Faith Can Make You Well
Matthew 9:18-30
Have you ever wondered if God still does the miraculous in our world today? Is it possible to have a life completely turned around by the grace and power of God? Is it possible to be dead, bleeding, or blind one moment and be alive, whole and able to see clearly for the first time in your life the next? Can God still change lives in an instant?
This morning I want to focus on one sentence found in the context of 4 lives that were touched miraculously by the power of God.
The four characters we will look at this morning are:
Jairus, a leader and elder in his local synagogue, a god-fearing man who had enjoyed the company of his beautiful daughter for 12 years, but who now faces the possibility of life without his precious little girl who has just died.
An unnamed woman who for those same 12 years has suffered everyday of her life with a menstrual bleeding that will not stop. She has spent all of her money on doctors and has never received any help. She has lived as a social outcast, because the Jewish people considered a woman unclean during her menstrual cycle. This has kept her out of the house of worship and away from the support of her spiritual community.
Two unnamed blind men – we don’t know how long they have been blind, but we can assume that they have suffered many insults and injuries over the time of their blindness and that they have been forced to live lives as beggars.
The sentence I want you to meditate and focus upon with me this morning is spoken by Jesus to the woman, but we can infer the same spirit and attitude in his interaction with all found of the people mentioned in today’s text. Jesus said:
“Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Can faith make someone well? We know that there have been studies down to prove that people of faith and people who pray seem to heal faster and live better lives. Most people will agree that having a positive attitude can do wonders for a person, and in order to accomplish anything – you have to believe that it is possible and go for it. But is faith really that important? And does it matter what you believe, or when you believe, or how you believe, or in whom you believe in? And what of people who have plenty of faith, but never seem to be healed or get better?
Why did Jesus say these words to this woman? Why didn’t He say – I’ve made you well. That is what I want you to ponder with me today? But first, let’s read about these 4 people, and let’s see what common characteristics can be found in all 4.
Read Matthew 9:18-30
The commonalities between these four people can be summed up in the following 5 words:
Desperation
Discontent
Direction
Dialogue
Deliverance
1. The first commonality between these individuals is their desperation.
Have you ever felt totally desperate? Usually when we encounter problems in our lives we do not fall so far as to fall into desperation. As a man, I know my first reaction to a problem is to try and find the 5 or 6 possible alternative solutions to that problem. I analyze and study and look for ways to fix the problem myself.
But some problems are not fixable. It is those problems that can lead us into desperation. What we do in desperation determines whether or not we are men and women of faith, or merely religious.
Look at the desperation of these characters.
- Jairus has lost his precious daughter. She has died. End of story. Imagine the numbness of this man as he has lost a precious part of his life. In Jewish tradition this child would have needed to have been buried within the first 24 hours. Mourners came from the community to weep with the family. The house was full of commotion and activity as the parents were most certainly stunned and in shock. What do you do when your daughter has died? Do you stay with her body until she has been prepared for burial and put in the cold hard earth? Do you stay with the mourners and cry until you have no more tears to cry? Or do you reach out to the one person you have heard can do miracles? Jairus was desperate.
- The bleeding woman had suffered for 12 years. 12 years ago I was only 39 and my kids were just beginning school. Now my daughter is graduated and headed off to college. A lifetime of memories can happen in 12 years. During those years this woman had spent all of her money and had sought out every medical cure she could find. The bleeding had only gotten worse. She was anemic all of the time. She had no strength left in her body. She was at the end of the rope. There was no other alternative. There was no other place to turn, no other cure to try.
- The blind men had lived with their blindness. There were no known cures for blindness. Once you were blind, you were blind. These men had resigned themselves to live their lives as beggars. They could not work to support their families. There was no one who was going to help them.
What about you? What about your situation? How desperate are you? You see I believe that no one is saved until they reach a point of desperation. Why cry out to a savior if you don’t believe that you need to be saved? Why ask for forgiveness if you don’t believe you have sinned?
As in salvation, no one is saved until they are desperate enough to realize that they cannot save themselves, so also in our daily struggles and trials, we may not be delivered until we recognize that our situation is desperate if God does not show up.
Sometimes we can think we are desperate, but then we try all of our possible solutions, or we seek for answers in our own strength. But God will not share His glory with anyone else. Israel would often turn to Egypt for help and God would let them flounder. But when they finally cried out to God, then He would come and deliver them.
How desperate are you for God to work in your life?
2. The second commonality is their discontentment.
These individuals moved beyond their desperation. Some people can be desperate and can continue to wallow in their suffering. They would rather be miserable than changed. They are satisfied to live with the pain.
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I believe that there are times that God chooses to let a disease continue. Sometimes suffering comes for a very good reason, and God wants to use it for good in our lives. Not everyone is healed. Certainly Paul cried out three times in desperation that God would heal him, and instead God gave Paul peace.
But these four people moved out of desperation into discontentment. They were not satisfied with the status-quo. They were not content to ‘just live with it’. Something had to change.
- Jairus was so discontent that he got up from his own daughter’s funeral to search for a miracle.
- The woman was so discontent that she crawled her way through a large crowd just to get a touch of the Master’s robe.
- The blind men were so discontent that they refused to be stopped by the disciples and walked right into the home without any invitation.
Discontentment can be a good thing. It is true that Paul said that he learned to be content in whatever circumstance he found himself in. He learned to live with a little and with a lot. He learned to be content when things were going well, and when things were in an upheaval. God wants us to learn contentment as well.
But there are times when discontentment is used by God in our lives to drive us to seek answers. If I had not been discontent with my life as a religious teenager, I would have never sought out the meaning of a personal relationship with Christ. It was my discontentment that led me to cry out to Jesus that if He was real, I wanted to know Him and I wanted to be given the gift of eternal life.
As believers God can use discontentment in our lives to drive us to seek Him and His answers. Are you discontent today? What do you think may be behind that? What might God be wanting you to do with your unsettled feelings?
The four characters in today’s lesson moved from their desperation and discontentment towards Jesus. They sought direction.
3. The third is their direction.
Notice how each one of them went to the correct source for help. So often in our discontentment we are quick to run to something to help soften the feelings of discomfort. We may run to the mall and buy out the store. We may run to the refrigerator and eat a whole gallon of ice cream. We may run to the Television to shut down our minds and hearts. We may run to the internet and search for photographs of people that we can lust about in secret.
But these individuals headed in the right direction. They moved towards Jesus.
- Jairus leaves his family at a critical time to find the Great Physician
- The woman pushes through a crowd to just get a touch of the Master
- The blind men grope their way through the town until they find the house that Jesus is in, and they push through the open doorway.
In what direction are you headed right now? Are you moving towards Jesus or away from Him? Have you given up your search?
Look at your life honestly today? Take an inventory of your daily activities. What does your mind and heart dwell on throughout the day? Are you moving towards Christ or away from Him?
In their desperation and discontentment, these individuals made the right choice and moved in the direction of Jesus.
4. The fourth is their dialogue.
Once they were in the presence of the Lord, they began to talk with Him. There was a two-way conversation that occurred between these individuals and Christ. So often our prayer life is one-way. We talk and talk and talk, and never listen. We ask, and never give Jesus the opportunity to respond. We don’t give Him the opportunity to reveal what it is in our hearts.
- Jairus was blunt, but full of faith. He falls at the feet of Jesus in honor and submission to him and He says: ‘My daughter has just died, but if you will come and lay your hand on her, I know she will live.” Where died he get such faith? He recognized that Jesus wasn’t just an ordinary teacher or prophet. Jesus was someone who could do the impossible. If Jesus can’t or won’t help my daughter then all is lost. There is no one else to seek. His prayer was specific, direct, and full of faith. And he rises to go with this man.
Now what is not obvious in this account of Matthew, but can be learned by looking at the same story in Mark and Luke, is that the faith of this man was challenged by those who tried to persuade him to give it up. They said to him: “Your daughter is dead, why trouble Jesus any further?” But Jesus assured Jairus with these words: “Do not fear, only believe.”
There are times that we waver in our faith. People will try to pull you down. People will try to convince you that you are foolish in putting your trust in Christ. People will try to get you to walk away from Christ. But if we will continue to look to Jesus, His words of comfort will help us through those difficult times.
Jairus was also encouraged in his faith by the encounter Jesus had with the woman who was bleeding. It was no accident that this woman touched Jesus while Jesus was walking with Jairus. It was no coincidence that she had a problem for 12 years, the same age as his daughter. Jesus was strengthening the faith of Jairus.
- In the woman’s dialogue with Christ, at first she only talks to God silently in her heart. “If I but touch his garment, I will be healed.” She does, and instantly she is healed. Jesus sensing that power has flowed from Him to this woman turns and questions “Who touched me.” When she tells her story, Jesus comforts her with these powerful words: “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” I find those words to be so curious. Jesus does not say: “I’ve done it. I’ve healed you.” We know from the Bible that Jesus was not able to do many miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief. And so, here as in several other places in the Bible, Jesus commends the faith of the seeker. Her faith led her to seek Jesus. Her faith believed that Jesus was who He said He was and the He alone could heal her. And in her faith, she was healed.
- The final dialogue occurs between the blind men and Jesus. They cry out to him: “Son of David, have mercy.” No answer. They continue to cry out over and over again. “Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Son of David, please help us! Have mercy! Jesus remains silent and enters a house, but the men are undeterred and follow him right into the home. Though it is not said, we can infer that Jesus sees their faith and their determination. They will not stop until they have an answer.
And so Jesus turns to them and asks a very basic but important question: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” To which they respond ‘Yes, Lord”. And Jesus touches their eyes and tells them: “According to your faith be it done to you.”
What about you? In your desperation and discontentment, has that led you to prayer? Have you sought the Lord diligently in your prayers for His deliverance and help? Is your faith demonstrated by an on-going dialogue with the Lord about your situation?
Faith and Prayer are forever linked. If I have faith, I will pray. If I do not have faith, I will not pray. If I feel that I have everything under control, why pray. If I don’t believe that any help will be coming my way from heaven, why pray. But if I believe that I need help, and that only God can supply what is needed, then I will be driven to pray. If I don’t believe anything is going to change, then why pray. But if I believe that God can move heaven and earth, and that He wants to change my life and the world around me, then I will pray!
What does your prayer life say about your faith life right now? Are you a man and woman of prayer and of faith? Or is your faith and your prayer life weak? Don’t wait for God to bring some desperate situation into your life to drive you to your knees. Get in the habit of seeking him now, for everything.
So far, we have looked at their desperation and discontentment. We have seen that they turned in the direction of Jesus and dialogued with Him about their situations. Not the final commonality:
5. The fifth is their deliverance.
When you seek Jesus, He promises that you will find Him. In desperation I recognized that I was a sinner and that my sin had separated me from a loving God. I was not content with living in my sin and living apart from God. I wanted God’s forgiveness and His free gift of eternal life, and so I sought Him out. I turned in His direction (repentance) and I spoke with him (confession), and He turned to me and healed me and forgave my sin and gave me eternal life. I now have Jesus in me each and every day, and He promises to never leave me or forsake me.
As a believer, this same principle applies to everyday of my life. I must turn from myself and seek the Lord in whatever circumstance I find myself in, and as I do, He turns to me and delivers me. Sometime His deliverance is to give me more grace to handle the thorn in my flesh. Sometimes the deliverance is to move me away from the problem. But there is always deliverance when we turn to the Lord in faith.
- Jairus’s daughter was raised from the dead.
- The woman was healed of her bleeding.
- The blind men saw.
What deliverance are you seeking today?
- First, you must come to Christ as Savior. (lead in prayer)
- Second, you must continue to come to Christ as deliverer.
He still heals miraculously today. But will He find faith in our hearts. He still provides in our distress. But will He find faith in our hearts.
Are you seeking Him? He promises to be found. Won’t you talk with Him today about your desperate situation?
Let’s pray.
