Matt. 9:18-26 – Faith in Jesus – Raising the Dead

This section begin with the faith of a Father that Jesus can not only “heal” his daughter, but bring her back from the dead. The father asks and Jesus comes (Matt. 7:7-12), but the man did have to have the faith to ask. Then right in the middle of this story is another about a woman whose faith causes her to seek Jesus out just to touch the hem of his cloak believing that that would be enough to free her from her illness and without fanfare or any announcement Jesus recognizes her faith and she’s healed.

Then when Jesus finally gets to the ruler’s house, he seems to tell a lie about the girl’s condition. Was he trying to down play what he was about to do? How this greatly contrasts the attention some “miracle workers” would draw to themselves just as they would perform their “miracles” (dare I say that there’s a lesson here for supposed televangelists looking for ratings). It’s difficult to know Jesus’ intention with the comment, the gathered people laughed at him, which not something you’d normally want before such an amazing event. So, in part, the statement isn’t “literal” but a statement of how Jesus saw the girl, that her “condition” wasn’t permament to him. In a sense, he’s echoing the faith expressed by the father when they began this story. So, when Jesus raises the daughter up the crowd goes from derision to shock and not too surprisingly, the news of this great miracle spreads. But it all began with a father’s faith, in the face of death. JBB 05/12/2004