Matthew 9:18-26

Introduction

Friday was Vanna Kate’s Birthday

I Can’t Believe She is Already 2 Years Old

Most of You Have Got to See Her Grow, Change, and Learn These Past 2 Years

We are So Thankful to Be Able to Raise Her Here With a Family Like You

She Has Come to Know and Love So Many of You

We’ve Always Wanted Her to See Her “Church Family” as Her Actual Family

And as She Continues to Grow, We Hope We Get To Continue Raising Her Alongside All of You

So That Her Love for All of You Will Continue to Grow…

As Your Love for Her Continues to Grow

Norah and I are So Thankful to Have a Family Like You Who Loves Our Daughter So Much!

But You’ll Never Love Her as Much as I Do

She’s My Daughter

And No Other Human Here On Earth, Apart From Her Mother…

Will Ever Love Her the Way I Love Her

Those of You Who are Parents Know What I Mean

The Love I Have for My Daughter, as Her Father Compels Me to…

Provide for Her

Protect Her

Teach Her

Encourage Her

Show Her Affection

Be Patient With Her

Guide Her to the One Who Will Save Her

I Love Her so Much, Not Because of Anything She’s Done…

But Because of Who She is:

She’s My Daughter

And In Our Text, We are Going to See Overwhelming Displays of a Father’s Love for His Daughter

Matthew 9:18-26

We are Still in the Gap Between Jesus’ 1st and 2nd Major Teaching Discourses

In This Gap are 3 Groupings of 3 Miracles Each…

With a Discipleship Passage in Between

This Morning We are Starting the 1st Miracle in the Final Grouping of Miracles

This Miracle Story Actually Consists of 2 Miracles

We’ve Noticed that Matthew Tends to Abbreviate the Stories of Jesus

But This Story is One of His Most Abbreviated

His Account of This Event is About 1/2 of Luke’s Account

And it is About 1/3 of Mark’s Account

Mark Uses 23 Verses to Tell This Story

Matthew Uses 9

I Believe Matthew Did This to Emphasize the Faith of Those Who Approach Jesus

By the End of This Text We Will See…

That Jesus Grants Salvation to Those of Faith

I Will Be Adding in Some Details From the Other Accounts as We Go Through This Text

Not That It’s Absolutely Necessary to Know All the Details

Mostly Because I Like to Know Details

And Knowing the Details Can Give Us Greater Appreciation for Jesus

Matthew 9:18 (NASB95)

While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”

While Jesus was Talking to John’s Disciples…

About the Inappropriateness of Fasting While the Messiah is Present…

A Ruler Came to Him and Bowed Down

Mark and Luke Tell Us He is the Ruler of the Synagogue and His Name was Jairus

He Would Have Been a Very Influential Member of the Community

And Would Have Had Several Practical and Spiritual Leadership Duties in the Synagogue

Matthew Tells Us that Jairus’ Daughter is Already Dead…

And that Jairus was Asking Jesus to, More or Less, Resurrect Her

But That is Not What the Other Accounts Tell Us

Mark and Luke Tell Us that His Daughter was Dying, But Not Dead Yet

We Know that His Daughter Will Eventually Die Before Jesus is Able to Heal Her

So Matthew is Abbreviating the Account By Saying She’s Already Dead

Jairus Believed Jesus was Capable of Healing His Daughter

As We’ve Been Seeing in Chapter 9…

The Religious Jews are Not Big Fans of Jesus

For the Ruler of the Synagogue to Come and Bow Down to Jesus…

Claiming to Believe that Jesus has the Power of God to Heal His Daughter…

Was to Step Out of Line From His Jewish Peers

What Caused Jairus to Trust in Jesus When so Many of the Other Religious Jews Would Not?

Maybe He was an Good-Hearted Man

Or Maybe He was Desperate

Maybe His Love for His Daughter Led Him to the Only Option He Had Left to Save Her

Maybe His Love for His Daughter Led Him to Place His Faith in the Messiah

Regardless of What Led to His Faith…

His Faith Would Be Rewarded

And in a More Spectacular Way Than He Ever Imagined

Matthew 9:19 (NASB95)

Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.

After Jairus Bows and Begs Jesus to Save His Daughter’s Life…

Jesus, Being the Compassionate Savior He is…

Immediately Gets Up to Follow Jairus to His House

Matthew 9:20–21 (NASB95)

And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.”

Mark and Luke Tell Us that a Large Crowd Followed Jesus to Jairus’ House

Amongst the Crowd was This Woman

She Had Been Suffering With Continual Bleeding for the Amount of Time Jairus’ Daughter Had Been Alive

This Means She Has Been Considered Unclean for 12 Straight Years

This Would Have Made Her a Social Outcast

She Shouldn’t Have Been Among This Crowd

Because Everyone She Touches Would Be Made Unclean

And Not Only was She an Unclean Outcast, But She was Also Poor

She Had Spent All of Her Money Going From Doctor to Doctor…

But She Never Got Any Better

She Only Continued to Get Worse

Like Jairus, She is Desperate

And Her Desperation for a Cure Led Her to the Man Who is Said to Have the Ability to Heal Anyone

She Believed What She’d Heard

“If the Man Can Do All the Things They Say He’s Done…

Surely He Can Heal Me Easily.”

She Believed if She Could Only Touch His Clothing, that She Would Be Saved

Amongst the Pushing and Shoving of This Crowd…

She Began Inching Her Way Closer to Jesus…

Trying Not to Be Noticed

Why?

Because She Knows Full and Well that She’s Not Supposed to Touch Anyone

And a Jewish Teacher Would Never Allow Her to Come Near Him

So, in Order to Touch Him and Be Healed…

She has to Do it Secretly

So She Reaches Out and Touches the Very Edge of His Cloak

Immediately She Felt Her Body Heal and the Bleeding Stop

She Tried to Inconspicuously Make Her Exit

But Jesus Stopped and Asked Who Touched Him

Mark 5:32–33 (NASB95)

And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.

The Woman was Terrified Because She’d Been Caught Red-Handed

Her Shame is Piling On Top of More Shame

Though Her Health is Renewed…

She is Now Being Called Out in a Crowd of People…

By the Teacher She Believes She Has Just Intentionally Made Unclean

And On Top of That, She May Feel She Has Just Stolen a Miracle From Him, as Well

What is He Going to Say to Her?

What is He Going to Do to Her?

There Doesn’t Seem to Be Any Positive Outcome to This Situation

Can You Imagine Her Tears as She Lay in Front of Him…

And Her Frantic Words as She Tries to Explain Why She Did What She Did?

Whatever She was Expecting Him to Say or Do, She was Expecting the Worst

And There’s No Way She Could Have Ever Expected What He Says to Her

Matthew 9:22 (NASB95)

But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.

Rather Than Anger, Jesus Showed Compassion

Do You Remember What Jesus Said to the Paralytic Who Just Had the Roof Ripped Off a House to Get to Him?

“Take Courage, Son”

This Woman’s Faith in Jesus Led Her to Do Something Many Would Call…

Rash, Selfish, Reckless, Careless, Bold, and Extreme

And Jesus Loved Every Bit of it

He Wanted Her and Everyone Around to Know…

That it was Her Faith that Saved Her

She Did Nothing Wrong and She Stole Nothing From Him

Because Her Faith in Jesus Led Her to Take Extreme Action…

She was Saved

And Just Like the Paralytic Who Acted in Faith…

We Have Good Reason to Believe This Woman Didn’t Walk Away Being Saved Only Physically

Let’s Not Overlook the Word Jesus Used: Daughter

Jesus was On His Way to Heal a Loving Father’s Daughter

And On the Way, He Shows the Heavenly Father’s Love to One of His Faithful Daughters

Another Detail that Matthew Omits is…

That While Jesus was Speaking to the Woman…

Someone From Jairus’ House Came to Bring Him the News

"Your Daughter has Died; Do Not Trouble the Teacher Anymore”

Can You Imagine Being Jairus in That Moment?

I Know Some of You Know What He Felt All to Well

His Precious Little Princess was Gone

And He wasn’t There to Hold Her Hand in Her Final Moments…

Because His Faith Led Him to Find the Messiah

They Say There is No Pain Like the Pain of Losing a Child

But I Hope We Can All Take Comfort in Jesus’ Response

Luke 8:50 (NASB95)

But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”

Jesus Knew the Heart-Sinking, Hopeless, and Broken Sensation that Jairus was Feeling

And He Wanted to Make Quick Business of That

Don’t Be Afraid, Have Faith!

Matthew 9:23–24 (NASB95)

When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him.

It was Customary in Jewish Culture to Hire Flute-Players and Women Mourners for Funerals

Jesus, More or Less, Told Them They Were Unnecessary

He Commands Them to Leave Because the Girl is Only Asleep

He Doesn’t Mean the Girl is Not Dead

He Sets the Stage for How Christians Would Look at Death for the Next 2,000 Years

Death is Temporary

The Girl is Dead, But Only Temporarily Dead

And She is About to Wake Up

They Laugh at Him, Thinking He is Crazy

They Knew She was Dead, Not Just Sleeping

But What They Didn’t Know was Who They Were Laughing at

The Same Man Who Before He Raises His Friend Lazarus From the Dead…

Will Say, “I Am the Resurrection”

Matthew 9:25–26 (NASB95)

But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. This news spread throughout all that land.

He Takes Her By the Hand and Tells Her to Get Up

And She Does

She is Brought Out of Death

The Faith of the Father Saved His Daughter

And Everyone Throughout the Land is About to Hear a New Story About Jesus

Not Only Does He Cure Sicknesses

Heal Diseases

Control Nature

Cast Out Demons

and Forgive Sin

He Also Can Reverse the Irreversible

He Holds Authority Over Death Itself

Application

In This Account, We See 2 People Who Have Hit Rock Bottom

They Have Nowhere Else to Turn

So They Turn to Jesus

And They Were Not Disappointed

In Fact, They Were Blessed Beyond Anything They Could Have Imagined

The Compassionate Jesus Doesn’t Ask for Much

All He Asks is for Us to Trust Him

Sometimes Trusting in Jesus Calls for Us to Make Some Extreme Decisions

If There’s Anything that Warms Jesus’ Heart and Moves Him to Compassion…

It’s Extreme Acts of Faith

Sometimes We Have to Be Brave and Take Those Leaps of Faith

Doing What is Right or Doing What is Needed is Not Always What’s Easiest

Very Rarely is it the Easy Thing to Do

But if We Will Only Take Those Leaps of Faith in Jesus

It May Not Go or End Up the Way We Expect

But We Will Aways Be Taken Care of

And Many Times the Outcome is More Amazing Than Anything We Could Have Expected

We See 2 Beautiful Accounts of a Father’s Love in This Passage

Jairus’ Love for His Daughter Led Him to Faith in the Messiah

And God’s Love for His Sick and Ostracized Daughter in Desperate Need of Saving

What Did it Take for These Amazing Events to Take Place?

Faith

That’s All Jesus Wants From Us

Just Place Your Trust in Him

Surrender to His Will for Your Life

Because He is Able and Willing to Provide for You Everything You Will Ever Need