And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
This verse comes immediately after Jesus healed a man who was blind, mute, and described as demon-possessed — all at once. The crowd watching was stunned. "Son of David" was a well-known title for the long-awaited Messiah, a promised deliverer the Jewish people had been expecting for centuries, foretold to come from the lineage of Israel's greatest king, David. The crowd's question — "Could this be?" — reflects both astonishment and uncertainty. They had seen something that defied explanation, and now they're trying to fit it into everything they thought they knew about who the Messiah would be and what he would do.
Lord, like the crowd, I've seen things I can't fully explain — moments where you felt undeniably real. I don't always have the words or the certainty, but I'm still asking the question. Meet me in the asking. Amen.
The crowd didn't shout a declaration. They asked a question. "Could this be the Son of David?" It's wide-eyed, off-balance, uncertain — the response of people who just watched something happen that they have no category for. They'd carried the hope of a Messiah their whole lives, woven into their scripture, their prayers, their national memory. And now a man from Galilee is doing the undoable, and they're standing there in the dust trying to figure out what to do with what they just saw. There's something deeply honest about their response — and something that might feel familiar. Faith often doesn't begin with a bold confession. It begins with a question that won't leave you alone. Maybe you're in that crowd right now: not ready to say "yes, this is him," but unable to walk away from what you've glimpsed either. That space between astonishment and certainty is not a failure of faith. For many people, it's exactly where faith is born. Stay in the question. Keep watching.
Why do you think the crowd phrased their response as a question — "Could this be?" — rather than a confident declaration? What does that tell you about the weight of the moment?
Can you recall a time when something made you wonder about Jesus without landing on a clear answer? What was it like to sit with that uncertainty?
Is it possible to genuinely follow Jesus from a place of ongoing uncertainty? What do you think real faith actually requires — and what does it not require?
How do you respond when someone in your life is asking the crowd's question — curious, maybe astonished, but not yet committed? Do you give them room to wonder, or do you rush them toward answers?
What would it look like for you personally to stay in the question — to keep pursuing Jesus — even without the certainty you might want right now?
And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.
Matthew 9:27
But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
Matthew 9:34
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Romans 1:3
But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
Matthew 9:8
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Matthew 21:9
All the people wondered in amazement, and said, "Could this be the Son of David (the Messiah)?"
AMP
And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
ESV
All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, 'This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?'
NASB
All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
NIV
And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
NKJV
The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”
NLT
The people who saw it were impressed—"This has to be the Son of David!"
MSG