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While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live." So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.
And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.
When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went into all that land.
- Matthew 9:18-26
Yesterday, we read that as Jesus passed on from healing a paralytic (He is in Capernaum), He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live." So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. In other Gospels, this ruler is identified as Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum. We see his faith in the "Teacher." My study bible says that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39). Jesus shares this authority as Son (John 5:21). As Matthew tells it, we see Jesus' immediate positive response. There's a sort of interesting parallel here to yesterday's reading. There, Jesus commanded Matthew the tax collector, "Follow Me." Here, Jesus follows the ruler of the synagogue to His home, and His disciples follow as well. It seems to tell us something about Jesus' own obedience to the institutions of faith, although this ruler worships Him.
And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. As He's on His way to the ruler's daughter, another expression of His power takes place -- and this time it comes literally from behind Him. This is another example of His power to cleanse and to heal. And it's also another example of His actions which seem to directly violate the Law. In the Old Testament, hemorrhage would cause ceremonial defilement, imposing religious and social restrictions, because contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25). But this woman, while thinking of herself as unclean (and she would have been prohibited from community contact as well), approaches Jesus secretly and with great faith. Her faith makes contact with His power. Nothing can really be hidden from Him, but it is faith that makes the connection. She's not excluded from Him because of her illness, and far from putting her away, He shows her to the whole crowd as an example of faith for everyone.
When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went into all that land. Jesus goes through ridicule from the noisy crowd to heal the girl. It won't be the last time. It's another emphasis on faith that everyone is put outside, with the exception of a handful of disciples and the girl's parents (Mark 5:36-43).
Jesus once again exemplifies faith as our highest good. The unclean woman, officially or legally (according to the Law of Moses) is not supposed to be in community, let alone touching a man -- and particularly this Man, Christ, the Teacher. But faith makes her bold, even to just touch the hem of His clothing. Jesus draws her out and praises her, in complete contradiction to her expectations, and most likely those of the crowd. This is something astonishing. And all of it is couched, justified, made possible through faith. He shows her off to the crowds, saying, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." So again, as we have observed so far throughout Matthew's Gospel, it is faith that makes all the difference. In this case in today's reading, it seems that her faith has somehow "unlocked" His power. He was prepared to go with the synagogue ruler to his house in order to heal his daughter. Would we think, possibly, that Christ's power was somehow ready for use? The story might give us some sort of impression like that. But in His authority as Son, Christ's power is always present and ready for us. In Orthodox theology, God's grace and mercy are always active as God's energies. And again, we note that in this Gospel (and in others) grace and mercy are synonymous with healing. Just as in yesterday's reading, when we noted that Jesus sits with tax collectors who have become His disciples, and He calls Himself "Physician," while teaching the Pharisees, "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' " The point of the Law was to heal, and He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Let us understand, then, healing not just as some sort of example of miraculous power and a sign to the world, for it is more than that. Healing is the whole Way of Christ. It is the path, the journey. Our repentance and transformation in God's love, our correction in that faith process, is healing. It is setting aright. It is bringing us into right-relatedness with the whole of the creation. This is the gospel message. Let us find ways in which it manifests in all of our lives and in all kinds of ways and expressions, and treasure those moments. And we note what we might need to do to shore up faith. Jesus puts the noisy crowd outside. Let us remember to do that when we need to, as well.
