Matthew 9:32-38 Shine Your Light!

Matthew 9:32-38  While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.  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.”  But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”  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.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

As we end chapter 9, we see Jesus distressed because the people of Israel were as sheep with no shepherd.  The evil one had led them into unhealthy, poisonous pastures, with vain, corrupt spiritual leaders.  The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.  For they preach, but do not practice.  They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by others.  (Matthew 23:1-5)  Jude describes these leaders who crept into the early church and might have been part of the old priesthood as blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.  They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.  (Jude 1:12)  The devil’s work remains the same, leading people into confusion, causing them to follow false shepherds who exploit the sheep for their aggrandizement.  The priests of that day enjoyed the adulations of the people—their place of privilege and deference, but they were not willing servants to the people, helping them to find and know God.  They served themselves, seeking what they could obtain in this world.  Their minds were earthly bound rather than heavenly oriented, so Jesus asked his disciples to pray for true guides who would lead people to God.  Even today, some well-known Christian leaders are more like a worldly teacher or philosopher than they are like Christ.  These imposters preach servanthood and dedication to Jesus Christ, but instead of serving people as Christ did, they partake of the best of this world, living expansively with riches and possessions from the tithes and gifts given to their ministries.  Their true message of self-will is easily discerned, do what I say not as I live.  John wrote, Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  Jesus recognized the Pharisees and teachers of the law who lived for themselves, for their own benefit in life and not as shepherds who were willing to give their lives and livelihood for the sheep.  In today’s passage we see Jesus as He walked through Israel, going through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  He not only went to the large cities, He went to the smallest villages too with a few people, preaching the good news, healing the sick, and releasing the captives from the evil one.  He was willing to go anywhere to preach the gospel.  Now, our prominent leaders stop only at the largest population centers where many will gather to give them the offerings they often are seeking.  Going to the largest communities is not wrong, but the intent of the heart can be self-serving.  We should ask, Who will go as Jesus did to the remote places where hungry people wait?  Jesus was the true shepherd, willing to go out for the one on a lonely hill, forlorn and lost.  He was willing to leave the comforts of the many to seek the one lost sheep away from the safety of the fold.  In past years, evangelists traveled from one small community to another to save a few, willing not to be supported well or at all for the sake of Christ.  Some of these workers are still among us but perhaps too few.  Jesus said, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 

The Good News must be carried forth and taught.  The kingdom of God has come to us in the form of Jesus Christ and his body.  He ushered in the kingdom at his death: the price was paid for citizenship in the heavenly realm.  All who enter into this Good News of the kingdom by faith will be saved from eternal damnation.  This news was the focus of Jesus’ ministry and announced strongly by the miracles and healings He performed.  In chapter 9 we see the miraculous ministry of Jesus on open display, awing the people who observed Jesus.  Matthew, who records his own conversion to follow Christ in this chapter, relates some of the miracles Jesus performed at this time. He tells about the paralyzed man on the mat who was brought to Jesus lying down, but went away walking, rejoicing in the miracle he received.  For the people who watched this miracle it was an amazing event for them.  Even fear swept over them, for the healing was beyond their understanding, but they chose to praise God for sending Jesus in their midst.  Matthew records the healing of the woman with the issue of blood.  He then tells of the raising of the dead daughter of the synagogue leader, amazing the crowd so much that, “This miracle swept through the entire countryside.”  He chronicles the healing of the two bold blind men who entered a house not theirs to be healed.  They rejoiced to such a point that they did not heed Jesus’ command not to tell anyone about their healing.  Instead, “They went out and spread his fame all over the region.”  In our study passage, we see a demon possessed man delivered from the authority of demons.  He came to Jesus without words in his mouth; he left Jesus with a voice to praise God for his mercy and grace towards him.  His deliverance impacted the people who were watching this miracle.  The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”  By performing miraculous deeds, Jesus separated himself from all other men who were ever born.  He was not only different in his teachings, he was powerful also, performing miracles, healing, and raising the dead such as no man could ever do.  Jesus confirmed himself as the Messiah, the Great Deliverer from man’s waywardness from God and his authority.  He was the great Light in a kingdom of darkness and confusion.  Other lights would be needed to pass on the Good News after Jesus disappears from the scene of this earthly life.  Other shepherds of light would be needed to announce the kingdom of God to all people, in every community, large or small.  Jesus made a way for the Light to go forward.

You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  (Matthew 5:14-15)   We might not see evangelists coming through our communities, spreading the Good News as Jesus did in every community and city.  We might not hear the pure message of Jesus Christ and his redemptive power on television or radio, but we do know through the word of God that Jesus Christ ministered truth and freedom to all who would believe in his words.  God has made each of us a messenger of the Good News.  He want us to live our lives as messengers, not as the priests did: saying truth, but not living it.  Let all people inspect your life and find it pure in serving God, generous in deeds and words.  Jesus told his disciples, Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  You are the harvest workers!  You are the ones that God is counting on to spread the good news about the Kingdom of God coming to earth.  Jesus is the Good News.  But for Good News to be accepted, it must be seen in people’s lives.  If not seen, it is but just another ideology, religion, or philosophy.  But if the Good News is evident in a person’s life, it will separate him or her from the ways of the world.  Jesus said, we are not to be like the world, seeking power and authority, projecting fleshly desires.  No, we are to be humble, meek, lowly, laden with mercy and grace.  The power seekers, my way or the highway people, are displaying the devil’s desire to be Lord.  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” … You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  (Genesis 3:1,4)  Lordship is always in flux between man and God.  Who will be Lord? is the question man has to decide in his life.  If the flesh is to be Lord, the spirit of hurt and criticism will manifest itself, blaming others for the sin and hurt in the world.  If the Spirit is in control, the spirit of love, mercy and grace will come to the foreground in a person’s life.  The illumination of God will blink on.  We are the light of the world.  A light is not hidden, put under a bowl.  Instead a light is put on a lamp stand.  This reflection of God is to be seen by the world.  Christ is THE LIGHT; we are but lights that shine his light.  This breakfast every Monday is but a light to reflect THE LIGHT.  We are privileged to spread light to the world.  But all of our breakfast companions are lights who spread Christ to the world.  Every community big or small can have the light blinking on in its presence.  As the angel proclaimed, Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for ALL THE PEOPLE.  (Luke 10:2)  Big or small communities, all people need the good news, for Christ raised the dead, healed the blind, cast out demons from the possessed.  He alone changes lives completely from being dead into being alive forevermore.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)               

   

Matthew 9:27-31 Have Mercy!

Matthew 9:27-31  As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”  When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”  “Yes, Lord,” they replied.  Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.  Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”  But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

The blind men’s belief in the Messiah is the key to this story.  “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.  We see two men not willing to let Jesus get away from their presence: they went indoors to ask Jesus for something very critical to their lives: sight.  Jesus touched their eyes, even though they were interrupting his activities and thoughts at that time.  He turned to them and dealt with their problem of blindness.  The men could have stayed outdoors, unsure about going inside a stranger’s house, but they believed the person who had just passed them was the Messiah.  Instead of standing at the doorway, they followed him into the dwelling, knowing Jesus had God’s power in him.  He could change them from sightless beggars to normal men of that society.  He could change the condition of their unprofitable lives to a better station in life.  They did not hesitate to enter the house.  As Christians, we should not hesitate to call on the Lord for our needs.  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  (Matthew 7:7)  Nothing should prevent us from asking God to intervene in our lives.  How many of us stand at the doorway, afraid to go in because maybe He will not answer our requests, or maybe our concerns are too small for him to meet.  We should enter the house of our Almighty God and ask him as his children for the things that concern us.  The Messiah has not only passed our way, He has claimed us as our Savior.  We are not intruding on Jesus even when we ask for the smallest things.  He loves us and has sent the resident Holy Spirit within us.  In the scene above, these two men saw Jesus as the answer for their condition of blindness—someone who could change their lives a hundred-and-eighty degrees.  He could make their lives worth living, worth enduring the natural vicissitudes of life, worth loving the people around them, worth becoming profitable citizens of that day.  Their cry of Have mercy on us reveals their belief in Jesus working a miracle for them.  They saw power in him to change their sightlessness to sight.  Therefore, they entered the house with a strong belief in Christ as the Messiah sent to Israel by God.  Jesus fully understood that their cry for help indicated a strong faith in him as the Son of God.  Consequently, Jesus turns to them, these trespassers, and touched them.  Probably a number of blind men in that community needed healing that day, but these two men willingly pressed into Jesus with their desire to be whole.  As Christians, we should press into Christ for our needs and desires.  A double-minded person will receive nothing from the Lord; we ought not to hesitate at the doorway, believing Jesus is not concerned about our everyday needs.  We should move forward to Jesus’ side for his touch to give us a miracle.  

Does this story reveal to us that all people who believe in Jesus’ divinity and power will be healed?  Of course not, life in Christ does not mean all things in this life work out well in the flesh for those who believe in him as the Son of God.  Many people who are participating in this breakfast have health issues and concerns that remain outstanding.  At this time, God has not brought closure to their needs, but the trials of our faith do not mean our faith is too small for God to care about our problems.  No, God is faithful and just; He does everything perfectly.  As He molds us for eternity, He allows situations that do not work out the way we desire.  Our faith may be strong, but as with Paul and with many others our personal lives reveal many hardships.  Paul struggled with a thorn in the flesh.  God told him as He tells us that He works with us in the hard times.  My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)  We become more perfect in our walk when our steadfast faith in him stays steady under great duress.  We are not greater than our Master.  He paid a great price in the flesh.  Sometimes we also have to endure hardships and pain for the purposes of God.  Your will be done on Earth, not ours, dear Lord, but yours.  In the Old Testament we see people of faith enduring extreme hardships without deliverance.  There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  (Hebrews 11:35-38)  Were they not worthy to be rescued?  The Bible says that the world was not worthy of them, for they endured by faith without deliverance from these hardships and untimely deaths.  Sometimes as with Paul the purpose of God exceeds our understanding.  Paul struggled in almost every city he visited with the gospel.  We do not know how many bones were broken in his body from the beatings he received by rods or by the stoning he endured, but God’s purpose far exceeded Paul’s experiences of pain and suffering.  By faith, Paul laid this persecution and the vicissitudes of life at the feet of Jesus, believing in God’s greater purpose than just saving Paul for eternal life.  Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.  (Philippians 1:12)  Even as he experienced restricting chains in the latter part of his life, by faith Paul placed it all in the hands of God.  Sometimes in our difficulties and pain, we must realize God has a greater plan for us than just being the solution-maker for our lives.  Enduring through our weaknesses, health issues, and struggles can be a stimulant for greater faith, greater love, greater mercy in life.  Rather than being anemic in faith, bewailing our circumstances, we become more acquainted with God’s voice.  We recognize his voice more often in our spirit as we hear, “I love you.”  “I am with you.”  “You are not alone.”  “I have given you my life.”  Of course his comforting voice is all that we need to endure to the end of our lives.  

Good News has come to Earth to restore mankind to God.  Jesus came as the Good News.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:10-12)  In today’s focus, we see the blind men following the Good News.  They did not stop at the doorway, hesitant to enter a house not their own.  No, they followed the Good News into that house because their faith was in Christ the Messiah who had come their way.  Their concern was would He touch them.  Have mercy on us, was their cry.  Please, Christ, see our needs, put aside everything else, was their cry.  Of course, Jesus came to heal; He came to the poor, the captives, the outcasts.  He could do nothing less than touch them.  They were healed; they went out rejoicing, failing to follow Jesus’ admonition not to tell anyone of their healing.  “See that no one knows about this.”  But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.  Jesus needed his freedom to move around as He willed, but his popularity and notoriety because of his miracles restricted his movement.  Crowds were constantly pressing in on him.  But these two men knew what had happened to them: Christ had made them whole.  They knew their lives would never be the same.  We who are IN CHRIST have been healed eternally, not for a temporary moment on this earth, but eternally!  Jesus validated the Good News by his many wondrous, miraculous acts.  God’s power emanated from Jesus’ touch and presence with miracle after miracle to prove that He was from the Father’s house.  God’s stamp of approval was upon Jesus the man.  Even at the cross as He was dying, people knew something was different about Jesus.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  (Mark 15:39)  We who are alive IN CHRIST are people of faith, for faith is required to move from the fleshly man and woman to a new creature.  Life abundant begins when we enter this new reality, but not in all our fleshly endeavors in this world.  The old man will die, corrupted by sin, destined for the grave, but the new man has been enrobed with the body of Christ, the Eternal One.  Our hope is not in the old man being good, but in the new man being like Christ.  Yes, He has healed us internally, making us no longer in need of anything but Christ in us.  But this should not prevent us from entering the house where Christ exists, saying, Have mercy on us.  We still live in this body; we still live in this land of flesh.  We are not in the Promised Land—we are on Earth.  Therefore, our cry for God’s intervention in our lives should be constant, with strong faith in his love for us.  He will and does intervene.  He does heal us, and when we feel and see this healing, we should testify of it joyfully, for the world needs to hear about God’s goodness.  But when our fleshly lives seem to be stagnate in the hurt and health needs not answered, testify of God’s goodness, for when we are most weak, He is most strong in us.  His voice is always flowing through the green wood in us for He is alive!  Rejoice, for He is alive in us, dear breakfast companions!  Amen!         

    

Matthew 9:18-19, 9:23-26 You Will Live!

Matthew 9:18-19  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.”  Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.   

Matthew 9:23-26  When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away.  The girl is not dead but asleep.”  But they laughed at him.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  News of this spread through all that region.  

But they laughed at him (Jesus); the world is still laughing.  The Greeks in Athens were willing to listen to the theological aspects of Paul’s religion, even the idea that the Unknown God that Paul was talking about made everything in the world and that all humans came from one man.  They were willing to hear about the philosophical point that all of their existence was in this God and that all living things moved and lived in this Unknown God, but when Paul talked about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, their interactions with Paul came to a breaking point.  Some terminated their listening with ridicule and sneers.  When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered.  (Acts 17:32)  This was a bridge too far; they knew death—they knew what death entailed: an everlasting exodus from the living.  In Jesus’ world, most people could accept him as the good teacher, the philosopher, the wise man, the loving rabbi, even a quaint healer of some sort, but not the Son of God with power over life itself.  As Jesus’ name for himself, The Son of Man, connotes, a superior man, yes, but not the Son of God who has power over life and death.  Such an idea was too much for the people and especially the religious elite.  If life somehow comes after death on this earth, another explanation must be made to explain such a phenomena, as was said about Jesus’ resurrection.  These people at the scene of the dead girl were upset with Jesus.  He was interrupting their wake, their ceremony of mourning, playing pipes.  He was violating their traditions of how to express sadness over the lost.  To them, Jesus had the audacity to step into this scene of mourning, breaking into customs that had existed for centuries and tell them, The girl is not dead but asleep.  Some of the people present probably thought, how uninformed can this man be, even though others may have respected him as a divine healer.  Yet, they knew their rabbi, a synagogue leader, respected Jesus greatly.  Out of desperation for his child, he had called Jesus to the side of his dead daughter.  My daughter has just died.  But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.  But dead is dead thought those in attendance!  They knew what death was, and they knew what sleep was.  This girl was definitely dead, not any longer part of the living of their world.  But God had other plans for this girl; He had other plans for this synagogue leader.  Through Jesus’ words, God would reveal Jesus as his Son with power over life and death.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  Death had been defeated, a girl lived again, a testimony to the power of the words that came from the mouth of Jesus.  The Living Word was with them: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  (John 1:1-4)

What Jesus was revealing that day is what Paul was talking about to the Greeks: the resurrection from the dead is a reality and cannot be denied.  As Jesus said, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”  (Luke 24:46)  Because Jesus rose again, people who die in Christ will be resurrected to a new life that will never end.  However, this message for many people is one to ridicule and to laugh at, a false idea invented by those who cannot face death and the oblivion awaiting them.  But for Christians, the gift of God is eternal life.  As the Bible says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  What separates us from all other life is the Holy Spirit’s resident power in us, planted in us by our faith in the Word of God: Jesus Christ.  Humans are capable of possessing the Spirit of God when their souls have been cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  The millions of animals in the Old Testament that were sacrificed were but a precursor of this need to be right with God.  A penalty for sin had to be paid.  The animals in the Old Testament paid this price as a temporary sacrifice, and in the New Covenant, Jesus paid the price permanently, once and for all.  All life on Earth has God’s Spirit of life, but the abiding, renewing presence of God is with those who possess born-again containers.  The Spirit of God in all things is grand, reveals the nature of God in its beauty, grandeur and variety, but the presence of God in Christians is an eternal communion with God.  In and through Christ, we can express immediate gratitude to God for his love and care for us.  This is a constant active communication.  Nature as God’s creation has a picturesque beauty, but somewhat static in its loveliness, but the new-man in Christ interacts intimately with God the Father in many ways: praising him, honoring him, loving him, and the like.  The resurrection is all about this new life of eternal bliss with God.  Our souls at death exit a sinful world into the presence of a holy God.  The Greeks were willing to contemplate that all life on Earth might exist within some sort of God or extraterrestrial power, but for man to be resurrected was another thing.  But Paul was talking about men and women having the opportunity to become eternal children of God by being born anew, possessing the eternal Spirit of God within their souls.  Jesus demonstrates this resurrecting power by taking hold of the child’s hand: he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  Someday each of us will feel God’s hand and rise up to life forevermore.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The world rejects the Good News of eternal life.  This is the gift of life that we celebrate at Christmas.  A child was born to Mary—actually, New Life was born that day.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:8-12)  A Savior for what?  A Savior for new life.  The gift of God is eternal life for all who put their trust in this Messiah.  As the angel said this is news that will cause great joy for all the people, not just the Jews, but for all people.  Jesus came as the resurrected Lord for all people.  We are no longer bound to this world of flesh and sin; we are no longer bound to finite lives, but the Good News is that Jesus came to give life for all who would believe in his words and works.  He came to fulfill the image of God in us, making us acceptable to a holy Creator, his Father.  We become the complete man or the perfect man because we accept THE PERFECT MAN, the Son of God.  We become not only imprinted by his image when we accept him by faith, we become as He is.  He is known as the Son of God: we will be known as the children of God.  No one can enter into this intimate relationship without being completely sinless, holy, without fault.  Of course, the flesh cannot hold that responsibility because it is sinful.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  (1 John 1:8)  Consequently, the flesh must die so that the resurrection will happen for each of us so that we might go to God in the image and complete likeness of Jesus Christ our Savior.  The little girl in this story was dead, possessing no life in her, but Jesus the giver of life was by her bedside.  His hand possessed resurrected life in it.  When He touched her, her soul became activated.  Once again, she was operating in her flesh.   Eternal life did not come to her that day, only life in the fleshly container.  Neither did eternal life come to Lazarus when he was raised from the dead.  He lived the rest of his life in an earthly container, not the born-again container.  But these resurrections were to reveal that Jesus had power over death itself.  He could restore life in the flesh, but something much greater was going to happen to Jesus and to us.  When Jesus died, He was raised by the Spirit of God.  He became alive to God, not to the flesh.  He exited this world on the day of his ascension to be with his Father.  His resurrection was not for a temporary stay on this earth.  No, He went to be with God his Father.  Our resurrection will not be for a stay on this earth, but the Spirit of God will take us by his hand and raise us to be with the Father, our Abba Father.  There, in his presence, we will shout of our redemption.  We will know that Good News has come to us and forever we will dwell in the house of our God who loved us so much that He sent Jesus to us to release us from the bondage of sin.  Praise God forever dear breakfast companions.  It is finished!  The battle is over!  There will be no more war! 

Matthew 9:18-22 The New Is Here!

Matthew 9:18-22  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.”  Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.  She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”  Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”  And the woman was healed at that moment.

In today’s focus, Jesus interrupted his teaching about needing a new container or new material for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus introduced a new work of God in his ministry.  His basic proposition was that people must be born again to please God.  The old way of laws, regulations and ceremonial cleanness failed to change the hearts of men and women.  These outward works of the flesh brought God little fidelity as the Creator of all things.  The heart, the inner-man, needed to be changed to be right with God; purity of the soul by the indwelling Holy Spirit was the message people received from Jesus.   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.”  Jesus responded immediately to this request: Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  On the way as He maneuvered through the crowd, a woman touched him with intent in her heart for healing by this divine person.  She believed Jesus had power to heal the sick; therefore, she felt she could be healed by touching his garment.  Her faith was in the radiating power of God in and through the person of Jesus.  Of course, the outer garment was not part of the body of Christ, but she believed his presence within that garment was enough to heal her issue of blood.  When she touched Jesus’ garment, He knew immediately that power had been released from him, for this person who touched him possessed faith in his divinity.  At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.  He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”  “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’  ”But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  (Mark 5:30-34)  The disciples were somewhat confused by Jesus’ remark about who touched him, for they knew many were crowding in to touch Jesus or to talk to him.  Probably, some were even addressing Jesus for specific concerns, but Jesus knew someone with genuine faith in his divinity was in that crowd with intentions of being healed by touching him.  Jesus turned to look in the faces of those around him.  His gaze must have frightened the woman, for any woman with an issue of blood should not be in the midst of people, for her touch would make others unclean.  As ceremonially unclean, her very presence was outlawed in the Temple.  She was anathema to people and to God, for she walked in uncleanness.  Knowing Jesus was divine, she knew Jesus would spot her, so she confesses that she touched him.  As with the disciples, she understood many people were jostling Jesus, gathering to be near him, but she knew her touch was different, so she admits to touching him deliberately to earn favor from him: her healing; trembling with fear, (she) told him the whole truth.  As with many occasions, Jesus deals with her as a child of God.  She might have been older than Jesus, but He calls her daughter.  With men seeking his help, Jesus often called them son.  Jesus was on a mission for the Father; therefore, these people of faith were his Father’s children.  He addresses her with the words: your faith has healed you.  This daughter of God went away completely healed, now ready to show the priest the new work that had begun in her.  

In the process of being baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus in the form of a dove.  From that time on Jesus was the resident temple of the Holy Spirit.  His words and actions became very powerful, testifying of the reality of God.  He  demonstrated power that only One of divinity could possess.  He healed people, cast out demons, altered the realities of nature by walking on water, calming the sea, controlling  the wind.  With the knowledge of the Spirit of God in him, Jesus spoke with wisdom, confounding the most learned and wise in Jewish society.  Jesus radiated the power of God.  People were influenced by this power when they gathered around him.  He went down with them and stood on a level place.  A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.  Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.  (Luke 6:17-19)  The power in Jesus was so evident that people sought to touch him:  all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.  As with the woman with the issue of blood, people wanted deliverance from their sicknesses and troubles.  They felt Jesus could be their problem-solver.  Many people felt Jesus’ power and found his words a purifying solvent for their bodily needs.  John writes, Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  (John 21: 25)  But the story of the woman with the issue of blood is in three gospels for a purpose.  We know this woman is an outcast within her society.  She cannot touch others; neither can she be in the Temple of God.  After twelve years of this infirmity, she is without hope of a cure.  She tried many doctors and solutions to her physical ailment, but none succeeded.  She was alone in a society of bustling people—all of them doing their own thing.  She had no right to carry on with life, for she was an untouchable: unclean, without hope of companionship or service to God.  She had to consider herself worthless, a life caught in unending hopelessness.  But she heard of Jesus.  He was walking through her community.  He was her last hope of normalcy.  She went into that crowd, knowing that her touching of people was an anathema to the God of creation.  When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.  Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period.  Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.  (Leviticus 15:25-27)  The people might not know her situation, but God knew it and disfavored her condition of uncleanness.  She was bringing herself into judgment by God himself for her actions.  But Jesus, the Son of God, called her daughter.  She reached beyond the law and its regulations to the giver of grace and mercy.  JESUS IS GRACE AND MERCY.  He came not to condemn, but to release the captive from captivity.

We who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who radiate his life through our words and actions, should express grace and mercy to those in hopeless situations.  God came that day to a very sick woman and touched her through his Son.  Through Jesus, God activated grace and mercy.  This whole scene is a message of faith in the God of love.  This woman broke the law that governed her society, a law given by God.   But she came to Jesus, believing He could deliver her from her issue of blood.  Jesus’s grace and mercy were on display that day.  In our day, we who are alive in Christ should be his instruments of grace and mercy.  We do not determine what God’s will is, but we pray in faith, believing the touch of Jesus’ garment will save and heal many.  Our lives should overflow with love.  Praying for others is part of loving others even if they are doing wrong.  We should shine with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  (John 7:38)  In this story, we see so much faith in Jesus and his love that this woman was willing to break religious laws and customs of her society.  She was willing to be exposed as a sinner, a violator of sacred law to the point of endangering her physical well-being.  She might have been stoned for her transgression, but her faith was completely in the Christ who walked by her.  She fell at his feet when she saw Jesus looking around to see who touched him: trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  At that time she exposed herself to the crowd as a person in great need and as an untouchable, one who could contaminate them all.  Her fear was great, but Jesus the champion of that crowd said, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.  She went away rejoicing because she knew she was healed, and the crowd let her go away from them unmolested.  All three gospels describe this event to tell us that God’s grace and mercy reach out even to a violator of the law.  Jesus put aside the rules of uncleanness and replaced them with the law of forgiveness and the promise of a new life.  This story is an extension of new wine in new bottles.  This lady came under the jurisdiction of the old bottles, the old laws and regulations, and left with a new way of living, by the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did not condemn her for being in the midst of that crowd.  He forgave her and said very directly, Your faith has healed you.  You are a new creature because of your faith in me and my divinity.  We who are IN CHRIST have been made whole.  Our flesh might give way to infirmities and sicknesses, but our faith in Christ has made us new souls that contain the love of God for the world, for the souls of men.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Our praying for healing is good, praying for difficulties of our lives to be erased is not bad, but praying to be like God, loving our enemies as well as our friends is very good.  Giving grace and mercy as shown in this story, gives us a place with God that is eternal, that will never pass away.