Matthew 9b

The Gospel according to Matthew

1-2.  The ancestry and birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

3-4.  Jesus’ ministry begins; John’s baptism, Satan’s temptations, first disciples called.,

5-7.  A summary of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, crowds were astounded.

8-9.  A summary of Jesus’ healings; the authority of Jesus is questioned and defended.

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Chapters 8 and 9 have been about authority, the signs of his authority and the areas of Jesus’ authority. The answers to those questions produce unintended consequences. As people come to appreciate Jesus’ authority, they spread the word about Jesus the healer, Jesus the exorcist, and Jesus the conqueror of death. Jesus’ fame grows, and that is not necessarily a good thing, as John the Baptist will soon learn.

9: 18-19.  While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”  And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 

Matthew uses a word that is more common in the Gospel according to Mark, translated ‘Suddenly’ or ‘Behold!’ In other ways, Matthew has edited down this account compared to Mark 5:21-43, or even Luke 8: 40-56. Matthew tells the whole story in 8 verses while Mark takes 22 verses and Luke 16 verses. The most common theory is that Mark was written first, and that both Matthew and Luke had a copy of Mark as well as other material when they were writing. Sometimes they expand on what Mark wrote, but this time Matthew seriously condenses the story. This shows again that Matthew has his own point to make, and did not need all of Mark’s story to do it. 

Matthew does not tell us what kind of ‘leader’ this man was. Mark identifies him as Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. But if we make too much of that, we may miss Matthew’s points.

The first point is that a ‘leader’ ‘knelt’ before Jesus. The presence of Jesus turned everything upside down. Stories confirming Jesus’ authority in the physical as well as the spiritual world have been circulating, so how people treat Jesus becomes more critical. 

The second point is that this leader himself pushes the envelope because he admits that his daughter has died and still wants Jesus to do something about it. To be fair, the word in Greek means that she has come to her end, which might mean that she is in her last stage of dying. Indeed, Mark records Jairus saying “my daughter is at the point of death.” More on this later. Note that Matthew records no comment by Jesus, just that he got up and followed the leader.

9: 20-22.  Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment. 

‘Suddenly’ signals an unexpected turn in the story. We have suggested before that Matthew writes for a Jewish Christian audience to affirm their faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. There are several Jewish touches here that are not explained; it is not necessary because Jews would see the point. 

First, note that the leader and Jesus are both now in close proximity with an impure woman. According to Leviticus 15: 20-27, she is unclean as long as she is bleeding and could not possibly enter the synagogue. She is even out of place pushing her way through the crowd. Don’t worry, Jesus will expose her. 

Second, only Matthew uses the word for the ‘fringe’ of his cloak (see Deuteronomy 22: 12), part of the outfit that sets aside the priest as holy. Does this heighten the drama around the ‘touch’? 

Lastly, while a ‘touch’ may seem like an endearing act, in fact it emphasizes that such an unclean person is forbidden to ‘touch’ a ritually clean person, and if it happens, even by accident, it makes the clean person unclean. 

She hopes to be healed and get away quietly, but Jesus calls her out. The whole story will soon be known, then it will be clear that this unclean woman has touched Jesus. However, Jesus ignores the implications and focuses on her faith. Jesus makes it clear that this is not an act of magic, but rather the healing went out from him as a result of her faith that Jesus could heal her.  

9: 23-26.  When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread through all of that district.

Another First Century Jewish practice that we might miss is hiring mourners. Part of the reason they laugh is that, if the girl is not dead, then their paid gig is cut short. 

What Jesus says again raises the question of whether or not the girl is dead, or in the immortal words of Miracle Max (Billy Crystal) in the movie “Princess Bride,” perhaps she is only “mostly dead.” Even in those times, ‘asleep in the Lord’ was a euphemism for death. In fact, later Matthew does use it (Matthew 27:52). Mark reports the leader’s initial words that his daughter is ‘close’ to death, and then records that while they are still walking the news comes that she has died. In any case, with a slow death, it seems as difficult in the First Century as it is now to know the exact point of death. 

However close she was, Jesus intervened in the process and raised her from dying, that much is clear both to us and to the First Century observers. Notice the summary statement: “And the report spread throughout the district.” This is one of Matthew’s points.

9: 27-31.  As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you have faith that I can do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.” But they went away and spread the news about him through all of that district.

These men may be blind, but they can still hear well enough. People passing by them likely told the tales of the woman who had an incurable hemorrhage, but Jesus healed her, and then Jesus raised a little girl from the dead. It is likely this news sparked their faith and hope. In fact, Jesus raises faith as the issue, as he did with the woman.

What kind of faith do they have? They identify Jesus as “Son of David.” At the beginning, Matthew introduced Jesus as “the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1: 1). Jesus has referred to himself as “the son of man” ((8: 20). We tend to pass over these lightly since we do not appreciate what names and epithets mean in the First Century. We often pick baby’s names out of a book intending no deeper meaning. 

We tend to think that ‘son of Abraham’ means that Jesus is a Jew, and ‘son of David’ means that Jesus is in the royal family; and that much is true. Ben Witherington argues further that non-biblical literature available to First Century Jews portrayed Solomon as a healer and an exorcist. Solomon’s Psalm 91 was reinterpreted in that light. In addition, the historian Josephus confirms that this view existed in First Century Jewish thought. Thus, the epithet means more, and the two blind men meant something specific by choosing to call Jesus ‘the son of David’. 

The son of David was Solomon, and he became known for wisdom and healing. So, the title is bestowed on Jesus as well. That fits with Matthew’s presentation of historical material: ‘Jesus follows in the footsteps of Solomon, the son of David. Here is evidence of his wisdom; the Sermon on the Mount. Now, here is evidence of his power to heal: many stories about healings, exorcisms, and even raising people from the dead'.                                                                                                                                                               

9: 32-34.   After they had gone away, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees were saying, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”

That does it! That’s one exorcism too many! He’s crossed over the line, things are getting out of hand. We can’t deny the healings and exorcisms, so we’ll attack his character. Sure he performs what look like miracles, but the power comes from…wait for it… ‘the leader of the demons’!

As is common today in political speech, if you can’t refute the evidence, then attack the person (president, vice-president, judge, lawyer, witness) instead. Interesting that the word translated ‘leader’ (archon) occurs here (9: 34) and back in the middle of the chapter to identify the father of the dying girl (9: 18). The first leader recognized Jesus’ authority, the second leader is part of a conspiracy theory to question Jesus’ character.    

The Devil, of course, is the leader of the demons. Don’t forget that. The opposite of God is not the Devil, there is no one equal to, but opposed to God. The opposite of Jesus is no one. The opposite of Michael the Archangel is the Devil, aka Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub. Both are created beings. So, the notion of Spiritual Warfare is a bit warped if people pretend that it is a great battle between God and the Devil. First, God is the Creator, and everything is subject to him. Second, there is no war; the war was won long ago on the cross and in the empty tomb. What is being fought is a hopeless rear guard action by a retreating force. Better to be on God’s side.

Jesus will meet with this conspiracy theory again in Chapter 12 where he makes a more extended rebuttal. There Beelzebul ‘Lord of the Flies’ and Satan ‘the Accuser’ are the epithets used for the Devil. 

9: 35-38. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew writes these sorts of summary statements after every major section. For example, Chapter 4, verses 23-25 is such a summary, and it leads into the Sermon on the Mount. Then Chapter 7 verses 28-29 is such a summary, and it leads into the current collection of stories about healing and casting out demons. Now, at the end of Chapter 9 we have another summary story that will lead into a section about sending out the disciples on a short term mission trip. 

All these summaries talk about Jesus’ travels and activities; only this one gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ feelings and motivation. Jesus, whose full name is Yeshua or Joshua, is the shepherd, as we shall learn. So, this reminds us of Moses’ prayer for Israel: “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep without a shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him… (Numbers 27: 16-18, see also I Kings 22: 17).

Next, Jesus commissions his disciples as junior shepherds because the people need help.