Matthew 9 - Part 4

 

Read Matthew 9

It’s time to read about healing.  It’s time to read about faith.  It’s time to see that many were coming to believe that Jesus was more than a teacher or prophet.

This section begins with Jesus teaching and a synagogue leader came and knelt before him.  Again, we see faith at work.  The man told of his daughter who had just died but he believed that Jesus could bring her back to life.  This is no case of Corona Virus or Leprosy.  She was dead but this man believed that Jesus could bring her to life.

Jesus departed with this man to see his daughter.  Along the way, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for a dozen years came up behind him and touched the edge of his outer garment. She knew that if she could just touch his clothing that she would be healed.

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

There is a little more dialogue and action in Mark’s account, but consider the words: Your faith has healed you.  Think about those words.  God has given each of us a measure of faith, but this woman had the will to put her faith into practice.

Your faith has healed you.

Jesus continued to the synagogue leader’s home and told the people that the girl was not dead but asleep.  They laughed at him.  Jesus sent them out of the building and took the girl by the hand.  She got up.

There was no keeping this secret.  There was no instruction not to tell anyone.  The skeptical crowd was witness to the impossible at the hands of Jesus.

The girl’s father had faith among a congregation of skeptics.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This man’s faith brought that substance and evidence into physical being.  Faith was at work and visible to many.  This would go viral.

Healing and Faith were making headlines.

Amen.