When Silence Speaks
July 8, 2025 - Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 9:32-38
In the previous chapter, we saw demons reduce two men to a living hell (Matt 8:28). Now, in this scene, demonic oppression has taken another form: a man rendered mute. Robbed of his voice, he is cut off from others—unable to cry out, confess, pray, or bless. But Jesus casts out the demon, and though we do not hear the man’s first words, we do hear the voices that rise around him.
The crowd is awestruck: “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel” (Matt 9:33).
The Pharisees are offended: “He casts out demons by the prince of demons” (Matt 9:34).
That single word—“never”—rings with wonder. In Mark’s Gospel, the crowds say something similar when Jesus heals a paralytic (Mark 2:12). In John, even those sent to arrest Jesus are left speechless: “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). With Jesus, the word “never” is overturned. The long-awaited promises of Isaiah are being fulfilled before their eyes:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unstopped,
then shall the lame leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Is 35:5–6).
But even miracles don’t convince everyone. While one man regains his voice, others use theirs to slander the Son of God. Some demons silence; others inspire blasphemy. As Paul writes, “No one speaking in the Spirit of God says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). The Pharisees’ accusation—that Jesus works by the power of demons—is not only false but dangerous. It blinds others from recognizing the mercy and authority of God among them.
John’s Gospel goes further still: some accused Jesus Himself of being possessed (John 8:48). It is no surprise, then, that Jesus calls Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The most insidious tactic of evil is not silence—it is distortion.
Matthew concludes this section of his Gospel with a summary of Jesus’ mission:
“Jesus went about all the cities and villages… and when He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:35–36).
Those two words—“harassed and helpless”—recall Israel under Pharaoh’s oppression (Ex 1:13–14), crying out for liberation (Ex 2:23–24). Back then, God heard, remembered, saw, and knew (Ex 2:25). Now, in Jesus, God walks among the afflicted—and has compassion.
The time for a new Exodus has come. The mute now speak. The oppressed are set free. And the world is ready to hear the Gospel—if only it has ears to listen.