Jump Start # 1277

Matthew 12:22 “Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.”

Our verse today shows the amazing power and compassion of God. Healing people seemed to be nearly an every day occurrence in the Gospels. Jesus’ fame had spread so deeply into the villages that people came to Jesus with the sick and crippled.

There are a couple of quick observations that we notice. First, there seemed to be a lot of blind, crippled and lepers in Jesus’ time. I was out and about yesterday, and I don’t think I ran into one person that was blind, crippled or a leper. The only leper I ever encountered was in India. This short man, wearing what looked like a bed sheet wrapped around his waist, came smiling and enthusiastically shaking my hand. He did this after I had preached. He kept shaking and shaking my hand. He was saying something, but I couldn’t understand him. Someone interpreted for me and said that he worked with lepers and the he was a leper. He was still shaking my hand when I was told that.

Second, this particular person from our verse had three things against him. He was blind, unable to talk and had a demon. Jesus had healed all of those but to have all of these in one person was most unusual. Often, the demon possessed recognized Jesus and the demons spoke. I guess that didn’t happen here since the man was mute. Most blind people begged. It’s hard to out beg other beggars when you cannot speak. The healing of this person turned into a religious debate with the Pharisees. They accused Jesus of working through the prince of the demons. They said nothing about the healing. They didn’t thank Jesus that someone in their village was now able to return to a normal life. They couldn’t discredit the miracle, so they tried to discredit the miracle worker. Their arguments didn’t make sense. If Jesus was working through the power of demons, you’d expect Him to be putting demons into people, not taking them out. The Pharisees were more blind than the man who was healed. Their thinking was shallow, inconsistent and definitely not winning the people over.

I find it most interesting that this man had three huge problems: blind, mute and possessed. Were all three linked together? Or, was he blind and mute and then a demon came? Why would a demon possess someone who was already so limited? Why bother a blind, mute person? There are many things that we simply do not know, nor are they needed to know to tell what Jesus did.

It seems that some people are like this blind, mute, possessed man. Trouble just follows them. They don’t just have problems, it comes in multiple layers. Health problems, spiritual problems, marriage problems, family problems, job problems—all at the same time and all cast upon the same person. For the person defined in Matthew, there was one simple answer, Jesus. Take the man to Jesus and he was healed. Some problems are so complicated and interwoven that it’s hard to put a finger on what is most pressing and what the greatest need is. A family is about to lose their home financially. They have a child in the hospital who is very sick. The mother fights depression. The dad, trying to keep everything together, is working so much that he can’t come to services. The church prays. It’s hard to know what to pray for. It seems that they need so much. Their many problems can tax a church and leave people weary because there are so many things that have gone wrong.

I have seen this story played out more than once. Often the way it is handled is not pretty. The results, if not dealt with carefully, can lead to disaster. A tired church gets angry with a family that can’t seem to ever find “normal.” The problem plagued family pulls further away from the church family. Feelings are hurt. Things said, that probably shouldn’t have. Fingers pointed in both directions. And through it all, few prayers are offered specifically and little glory is given to the Lord.

Why is it that some families seemed plagued? They have one problem after another. Maybe it’s the choices they have made. Maybe it’s just one of those things. Bad luck, if there is such a thing, isn’t spread out evenly. Some seem to get into problems more than others. Too often, others get weary of helping out the same family. The problem could be the same, but if it was on another family, folks would treat it differently. But here we go again. Another issue. Another crisis. Another call for prayers. Another need. Folks grumble. People are slow to help out over and over. The leadership of a congregation is at a loss to know what to do.

I find it interesting that Jesus never said, “Another blind person?” He never said, “I’m tired to healing blind people, find me someone who has a different problem.” Not Jesus. Not our Jesus. I don’t know what all the answers are but here are some things I see.

1. We can’t refuse to help people because we are tired of helping. I do believe there comes a time when helping crosses the line into co-dependency. Instead of helping a person, we may in fact be enabling their continual problems. A person that has needs, must want to be helped and they must take some steps themselves. The old expression, “give some a fish or teach them how to fish” is very true. Helping others learn to make right choices, especially financially, parenting and in marriage is something that some have never learned. The person that continues to make the same mistakes over and over, refusing to listen, to learn, may need a serious reality check. But not all are like this. Some, are blind, mute and troubled to no fault of their fault of their own. And even if it was their fault, they need help. Taking food to the same family…here we go. Giving rides to the same people…sitting down and having a serious talk, again, with the same people…it can consume you, but you do it because it is the right thing to do. Deep inside, you know that you are making a difference. What is the alternative? Abandoning them because they have problems again? Leave them to fend for themselves because they have more than one problem? Did Jesus do that here in our passage? Did he say, “I’ll take care of one problem and only one. Which will it be: blindness, inability to speak, or the demon?”

2. We must realize that someday we may be the one with the problem. There was a fourth of July, a few years ago, when we lived in Kansas City, that I spent a week in the hospital with a bad gall bladder. That was eye opening to me. I have been to hospitals for years visiting others. I was always on the other side of the bed. Now, I was in the bed. People came to visit me. I didn’t like it much, but I learned some lessons. We all will have a time in our lives when we need others. That’s why God designed the church. It is our support system. The bottom may fall out of our comfort zone. We may have that dreaded trip to the funeral home for someone in our family. It is at that time that you realize how important the comfort of other is. You see the value of true spiritual friends. You understand that you do not walk alone. Others are beside you. So many have said, “I couldn’t have gotten through this, without my church family.” If that’s true, then that tells us that we need to be there for others. We must be their support system. Our time will come.

3. Finally, nothing beats taking someone to Jesus. That’s always the best thing to do. You do that by sitting with them in worship. You do that by sharing Bible verses with someone. You do that by praying for someone. Your presence is important. Your acts of kindness are felt. There is an invisible person in our passage today. He’s hard to see. The verse says, “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus…” Who brought him? Was it a parent? Was it a wife? Was it a friend, like the ones who carried a crippled man and lowered him through the roof before Jesus? Someone cared enough to lead a blind man through the streets to where Jesus was. Had it not been for this unknown person, that man would have died blind and mute. His life was changed by Jesus. It was Jesus who saved him. However, an unknown person who loved him and cared for him, was the instrument that made the connection. That invisible person never got named in the Bible. We can’t do a character study of that person. We don’t know much about that person, other than he knew of Jesus and he believed that Jesus could do something. He was a believer.

If you and I could only be like this unknown person. It doesn’t matter if we get credit, thanked, a shout out, or any attention at all. We are just instruments. Jesus is  the one who changes lives. Jesus is the one who makes a difference. If we could only take people to Jesus, believing that good will be done, what a wonderful thing we would have done.

I drove by an old cemetery yesterday. Something about those old cemetery attracts me. You’ll notice in just about every old cemetery, one or two monuments that stand out. They are really tall compared to all the others. They grab your attention. You walk over there to see what “famous” guy is buried there. Don’t be that way in life. Don’t walk about doing things to grab attention upon yourself. Be the humble person that doesn’t get noticed, but does an amazing work.

A man with a lot of problems was brought to Jesus. Jesus helped him. Jesus always does.

Roger