The 
ight House
Sunday School (Jesus Continues to Heal)
Jesus Continues to Heal
(Matthew 9:18 - 38)
While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
Matthew 9:18-19Like the centurion, this was also a man of authority (a ruler) who showed humility and faith in approaching Jesus asking for his help. He is to be commended for coming to Jesus, but his faith pales in comparison to the centurion of Matthew 8; the ruler thinks it is essential that Jesus personally touch the little girl, while the centurion understood Jesus had the authority to heal with a word.
Note that this man worshipped Him, and Jesus received this worship - which would have been blasphemous if Jesus had not Himself been God. In other instances in the New Testament where such worship is offered to a human.
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
Acts 10:25-26It was also inappropriate to worship even an angel.
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 9Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Revelation 22:8-9Next, we see that a woman was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.
And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mathew 9:20-22The book of Luke provides a more detailed account of this incident.
And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
Luke 8:40-48This woman was very desperate. For twelve years she had suffered with this disease and though she had lost every material thing that she had in seeking a cure, she still had the disease. She had lost her worldly possessions, but the one thing that she had which ultimately led to her healing was her faith. There is a powerful lesson here in the value of material things which can be seen and touched compared to spiritual things which can not be seen, yet are more precious than gold. A Christian in fellowship with God has more than the wealthiest man who doesn’t know Jesus. We have what money can not buy. The wealthy of this world do not see that comparison as the child of God does, but the day will come when he will be gladly willing to trade all that he has in this world for what we have. He can not buy it however, because salvation is not for sell, and we wouldn’t sell it if we could.
All that this woman had was faith, but it was enough. Her faith did for her what all her worldly possessions could not do.
Once again we see here another case of faith tied to healing.
This woman was probably a gentile because by Hebrew law any person with an issue of blood was declared unclean and not allowed to come into proximity with others because anything they touched was then c considered unclean.
And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. 20And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. 21And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 22And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 23And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. 24And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. 25And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. 26Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 28But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 30And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness. 31Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. 32This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; 33And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.
Leviticus 15:19-33Continuing with the lesson…
And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
Matthew 9:23-26Minstrels were flute players. These and the noise makers were probably paid mourners. It was custom in that day that the family of the deceased would pay for people to come and mourn over the dead. Of course the mourning was not sincere since they did it for hire. Notice that these hired mourners quickly went from a state of mourning to laughter when they scorned Jesus for saying the girl was asleep. This quick movement from mourning to laughter testifies of their lack of sincerity in mourning.
Much of Jesus’ ministry seemed to be teaching that the condition of the heart was just as important or even more important than a person’s actions. He brought this message out in his teaching on prayer, tithing, and fasting. He also taught this principle in other areas as well. A culture where people are hired to morn for the dead certainly is a culture where the people need to be taught the importance in the sincerity of the heart.
Jesus did not interact with these mockers, but neither did he allow them to hinder him form doing what he came there to do. Too often Christians of today allow ourselves to be influenced by our persecutors. Jesus told us that we would face persecution for our faith and he instructed us to receive it with joy rather than allowing it to hinder us from doing God’s will.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12Continuing with the lesson…
And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. 28And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 29Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 31But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
Matthew 9:27-31Jesus responds to their simple, yet powerful appeal; they asked God for the best thing they could: mercy.
Again, we see Jesus healing them in response to their faith. There are undoubtedly multitudes who are not healed because they lack faith. It all hinges on faith. Our salvation, healing, and answered prayers is all dependent on our faith.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8To understand why Jesus instructed the men not to tell others about their healing, we have to remember Jesus’ mission. His mission ultimately was to die for the sins of the world, but along the way, he also taught and corrected many misunderstandings concerning God’s will. These teachings were very important, but they were so radically different in many ways from the teachings of the Pharisees that people may only accept them if they believed that the teacher was indeed sent by God or the messiah himself. The miracle healings provided evidence that he was who he claimed to be, the Son of God. The miracles gave him credibility in the eyes of the people and showed that he had the authority to teach doctrines that were contrary to the teachings of the Pharisees. If too much attention was given to the miracles they would overshadow the teachings which were more important.
These men were disobedient when they spread the news about what Jesus had done for them. Ironically, today Christians have the freedom to testify of what Jesus has done for them, and yet they often tell anyone. Many times we don’t even notice ourselves the good work that Jesus has done in our lives. We fail to make the connection that our good fortunes are actually blessings from God. We need to take the time to frequently ponder on how the Lord is working in our lives and offer Him praise and thanks for the blessings He is bestowing upon us. We need to also testify to others of the wonderful things God is doing for us.
As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 33And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. 34But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
Matthew 9:32-34In the Jewish understanding of demon possession, this man could not be helped, because the rabbis thought that you could not cast out a demon until it told you its name, and a demon that made a man mute could never be made to tell you its name. They did cast out demons before Jesus, so what is going on? The rabbis could cast out demons and they did. However, the procedure for exorcism in Judaism requires the demon to identify himself. Under Judaism, if you happen to be confronted with a demon whose specialty was to render his possession dumb, he was secure. That type of demon was NOT exercisable under Judaism.
For this reason, it was particularly amazing to the multitudes, and showed not only the complete authority of Jesus over the demonic realm, but also the weakness of rabbinic traditions.
The Pharisees rejected the notion that Jesus msut be of God in order to do this even though they themselves were not able to do it. It seems they wre so offended toward Jesus for speaking against them and their teachings and criticizing their understanding of spiritual matters that they were predetermined in their mind to discount all his works and all his teachings. No matter what Jesus did, they did not accept him or his works as being of God.
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
Matthew 9:35-38Jesus’ ministry was not simply about teaching and preaching, but he had feelings for people. He had compassion and was sensitive to their needs and their problems. He saw very few that shared his concern and burdden for the people which motivated him to make the statement that “the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labbourers are few”
Jesus gave an accurate description of man in his "lost-ness" - that we are like sheep having no shepherd, which means that we are in a lot of trouble until we come under the care of our Shepherd! So, we are to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send out laborers; but we can only really pray this in sincerity if we are willing to labor ourselves and are seeking to serve in some way, rather than simply attending church.
God Bless you,
Carl
I may not look like much, but I cost a bunch!
