22-23, NLT

Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”

Setting the Scene

Healing is one of Jesus’ most prominent acts of ministry. He healed those with physical needs: lameness, blindness, and so on. He healed some who were troubled by a demonic presence, as in today’s passage. And Jesus helped those who needed spiritual healing: forgiveness of sin, cleansing of the soul, restoration of wholeness. Mark 2:1-12 shows Jesus healing people physically to demonstrate that he could also heal people spiritually.

No one talks much about demons today. Talk of demons is interpreted as primitive ignorance combined with a barely hidden fear that such an obvious display of evil would be terrifying. Some people chalk up all reported demonic activity to a simplistic view of reality that explains all natural phenomena in spiritual terms. But insisting that everything can be explained naturalistically eventually strips life of any meaning beyond chemical reactions. The Bible takes a more realistic approach by describing life experiences in real terms. The writers understood demons to be as much of the natural (fallen) order as any one of many items that can’t be seen (gases, love, light) but are still real.

In today’s passage, we glimpse an encounter between Jesus and demonic powers that had incapacitated a man’s sight and speech. This man with normal eyes and vocal cords couldn’t use them because a demon prevented him. Jesus’ expulsion of the demon freed this man to engage the world. Imagine for a moment the helplessness of blindness and muteness. This man was brought to Jesus; he didn’t find his own way. His whole experience is a teaching case for us of the incapacitating effects of sin and the wonderful ways God heals us.

Getting Personal

How have your beliefs about healing helped or hindered you from asking for healing?

Are there limits to what you would ask God to do in your life? Why or why not?

Jesus’ desire to heal others clearly demonstrated his compassion. His healing helped bring isolated people back into community. He urges us to show compassion toward others by praying for healing or bringing a healing word to those who are hurting.

Talking to God

Ask God to give you his compassion as you pray by name for those you know who need healing—from physical disorders, from satanic oppression, and from spiritual darkness.