There was a twofold reply: one drawn from their own experience. Others said, These ( ῥήματα; verba, Vulgate) sayings—"things said"—are not those of one who is possessed by a daemon. Their majestic calm, their conscious strength, the strange thrill they sent through human hearts, and which we feel to this hour, discriminate them from the scream of the maniac, with which some of the more astounding statements taken by themselves might have suggested comparison.
They give another argument drawn from the miracle which had just taken place, which proves that his friends on this occasion were very far from the mad wickedness of those whose moral sense had been so perverted as to say that "he casts out daemons by the prince of daemons" (see Matthew 12:24, etc.
, and parallel passages). Can a daemon open the eyes of the blind? It is not in the nature of a damon to heal disease, and pour light on sightless eyes. The goodness of the Lord triumphs over the vile insinuation.
We must have better explanation than this of his mysterious claims. The contest was sharp. The conflict for a while silenced opposition, only to break out again with greater malice and fury.