Tag: Matthew 9

It Was Just a Touch

Matthew 9-10

Devotion by Shelly Millard (Nebraska)

Yet another day filled with nonstop demands.  Coming off of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was besieged by disciple gathering, teaching, preaching, casting out demons, raising the dead, calming the sea and continually surrounded by crowds with physical and spiritual needs.    As people were clamoring for his attention, he was able to pivot toward the need, to be present in the moment and respond to the need whether it was physical, emotional or spiritual..  He was taking a quick break to eat when Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue came to Jesus with a big request.  His daughter had just died and he was asking Jesus to come to his house to raise her back to life.  Understanding the urgency, Jesus got up from his meal and started walking toward Jairus’ home. 

The crowds were pressing in on him, jostling as he tried to move forward.  But he suddenly stopped and said, “Who just touched me”?  The version of this story in Luke indicates that his disciples thought this was a ridiculous question as many in the crowd had been touching him.  Yet, this touch was different because Jesus immediately felt power surge from him.  He turned and identified the one who touched him as a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years and was hanging on by a thread.  She had searched for help, but because she was bleeding was considered unclean with no one allowed to touch or help her.  She had heard about Jesus and knew that he was her only chance.  Being desperate and determined, she fought her way through the crowd with the belief that if she could only touch the hem of his robe, she would be healed.  In Jewish culture, the hem or fringe of a garment, known as the “tzitzit,” held religious significance as a reminder of the commandments of God. The act of the woman reaching out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment can be seen as an expression of her faith in His divine authority and power to heal. Her belief that merely touching His garment would result in healing underscores the depth of her faith and the recognition of Jesus’ messianic identity.  She was very deliberate in her action, one that was fueled by her faith. He looked at her with compassion. He saw so much more than she saw, so much more than others saw. He saw a woman who had enough faith to reach out despite her unclean condition. He saw great faith from one who was marginalized, a woman who was bleeding. 

In that moment, she was not only healed of her physical problem, but she was also healed spiritually and emotionally as Jesus addressed her as daughter.  No longer was she unclean or an outcast, she was included in his family and found a place where she could now belong.  Jesus saw in her a great faith and knew that she had come to him out of desperation, with determination and with her intentional act of faith, received her healing. It was a small, seemingly insignificant act, that resulted in her transformation, both physically and spiritually.  This woman, who acted with the courage, deliberate action and with the intention to connect with the Son of God was transformed from an outcast to a daughter and one who has traveled through history to reveal to us an example of great faith. 

Questions for reflection

Imagine yourself in the crowd that day.  People were pushing and jostling Jesus, perhaps wanting to see what he was going to do with the daughter of Jairus.  How do you think the crowd reacted when he stopped to look at this woman who was unclean?

What characteristic of this woman in the story do you find most intriguing?

Why do you think she was focused on touching his garment rather than addressing him directly?

Have you ever had a time where you felt on the “outside” or marginalized like this woman? How do you think she reacted when he called her “daughter”? 

What insights about faith demonstrated by this woman can we gain about our own faith?

How determined and intentional are you about your own faith?

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Jesus Gives

Old Testament: Hosea 6 & 7

Poetry: Psalm 123

*New Testament: Matthew 9

In this chapter (Matthew 9) we see that Jesus and the disciples are continuing an active pace proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. This lively passage not only records 6 healing incidents, but also shows 3 incidents where the teachers of the law are becoming rattled by the actions and rising popularity of Jesus.

Ready for anything and everything, the action rolls out as follows for Jesus and the disciples: 1) heals a paralyzed man, 2) calls Matthew the tax collector, 3) stops a hemorrhage in a woman, 4) raises a dead girl, 5) gives sight to 2 blind men, 6) and loosens the tongue of a mute man

Not only was Christ seemingly running a mobile emergency room, he was “hiring” new workers, contending with naysayers, and stopping to notice the big picture of the work ahead.

Verse 36 takes my breath away. “He saw the crowds and had compassion on them.” We are not lost in a crowd to Him. He knows our name and our needs. There is no end to His goodness. No bottom to the well. You can’t wear Jesus out. He’s not running on low. He’s not in a bad mood because it’s you again. “For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16

The biggest problem in these 38 verses is that Jesus needed assistance to support the needs of the “harassed & helpless.” Nothing’s changed. May God stir your heart and mine this day to be a worker fit and ready to support the hurting. Let God’s “grace upon grace” compel us to action to not overthink but DO!

-Julie Driskill

(originally posted for SeekGrowLove January 14, 2019)

Reflection Questions

  1. What do you learn about Jesus in Matthew 9? In what ways does he give?
  2. Who do you see who are harassed and helpless? What can you give to them?
  3. In what ways have you received “grace upon grace”? How can you share that with others?
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The God Who Sees Me

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 15 & 16

Psalm Reading: Psalm 10

New Testament Reading: Matthew 9

We have a need to be heard.

We have a need to be seen.

In today’s Psalm, the psalmist begins writing about a wicked man who preys on the weak, he doesn’t seek God, “in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4), he is haughty and God’s laws “are far from him” (10:5), he is full of lies and threats, and, “He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees'”(10:11).

There are those who would like to think that God never sees. Don’t be one of them.

In the second part of the Psalm, the psalmist calls out for God to arise and take action, remembering the helpless.

“Why does the wicked man revile God: Why does he say to himself, ‘He won’t call me to account’? But you, O God, do SEE Trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand…You HEAR, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you LISTEN to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed” (Psalm 10:13, 14a, 17a)

And it just so happens that our reading in Genesis has an excellent example of this. Unfortunately, our very own Sarai and Abram, to whom God had promised a child and descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, got tired seeking God’s way and waiting on Him. Perhaps Sarai didn’t think God really saw her trouble and grief, or wasn’t able to do anything about it, if He did see. So her solution (and an accepted custom of the time – still not making it right) was to have her husband sleep with her maidservant Hagar and build a family through her. Hagar did become pregnant and jealousy and bitterness mounted within the household leading Hagar to run away.

She had been oppressed, abused and used.

But God heard her cry.

An angel of the LORD tells her it will be safe for her to go back to Sarai and resume her servant’s role, but that won’t be the end of her story. She will have a child and her descendants will be too numerous to count. I love that she was told to name her child Ishmael which means ‘God hears’. What a great life-long reminder she would have every time she said his name. I also love Hagar’s response. After God named her child, this oppressed and helpless Egyptian servant girl who just met God in the wilderness gives a name to God. “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.'” (Genesis 16:13 NIV).

You are the God who sees me.

What a privilege to be seen by God.

In our Matthew reading we see that God has passed along this compassionate, caring, seeing trait to his son Jesus as well. Jesus sees the paralytic in need of forgiveness and healing. Jesus sees (and eats with and calls) the sinners and tax collectors (much to the dismay of the pharisees). Jesus sees the sick, the dead, the blind, the demon-possessed, the crowds that are like sheep without a shepherd. He sees and he has compassion and he gives hope and a new life. I am sure God is proud of His son – seeing these traits passed down.

Jesus says there is still work to be done. The harvest fields are full of the sick, the sinners, the oppressed, the Hagars. They want to be seen. They want to be introduced to the God who sees. Pray for God to show you where He wants you to work in his harvest field.

-Marcia Railton

Reflection Questions

  1. Are there times you have resembled the man of Psalm 10:4 – “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” How will you make room in your thoughts for God and seek Him? What role does pride play?
  2. When have you known God sees you? How can you introduce others to the God who sees and His Son who gives a new life?
  3. What did God reveal about Himself to you in your reading of His words today?
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His Compassion

MATTHEW 9

matthew 9 36 redo

In this chapter we see that Jesus and the disciples are continuing an active pace proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. This lively passage not only records 6 healing incidents, but also shows 3 incidents where the teachers of the law are becoming rattled by the actions and rising popularity of Jesus.

Ready for anything and everything, the action rolls out as follows for Jesus and the disciples: 1) heals a paralyzed man, 2) calls Matthew the tax collector, 3) stops a hemorrhage in a woman, 4) raises a dead girl, 5) gives sight to 2 blind men, 6) and loosens the tongue of a mute man

Not only was Christ seemingly running a mobile emergency room, he was “hiring” new workers, contending with naysayers, and stopping to notice the big picture of the work ahead.

Verse 36 takes my breath away. “He saw the crowds and had compassion on them.” We are not lost in a crowd to Him. He knows our name and our needs. There is no end to His goodness. No bottom to the well. You can’t wear Jesus out. He’s not running on low. He’s not in a bad mood because it’s you again. “For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16

then he said to his disciples, “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

The biggest problem in these 38 verses is that Jesus needed assistance to support the needs of the “harassed & helpless.” Nothing’s changed. May God stir your heart and mine this day to be a worker fit and ready to support the hurting. Let God’s “grace upon grace” compel us to action to not overthink but DO!

-Julie Driskill