Matthew 9:18-34

Before we read our next passage, consider this question:

In the next passage, Matthew tells us about more of Jesus’s miracles.  In the previous passages, we have seen a progression of miracles that show Jesus’s authority over increasingly daunting challenges that humans face: illnesses, storms, demons, and sin.  What is left?  I.e.:

What is the greatest challenge that every human must ultimately face?  What is the greatest thing that Jesus could work a miracle to overcome?

Matthew 9:18-26 restoring a dead girl to life, while healing a woman with hemorrhages

What two miracles take place in this pair of stories?

Let’s look at the synagogue official and his daughter first (verses 18-19 and 23-26):

Matthew’s telling of the story of the girl has small differences from Mark’s version of the same story: in Matthew, the girl is already dead and the synagogue official knows she is already dead when he approaches Jesus and ask him to save her.  Matthew just calls him a “ruler”; Mark specifies that he is a leader or official in the synagogue (Mark 5:22).

The synagogue official asks Jesus to heal his daughter after she is already dead.  What does this tell you about his faith?

Matthew keeps showing us people who are in positions of leadership but take the position of a faith-filled supplicant, even as other leaders are moving more and more toward opposition to Jesus.  You can imagine the tense conversation that might have occurred between this synagogue official and the scribes and Pharisees we saw challenging Jesus in the previous passages.

If you were the synagogue official, how would you explain your actions to the scribes and Pharisees who were challenging Jesus?  They would have been people of your social class.  How would you explain why you were humbling yourself to seek out this controversial man Jesus?

What does this political backdrop tell you about the social context in which Jesus conducted his ministry?

What does the political backdrop tell you about faith?  What does it tell you about following Jesus?

We are called to do the work of God regardless of whether political leaders support us.  We should be welcoming to all of them, just as Jesus was.

What does this healing of the girl tell us about Jesus?  About God?

What does this healing of the girl tell us about faith?  About ourselves?

Among other things, this healing shows that the faith of another person can make a difference in your life, which means that your faith can make a difference in the lives of others.

Now let us focus on the story of the woman.  As someone who suffers from constant bleeding (hemorrhages), which would make her be considered ritually unclean, she is probably a social outcast.

The “tassel” or “fringe” was a knotted string that Jews attached to the four corners of their outer garments in obedience to the Law of Moses (Numbers 15:37–39; Deut. 22:12) to remind them to obey the commandments of the Law.  Notice that Jesus wore such a garment.  He would have been dressed like any Jew of his time, not in modern robes.

What is the significance of the fact that the woman touched the tassel of Jesus’s cloak?

In general, it would not have been socially appropriate for a woman to touch a man in that culture.  But in addition to that, with an issue of blood she would have been considered unclean.

When the woman touched Jesus’s garment, Jesus immediately turned and looked to see who had touched him.  If we were reading the story of a Greek god or goddess, then when in verse 22 it says that Jesus turned and saw her, we might fear that the next sentence would be that he blasted her in some way.  But Jesus is not that kind of god.  How does he respond to her in verse 22?

How does Jesus affirm her decision not to be timid in reaching out to him?

How might you benefit from being less timid in your faith?

To what does Jesus ascribe the woman’s healing?

What is the role of faith in living out our live with Jesus?

How is this woman a role model for us?

How is Jesus in this entire pair of stories a role model for us?

The moment the woman touched the fringe of Jesus’s outer garment, she had his total and undivided attention.  As people made in the image of God and called to be like Christ to those around us, what does this tell us about how we should be aware of and respond to others?

Returning to the story of the girl, what is the crowd’s reaction when Jesus says she is not dead?

How are we at risk of being like that crowd?

While Matthew has begun this third sets of miracles with a climactic demonstration of Jesus’s power over even death, he is also making another point by telling us when a miracle occurred in response to a person’s faith – here, the synagogue official and the woman with the hemorrhages.  The next miracle also emphasizes the faith of the recipient.

Matthew 9:27-31 the healing of two blind men

What do the two blind men ask for?

What does Jesus ask them in response?

Why do you suppose Jesus asked this question rather than just granting their request?

Does God ask us the same question (“Do you believe that I am able to do this”)?  In what way does he pose this question to us?

To what does Jesus ascribe their healing?

Do you believe that Jesus will help you when you ask him?

Jesus’s healing of blind people is metaphorical as well as physical.  What is the metaphorical or spiritual point for us?

In verse 30, why do you think Jesus told the formerly blind men not to tell anyone what Jesus had done?

What did the formerly blind men do?

Was Jesus’s request a realistic request?  After all, they were previously blind and now they were not blind.  What do you think he expected to happen?

Matthew 9:31-34 the healing of a person who is mute

In this healing, we are told that “the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed” (Matthew 9:33, NRSV).  How does the fact that the man spoke relate to the statement about the crowd’s reaction?

Just as we might think about the healing of the blind men metaphorically, we might also think about how sometimes our voices are silent, metaphorically, and Jesus heals that.  How might it be said of you – at some time in your past, present, or future – that “the one who had been silent spoke”?

How do the Pharisees who lack faith react to this healing of a person who was thought to be possessed by a demon?  What do they accuse Jesus of?

How does the level of faith of the blind men versus the Pharisees illustrate the timeless choice about how to respond to Jesus?

What does this set of stories about people’s reactions to Jesus’s miracle-working power say to you about your life?

In this chapter 9, Matthew has presented some of the key criticisms of Jesus that will lead to his execution.  What things has Jesus been attacked or challenged for?

1. Blasphemy (Matt. 9:3), for claiming to be able to forgive sins.

2. Association with immoral people (Matt. 9:11), for eating with sinners.

3. Inadequate attention to the rituals of the faith (Matt. 9:14), for not having his disciples fast.

4. Being a tool of the devil (Matt. 9:34), an illogical conclusion that did acknowledge the fact that he could drive out demons.

Jesus is not someone to be neutral about.  As C. S. Lewis said, “You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God” (Mere Christianity, p. 56).  People are beginning to take sides.

If you were watching all of this happen, how would you have responded to the Pharisees?

Take a step back and consider this:

These stories of the woman with the hemorrhage, the synagogue official, the blind men, and the man who could not speak call us to have faith in Jesus.  They show us that Jesus does not want us to be timid, blind, or silent.

Matthew is telling us:

• Don’t be afraid to approach Jesus even if the world thinks you are not worthy to do so.

• Don’t be afraid to approach Jesus even if it goes against what other people of your social class are saying.

• Don’t be afraid to admit that there are things you just can’t see on your own, but that in Jesus you can see with new eyes.

• Don’t be afraid to let Jesus loosen your tongue so that you are silent no longer and can speak about what matters in your life.

Are there ways you feel unworthy to approach Jesus about your needs?  Are there ways you feel pressured to keep your faith private?  Are there ways you think maybe you are missing something and need Jesus to open your eyes in a new way?  Are there ways you feel like you need Jesus to loosen your tongue so that you can speak edifying words that would benefit others?

What would Jesus say to you if you were in front of him right now?

How can you reach out in faith and touch the tassel of Jesus’s cloak, and allow him to do a new work in your life?