The King Brings Life

Jesus is alive, or so I believe. If you come join our in-person gathering Sunday morning at 11, I’m going to share some of the reasons I believe Jesus is alive and what I think that means, and we’ll have opportunity for others to share what they think and what it means to them. We may even eat some jelly beans, but no promises.

Grace and peace

Studying Matthew’s story of Jesus

He’s giving evidence for who he believes Jesus to be by laying out stories of things Jesus did and the people who saw those things. He was – at the time – giving us a list of witnesses who could speak to the truth of what he was saying.

First he gave three examples of Jesus dealing with sickness and how people responded. He linked that to prophecies in Hebrew scripture to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Next, he told stories of Jesus’ power over the natural, the supernatural, and even over the idea of sin. People responded to that by flocking to him on their own and when he called them. And while some questioned the quality and behavior of these people and of Jesus himself, Jesus told them that he wasn’t trying to change them, but that new people needed new ways and that allowing this brought more people to God.

Now we’re going into a third set of three witnesses. In fact, Matthew’s going to sneak an extra one in for us. All three of these also talk about the authority of Jesus to change lives, or, in these cases, his authority to GIVE life and restore those who accept that authority.

Matthew 9:18-19

18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. [1]

Leader

Faith

Response: No words, just goes

Luke tells same story but has some different elements. Why? Making a different point. Matthew is trying to focus on people’s response to Jesus here. In case of synagogue leader, his faith in Jesus.

To keep anyone from missing that, he uses this example because it includes a bonus story inside of it.

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. [2]

Bleeding for 12 years – now might call it an inter-uterine disorder. Essentially menstruating continually. In their culture, under the rules of the Mosaic Covenant, that made her ritually unclean. She didn’t belong in a crowd of people, because she would have been seen as contaminating them with her presence and any touch. Matthew doesn’t call this out – NOT HIS POINT.

He wants us to hear what she thought and what Jesus said.

She thought: If I can touch him, I will be healed.

Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.”

Faith is shown as having two parts: Belief and action.

Woman’s belief/action

Synagogue leader’s belief/action

23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.[3]

Noisy/pipes – mourning.

Respected family – everyone turns out.

Laugh. Faithless.

Easy to criticize, but she’s DEAD.

Jesus has them sent out of house.

25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region. [4]

Both stories have layers people may not usually think about.

Not just healing physical – meeting the father in the sharp, immediate pain of his loss. Meeting woman in the constant pain and isolation of chronic disease.

Physical healing may not have been as important as his being there to hear about their pain and to respond with compassion instead of rejection, false sympathy, or recoiling from their grief as if their individual problems could leap out to infect those around them.

Not that the healings weren’t awesome. Especially bringing the dead girl back to life!

Miracle beyond healing!

What would you think? How do you think those skeptics who had been ushered out responded to the news or the walking, talking, breathing presence of the girl they had seen dead?

News spread, but did faith spread with it?

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” [5]

Son of David? Messianic title. They have made the leap! But what Jesus does next is pretty great too.

28 When he had gone indoors, (Don’t miss this! He went into a private home, out of the public eye!) the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”[6]

Not in it for publicity.

Isaiah 42:1-4 God talks about the coming Messiah.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

and he will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not shout or cry out,

or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4 he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” [7]

Justice – not redemptive violence, as we tend to believe in our culture. Not hurting someone because they hurt someone. Biblical justice is about RESTORATION. Wholeness!

God says, “Not sending Messiah to make a big deal out of himself. Sending to bring about restoration.” Goes on to say that restoration will come from faithfulness.

These men realized who Jesus must be and asked him to restore their sight. The believed and acted.

Jesus saw their faith and restored them.

Then tells them to keep it on the down low. Do they listen?

31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. [8]

…

32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.” [9]

You know what people are really bad at? Changing our minds. Once we’ve decided something is true, be it a political position or a religious belief, even if we are shown a pile of evidence that we are wrong, we tend to dig in and insist that we are right and start to come up with alternative explanations, sometimes crazy ones, to say that we are still right. There are a bunch of technical names for this effect, but my favorite comes from a book called Enigma of Reason. They call it “myside bias.” In short, once we’ve made up our minds about something, we aren’t willing to do the mental work to change, even if it is obvious that we are wrong, so we block out anything that contradicts our idea.

Pharisees have decided Jesus is trouble. So obviously his restoring people to wholeness and health is some kind of demonic activity!

Faced with evidence that he has healed all kinds of illness, demonstrated power over the natural and supernatural, and shown himself to even be a master over death, a group of people have decided that what makes the most sense to them is that he’s a servant of satan, evil incarnate.

But matters of faith, like matters of politics, are about the folks in the middle – those who haven’t made a decision yet.

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”[10]

How many have ever felt harassed and helpless?

Remember that the point Matthew is making is about faith and fellowship. What do you believe and what will you do about it – that’s faith – and what is the response Jesus demonstrates? That compassion, the caring, the coming alongside someone facing pain or loss or illness or whatever. He’s there, reaching out, offering a hand to those in need.

And they can accept it or slap it away.

It’s going to be “thank you for binding up my wounds and restoring me – bringing me justice,” or it’s going to be “Don’t touch me, leave me here in the pit I’m wallowing in.”

Psalm 40 says:

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

and put their trust in him. [11]

When Jesus tells his followers to ask God to send out workers, hopefully it will inspire them to stand up and say, “Here I am, LORD! Send me!”

And when he calls to those who are not his followers, hopefully they will allow themselves to trust their lives to him, both their beliefs and their actions.

Through faith, the blind were restored and the dead given new life.

And where there are those who refuse to believe, who make themselves blind, who would rather be dead than raised, who would look at restoration and accuses the restorer of evil, I hope that they will allow themselves to be open to the possibility that they may be wrong.

In the end, Jesus won over many of those who had cursed him. The evidence in his favor was overwhelming, especially after he had been killed and then walked out of the tomb after three days. Even then, many refused to believe, but the evidence was and is there for those who will examine it honestly.

Jesus is alive.

And you can choose.

Choose to believe and choose to act on that belief.

Like those who were restored and spread the good news to the world.

There’s a big harvest out there, waiting for you.

[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:18–19. [2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:20–22. [3] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:23–24. [4] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:25–26. [5] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:27. [6] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:28–30. [7] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Is 42:1–4. [8] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:31. [9] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:32–34. [10] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 9:35–38. [11] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ps 40:1–3.

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