Matthew 9: Enlarging the Harvest (4)
Pray Psalm 31.1, 2.
In You, O LORD, I put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge,
A fortress of defense to save me.
Sing Psalm 31.1, 2.
Brother James’ Air: The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll not Want
In You, O LORD, I refuge take; let me not come to shame!
In righteousness deliver me, according to Your Name.
Incline Your ear, my prayer to hear, my Fortress strong to save!
Read Matthew 9.1-26; meditate on verses 18-26.
Meditate on the phrase, “Be of good cheer.” How will you know this cheer today?
Prepare.
1. How do you see both faith and grace at work in these two incidents?
2. Why did the people ridicule Jesus?
Meditate.
A ruler came to Jesus, worshiped Him, and bid Him come and heal his daughter, who had “just died”. This man was probably a synagogue leader; thus, he would have been familiar with the Scriptures and well aware of Jesus and His growing ministry. But it took the crisis of his daughter’s death to move him to seek the Lord’s help.
Faith is like that. It can spring to life within someone, who suddenly realizes that he has reached the end of his rope, and needs help from somewhere beyond this world. This man came to Jesus out of sorrow and grief, but mostly for the sake of his daughter, that she might live again. Faith was at work in this man, but it was the grace he saw in Jesus that led him to seek the Lord.
Along the way to heal this man’s daughter, Jesus brought healing to a woman of faith, who saw in Him her only hope of deliverance from a serious physical malady. She was not seeking notoriety, only healing. Yet Jesus called her out and commended her faith. He did not have to heal her, and he did not have to heed the ruler’s urgent pleading. But faith taps the spigot of grace, even as grace moves the heart to faith. When that woman returned home healed, she would no more have boasted about her faith than the ruler of the synagogue would have boasted about his. Both had faith, but their faith was drawn out from within them by the grace of Jesus.
The ruler and the woman believed Jesus in the face of the unlikely, if not impossible. The people laughed at Jesus, choosing to believe their eyes and experience rather than His Word. In the end, His Word proved true, and the scoffers were “put outside”. The lesson is clear: Moved by grace, faith turns to Jesus and taps into grace, not by looking to the world and its ways, but by believing Him for what to everyone else seems impossible. Grace activates, responds to, and increases faith, as Jesus acts to bring healing and salvation.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and comes down from the Father of lights,
with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jms. 1.17)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God,
not of works,
lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2.8, 9).
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.”
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 1.1, 6).
So Jesus, amazed by one who exhibited this kind of faith, followed the ruler to his home,
to raise his daughter from the dead—a complete healing—physically and spiritually.
Thus, the ruler was able to say with the psalmist David,
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Ps. 23.6).
And the woman in the bustling crowd? The obscure and sick woman who had suffered long with her malady?
She followed Jesus, the physical embodiment of God—all Righteousness and Mercy—and touched Him and was made whole. From that very hour she no longer suffered. And not only did she experience a physical healing; but Jesus praised her for her faith: “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matt. 9.22).
And not only that; but her story had reached to the land of Gennesaret, for we read that the people there brought to Jesus “all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well” (Matt. 14.35, 36). God’s grace, mercy, and the gift of faith, speak volumes to others of the power in Jesus’ Name. This humble woman’s testimony of physical and spiritual healing travelled afar into places beyond her sphere of life.
God mightily uses all obedience for His honor and glory.
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south…
For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons…
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps. 107.1-3, 9, 10, 13-15).
God’s mercy and grace give faith abounding to please Him.
Through faith we follow Jesus through all circumstances of goodness and travail;
thus we leave a trail of His goodness and mercy behind us as we traverse our Personal Mission Field—constantly touching the hem of His garment in the Word and prayer—for healing and hope.
Spiritually for sure—and sometimes even physically—for His praise and our comfort (Ps. 119.76).
Reflect.
1. For what works of healing in your soul or life can you give thanks and praise to God?
2. For what works of healing in your soul or life are you still beseeching the Lord?
3. How has God used you to bring healing to the soul or life of someone else? To a relationship?
In the midst of the apostles she sought to touch the gift of the Holy Spirit as it was coming from Christ’s body. She is suddenly healed.… The Lord praised her faith and constancy. Hilary of Poitiers (315-367), On Matthew 9.6
Pray Psalm 31.19-24.
How do you expect to know the goodness and healing power of Jesus today? Thank Him in advance, and set your heart to follow Him in everything you do today.
Sing Psalm 31.19-24.
Brother James’ Air: The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll not Want
How great the goodness You reserve for those who fear You, LORD,
who rest in You and boldly stand before men in Your Word.
You cover them from plots of men; You shelter them, O LORD!
Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown His steadfast love to me!
In my alarm I cried to Him; He heard my fervent plea!
In fear and dread with You I pled; You heard and rescued me!
O love the LORD, all you, His saints! He keeps us faithfully.
But all who act in sinful pride His wrath shall surely see.
Be strong and let your heart not fret; wait on Him constantly!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from our book, The Kingdom Turn. Our Crosfigell teaching letter presses ahead in a series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column addresses the question, “How to Church?” Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
