Seeds for 07/25/2023 - Matthew 9:18-26
Scripture: 18 While He was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did His disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 He said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at Him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
Observation: “News of this spread…” No kidding! :)
As often happens in Matthew’s Gospel, we find a pair of similar stories close, even woven together. Matthew is inviting us to look for similarities, repetitions that he’s using to underscore some truth or teaching about Jesus.
The thing in common is faith in the touch of Jesus. The synagogue leader shares that his daughter has died, but states that he knows Jesus’ touch will restore her to life again. En route to the synagogue leader’s house, the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touches the hem of His garment, believing that touch would make her well. Frankly, this intertwined pair of stories reminds me of the straightforward faith of the centurion who understood how authority worked and believed Jesus’ authority over disease and death.
I’m always mindful to say that faith can’t be considered mechanistic—say the right words or believe exactly the right way, and we’ll get exactly what we wanted. However, neither do I wish to limit Jesus’ prerogative to heal or our hopefulness in praying for healing. I always think it best to pray as persistently and vigorously as we can, then trust God with the results.
That said, these stories recall to mind the wonderful chorus that reminds me that the healing touch of Jesus may be physical, either through miraculous means or a surgeon’s scalpel, or relational through a friend’s hug. Either way, Jesus manages to touch and heal us. This comes through His Body, the church, through His Word that conveys truth, wisdom, and grace, or through the Spirit who touches the heart. We are or have been, “shackled by a heavy burden, ‘neath a load of sin and shame…” We needed what God alone could do. “Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same. He touched me. Oh, He touched me. And oh, the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know — He touched me and made me whole.”
Application:
When have you experienced or witnessed the healing touch of Jesus?
How did that touch come to you?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, you know my weaknesses and hurts. Touch me and make me whole. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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