Matthew 9-17

Demons and Disability/The Parables

Demons and Disability

I found it upsetting that every person that had a demon also had a disability: blindness, deafness, muteness, and seizures. Jesus healed many people such as lepers, blind, deaf, and mute people. He even went as far as reviving dead people. However, every person that was possessed by a demon had an ailment. I understand that at the time the Bible was written, people didn’t understand genetic disorders that caused any of these disabilities but, it upset me that the character of demonic possession was a disability.

 

The Parables – Matthew 13:1-17

At this point, Jesus is ministering to the people. He speaks to them in parables, bacially stories that talk about morality by symbolizing and personifying things. The one that stuck out to be read as follows:

“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon the stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But others fell unto good ground, and brought forth fruit” (Matthew 3-8).

At first, I was confused by this and did not understand what the parable meant. As I read along the next couple of verses clarified the meaning. The people are the seeds, and the many circumstances that happen to seeds are the different ways people perceive and accept the word of the Lord. Some people don’t accept the word so evil (the fowl) becomes more important than the word. Some people accept the word but are quick to turn their back on the Lord (stony places) when something doesn’t go their way. There are others who accept the word but earthly possessions hold more power in their lives (thorns). Lastly, there are the people that accept the word and live by it. Those last people, the ones who accept the word and fully commit to it and have full faith, are the ones that Jesus is looking for.