Matthew 12:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

We may wonder at the wickedness of the dæmon; he had obstructed both inlets by which he could believe, namely, hearing and sight. But Christ opened both, whence it follows, And he healed him., insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

Even though the Lord had distanced Himself, they remained nearby, eavesdropping and speaking ill of Him at the very moment He was bestowing blessings upon humanity. In this way, they revealed their inherent enmity, akin to that of the adversary.

For he that believes not, is truly dæmoniac, blind, and dumb; and he that has not understanding of the faith, nor confesses, nor gives praise to God, is subject to the devil.

Three miracles were wrought in one and the same person at the same time; the blind sees, the dumb speaks, the possessed is delivered from the dæmon. This was at that time done in the flesh, but is now daily being fulfilled in the conversion of them that believe; the dæmon is cast out when they first behold the light of the faith, and then their mouths which had before been stopped are opened to utter the praises of God.

Motivated by their jealousy of His splendor, they could not hold back from their most vicious defamation, ascribing the deeds of the Divine to Beelzebub. They claimed He drove out demons not through His own authority but through the influence of Beelzebub, His relative and associate. On another occasion, they further accused, “Beelzebub hath” (Mark 3:22).

Not without reason, after having mentioned that all the multitude was healed together, does he bring in the cure of this man separately who was dæmoniac, blind and dumb. For after the man of the withered hand had been brought before Him, and been healed in the Synagogue, it behoved that the salvation of the Gentiles should be represented in the person of some other afflicted man; he who had been the habitation of a dæmon, and blind and dumb, should be made meet to receive God, should contain God in Christ, and by confession of God should give praise to the works of Christ.

The multitude who seemed less learned, always wondered at the works of the Lord; they, on the other hand, either denied these things, or what they could not deny laboured to pervert by an ill interpretation, as though they were wrought not by a Deity, but by an unclean spirit, namely, Beelzebub, who was the God of Acharon: The Pharisees when they heard it said, This man does not cast out dæmons but by Beelzebub, the prince of the dæmons.

The word Then refers to that above, where having healed the man who had the withered hand, He went out of the synagogue. Or it may be taken of a more extended time; Then, namely, when these things were being done or said.

How true is the statement, "They were astonished, for they had yet to recognize Him." No one can adequately assess a creation without understanding the identity of its maker. For instance, when a disciple of a renowned master produces an impressive work, we marvel at the accomplishments of someone else's student. However, if the master himself were to create the same, our astonishment would not be as pronounced. What is surprising about the great master crafting a remarkable creation? Similarly, every work of God falls short of His infinite power. Therefore, when the Son of God performed a miracle, it was not meant to simply evoke wonder, but to inspire belief.

Upon hearing the remarks of the people, the Pharisees proclaimed, “He drives out demons only by the authority of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” The miracles performed by Christ were so evident that they could not be disputed, leading the Pharisees to attribute them to the power of the demon prince. Their intent was to incite fear and animosity toward Him, diverting belief in the Lord due to His supposed alliance with Satan. If Jesus were indeed to heal the possessed through collusion with Satan to mislead the masses, it would imply that His other miracles could not be attributed to the power of God, branding Him as an enemy of the Almighty and a companion of the adversary.

The miraculous healing of the blind man possessed by demons deeply impacted the crowd, leading them to wonder if the one who healed him was indeed the Messiah. This sentiment surely frustrated the adversaries of Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees, yet it was clear to everyone present that the healing was an act of divine intervention. In an attempt to distort this miracle, they accused Jesus of casting out demons through the power of Beelzebub, the lord of demons. To counter this false accusation, Christ raised two key points: First, if He expelled demons by Beelzebub's authority, it would imply that Satan is acting against himself, which is nonsensical since such internal conflict would lead to the collapse of Satan's kingdom.

The accusation made by the Pharisees that Jesus expelled demons through the authority of the prince of demons should have been addressed by the leaders of the people, including the scribes and Pharisees. However, upon realizing that the populace was poised to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, they quickly resorted to their malicious defamation. Unable to refute Jesus' power to drive out demons from the possessed, they attributed this miraculous act not to divine authority but to the influence of Satan, seeking to sow animosity and fear among the people, implying that Jesus was allied with unholy forces.

Upon hearing the voices of the crowd, the Pharisees remarked not directly to Jesus but to the people, questioning whether this was the son of David, Christ. They labeled Him as "Beelzebub, the prince of demons." The Pharisees had already made the choice to reject Jesus of Nazareth as God's anointed one, the Messiah, and now sought to justify their stance regarding the remarkable miracles He performed, including the healing of those possessed by demons, the deaf-mute, and the blind. These acts were undeniably extraordinary, making it clear that they could not have been achieved through ordinary human abilities or skill. The crowd began to speculate if this miracle-worker was indeed the Messiah.

Among the Pharisees and scribes who were present during the miraculous event were some who had traveled from Jerusalem, and together they devised a new scheme against Jesus Christ. Initially, those filled with jealousy spread the tale that He was beside Himself, prompting His neighbors to come and attempt to take Him away. When they could not refute the miracle that had been performed openly, they began to assert that He expelled demons only by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.