Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 12:22

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Then they brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw." O wickedness of the evil spirit! he had barred up both entrances, whereby that person should have believed, as well sight as hearing; nevertheless, both did Christ open.

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 40 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

The demon had stopped up the avenues towards faith, that is, the eyes, the hearing, and the tongue. But Jesus healed, and was called the Son of David by the multitude. For the Christ was expected to come from the seed of David. And so now, if you see a man who neither understands the good, nor accepts the words of another, consider him blind and dumb, and may God touch his heart and heal him.

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

For he that believes not, is truly daemoniac, blind, and dumb; and he that has not understanding of the faith, nor confesses, nor gives praise to God, is subject to the devil. (De Cons. Ev. ii. 37) This narrative is given by Luke, not in this place, but after many other things intervening, and speaks of him as dumb only, and not blind. But he is not to be thought to be speaking of another man, because he is silent respecting this one particular; for in what follows he agrees exactly with Matthew.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Jerome

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that he could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?' But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.' Three signs were performed simultaneously in one man: the blind see, the mute speak, and the one possessed by a demon is set free. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Hilary of Poitiers

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 …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗