Matthew 9:18-26: “A Woman Grabs The Hem Of Jesus’ Garment And
Is Healed / Jesus Raises Jairus’ Daughter From The Dead”
by
1. INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section we will study two more miracles
that Jesus performed
1.1.1. A woman
grabs the hem of His garment believing that in doing so she will be healed of a
hemmorage she has had for 12 years
1.1.1.1. Even though this
woman’s theology was off and her motives not completely pure, none the less
Jesus healed her because she placed what faith she had in Him
1.1.2. Jesus raises
from the dead Jairus’ (a synagogue official) daughter from the dead
2. VS 9:18-19 - “18 While He was saying these things to
them, behold, there came a synagogue official, and bowed down before Him,
saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she
will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and began to follow him, and so did His disciples”
-
A synagogue official summons Jesus to come and heal his daughter
2.1.
This story is also recounted in Mark 5:22-43 and Luke 8:41-56
2.2.
Mark and Luke in their accounts of this story tell us that this synagogue
official was named, ‘Jairus’
2.3.
In Mark’s and Luke’s account of this story, Jairus initially says to
Jesus that his daughter is “near” death, and it may be that what Matthew is
trying to recount for us here in saying that she ‘has just died’ is the fact
that this man knew that his daughter was right at death’s door and that unless
Jesus performed a miraculous healing there would be no hope for her
2.4.
Luke tells us that the man’s daughter was 12 years old
2.5.
We see this man’s humility in that he came and bowed before Jesus in
making this request for his daughter
2.5.1. Both Mark and Luke tell us
that the man fell at Jesus feet when he entreated him to come and heal his
daughter
2.6.
He was a broken man and his great need had brought him to the place to
where he came to sincerely seek God and truth
2.6.1. There weren’t many of the Jewish
leaders who came to Christ in a time of need, however the circumstances of the
great need in Jairus’ life bring him to come to the only source of hope that
exists for his dying daughter
2.6.2. There is a good possibility
that you came to the Lord because of some very difficult thing that you were
facing in your life, and if so you ought to thank God that in His mercy He
allowed you to undergo this trial so that you could come to the great physician
and be healed of a much greater need that you had in your life, you were healed
from a life of sin and separation from God
2.6.3. It is a good thing when the
Lord allows us as Christians to go through various difficult trials because He
uses those times to teach and work in us great things
2.7.
This man had enough faith to believe that if Jesus came to visit his
daughter that He could heal her (he did not have the faith of the man we
already read about who believed that Jesus did not need to be present but could
just say the word and she would be healed)
2.7.1. Jesus meets each of us where
we are at when we come to Him, and for some our faith is greater and for others
it can be very small, but it never fails for it is placed in Jesus and
therefore it is always enough
3. VS 9:20-22 - “20 And behold, a woman who had been
suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched
the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His
garment, I shall get well.” 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said,
“Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” And at once the woman
was made well.” - A woman
sneaks up and touches the hem of His garment believing that in doing so she
will be healed of a hemorrhage
3.1.
We see the graciousness of Jesus here, for while heading to minister to
one person, He does not mind being interrupted in order to minister to another
person on the way
3.2.
Though the synagogue official may have been experiencing a bit of panic
here because of Jesus being interrupted during this critical situation, Jesus
didn’t experience any, for He knew that He would be able to raise the man’s
daughter from the dead were she to die
3.3.
Jesus was on the way to heal a 12 year old girl, however here before us
was a woman who had suffered greatly for 12 long years and who had desperately
needed Him all of those years
3.3.1. This woman’s bleeding could
have been caused by a tumor or other problem with the uterus
3.3.2. Constant bleeding would have
caused this woman to be ceremonially unclean all of the time, and therefore she
would have been cut off from the temple and all social life during this entire
time
3.3.3. Anyone who touched her would
have also become unclean, so she was probably cut off from all family and
friends during these years
3.3.3.1. Leviticus 15:25-27 states, “that
a woman who suffered from such “a discharge of her blood many days, not at the
period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period,
all the days of her impure discharge…shall continue as though in her menstrual
impurity; she is unclean. Any bed on which she lies all the days of her
discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be
unclean, like her uncleanness at that time.
Like wise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his
clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening”
3.3.4. A woman would have to be
free from bleeding for 7 days in order to be considered for going through the
purification cleansing to become clean again (vv 28-29)”.
3.4.
We want next to take a look at the motivations of this woman to be healed
3.4.1. Being herself unclean at all
times and therefore excluded from temple and public life, she must have schemed
about sneaking up upon Jesus unseen amongst a crowd and then she would touch
the hem of his garment and hopefully be healed
3.4.2. This woman very had theology
concerning Jesus because she evidently believed that power just sort of
emanated out from Him without His being completely conscious of it, and
therefore if she were just to touch the hem of His garment in faith believing
that she would be healed, that she would be healed, and Jesus wouldn’t even
know about it
3.5.
If each of us were to be completely honest then I’ll bet that we could
relate to this woman since we probably came to Jesus and were saved even though
our motives were not completely pure nor our faith very clear, and that it was
only after being saved that God actually began purifying our hearts and motives
3.5.1. How wonderful God’s grace is
in our lives because He meets us where we are at when we place our faith in
Christ for salvation, even when our heart and motives are not completely pure
3.6.
Jesus knew exactly what had happened, for He purposely healed the woman
because she had placed her weak and imperfect faith in Him, and thus He turned
to her and as is so typical of the Lord, He immediately seeks to relieve the
fear that He knew she had by saying, ‘Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well’
3.7.
Though this woman’s faith is imperfect, Jesus encourages her in the fact
that it is her faith in Him that has made her whole
3.8.
But, this woman received more than physical healing, for the Lord calls
her ‘daughter’, indicating that she had received salvation at that moment also
3.9.
As every miracle points a picture of the healing from sin we receive
through Christ, this miracle upon this woman then paints for us a beautiful
picture of what happens in our lives when we come to salvation. For, it has been the case in each of our
lives that for all of the years prior to being saved sin has caused as a
constant bleeding in our lives, making us weak and unclean, separating us from
God and His temple, and from community (people) around us, and there has been
no wholeness anywhere to be found by us.
Then, when we finally trusted in Jesus for salvation and turned our
wills over to Him, He healed us from our sin and brought us to fellowship with
Him, removing the barriers that existed also between us and others
3.10.
Matthew seems to indicate here that the woman was healed after Jesus spoke
to her and told her that her faith had made her well, however we must go with
Mark and Luke here since in both of their accounts tells us that the woman was
first healed and that when Jesus had realized that power went out of Him, He
then turned around and addressed the woman
4. VS 9:23-26 - “23 And when Jesus came into the
official’s house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd in noisy disorder,
24 He began to say, “Depart; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And
they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been put out, He entered
and took her by the hand; and the girl arose. 26 And this news went out into
all that land” - Jesus enters
Jarius’ house and raises his daughter from the dead
4.1.
When Jesus arrives at Jarius’ house, we get a glimpse of Jewish life in
His day
4.1.1. Today in the life of the
people of the culture I’m most familiar with in America, everyone around the
person who has lost a loved one tries to be as quiet and solemn as possible in
order to show proper respect and to bring comfort to the one who has lost
someone, however in Jesus’ day the people were much more openly emotional, and
they showed proper respect and brought comfort by wailing loudly for days on
end for one whose loved one had died
4.1.2. In this story we see that friends
or family had hired professional wailers to come and wail for this family
during their grief
4.1.3. We can see the hypocrisy in
these professional wailers, for they go from wailing to scornfully laughing at
Jesus when He tells them that the ‘girl has not died, but is asleep’
4.2.
Jesus referred to this girl as well as Lazarus whom He also raised from
the dead (John 11:11) as being asleep,
and we ought to ask the question as to what He refers when He speaks
this way of the dead as being asleep?
4.2.1. Some have from these
references wrongly taken the assumption that death is merely soul sleep and
that there is no consciousness of the dead until judgment day, however that
does not jive with what scripture teaches
4.2.1.1. In the story of the rich man
and Lazarus the beggar, both of whom died yet went to opposite places, Jesus
made it clear that for those who are wicked there are torments in Hades, and
the people are conscious (see Luke 16:23, the rich man who died raised up his
eyes in Hades while in torment)
4.2.2. Some have speculated that
neither Lazarus nor this 12 year old girl were really dead, but that they just
appeared to everyone to be dead, however this doesn’t match the details of the
stories, nor of our experience of reality (she must have been dead)
4.2.3. Some have speculated that
though both of these people had actually died that angels who normally escort
the dead to their destination point actually were present keeping their spirit
from departing far from the body (there may be some truth to this view)
4.2.4. I believe the correct view
point is that to Jesus both of these people who had died at this time were just
sleeping, for He knew He had the power to raise them from the dead just as if
someone were merely being wakened from a nap
4.3.
Jesus asks the professional wailers who were laughing at Him with a laugh
of scorn to leave since a miracle such as He was about to perform could not be
done in the presence of these who had no faith nor appreciate of Jesus
4.4.
Both Mark and Luke include in their story that Jesus only let into the
room with Him and the little girl Peter, James, and John along with the girls
parents
4.4.1. Peter, James and John were
the inner circle of Jesus’ group of apostles, and they alone were allowed to
witness this miracle along with the incident of His transfiguration and His night
of prayer in the
4.5.
In Mark 5:41, we read that in tenderness Jesus actually said to this
girl, “Little girl, I say to you arise”
4.6. In verse 26 here it is
written that news went out into all the land about Jesus performing this
miracle, however Mark include that Jesus told them not to tell anyone about
this great miracle