Take Heart, Your Faith Has Made You Well!

Matthew 9:18-26 Two weeks ago we saw a picture of the saints in heaven at the end of their faith journey and we talked about how they got there—that despite their differences of language and culture and tribe, all of them shared a common faith in Jesus Christ.

Last week we heard the Apostle Paul call us to follow his example when it comes to our life with God and put our faith in Jesus alone.  What is common to these lessons and the lesson that we have today is faith—faith in Jesus. 

We talk a lot about faith in the church but we don’t always talk about faith itself:  what it is and how we come by it and what it accomplishes in our life.  That’s what we are going to talk about today.

To set the stage for our lesson, we are going to look at what came before the events of our text and so if you want to open your bibles to Matthew chapter 9 you can follow along as I briefly recount what happened before the events of our Gospel lesson today.

Chapter 9 begins with Jesus healing a man who was paralyzed and not only did Jesus heal him he forgave his sins.  If you remember how all this happened you know that some of the Jewish religious leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy, recognizing correctly that he was putting himself in the place of God. 

As chapter 9 continues we see Jesus calling Matthew to be his disciple—a man who was hated by his countrymen, a man with a poor reputation.  Not only did he call Matthew to be his disciple, Jesus made a point of seeking out sinners and calling them to himself.  “Jesus eats with sinners” was the charge against him.

Then we hear a question from the disciples of John the Baptist, wondering why Jesus’ disciples weren’t fasting.  And Jesus told them that this wasn’t a time for fasting and mourning but a time for rejoicing because the bridegroom had come.

What you have in those days leading up to our text is diseases healed and sins forgiven.  Life with God for all people no matter what their sins.  A day of rejoicing because God’s promised deliverance was at hand. 

That is the context for our meditation today about what faith is and how it comes to us and what it gives.  St. Matthew writes that:  A ruler came in and knelt before Jesus saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 

            This scene shows us what faith is: a confident trust that Jesus is who he says he is and can be counted on to do what he has promised to do.  But many people in the church today are confused about this biblical definition of faith.

People talk about faith as if it were merely head-knowledge that agrees that yes, there was a man named Jesus who lived long ago and went about doing good and died on a cross and rose again.  But this is simply knowledge of information and the devil knows these same things.  True and saving faith is something different—something more.

Faith is a confident trust in Jesus that moves us to rely on him and count on him and order our life around his words.  That is the kind of faith that Jairus had—a confident trust that counted on Jesus even in the darkest of times.

And so how did he get that faith that trusted in Jesus even when something as terrible as the death of his child had taken place?  He got it from what he had heard about Jesus.

People were being healed by Jesus.  Sins were being forgiven.  Outcasts were finding a place in God’s kingdom.  And these stories of what Jesus was doing and the kind of man he was were being told and retold and people who heard this Good News —believed.

That is how faith came to Jairus and that is how faith comes to us.  The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  John says that the Bible was written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and have life in his name.  Jairus heard the Good News about Jesus and believed in him.

His faith was not misplaced.  Jairus came to Jesus in his need and Jesus responded and went with him to his house.  But as they traveled along they met another person in need, another person who trusted in Jesus and we learn from her how faith works to receive God’s blessings. 

St. Matthew writes that:  A woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.”  Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

            Not only are people confused about what faith is they are also confused about how faith actually works in their lives.  They see faith as an action on their own part that causes something to happen rather than a gift God gives so that we can simply receive what he has already accomplished for us. 

It’s like the way that people talk about prayer, saying “I believe in the power of prayer”.  But the power in prayer is not our asking—the power of prayer is the God who one answers!

Faith comes from hearing the Gospel and faith receives what God has given in Jesus.  The woman with the flow of blood had heard the same stories about Jesus as did Jairus.  She too had come to faith in Jesus by hearing these stories.  She trusted in him for help. 

Her situation was almost as desperate as Jairus’ daughter—not only did she have a terrible physical ailment—but because of the laws of that day, she was cut her off from even those closest to her.  And yet she knew that this Jesus who healed and this Jesus who didn’t keep anyone at arm’s length was able to help even her-- and so trusting in Jesus, confident that he could help, she reached out to him in faith and received healing.  Now, please understand…

Her faith didn’t make Jesus who he was.  Her faith did not give him power.  Her faith did cause her healing.  Her faith came from who Jesus was and received what he had come to give. 

So it is for us.  Our faith comes from hearing the Good News of Jesus.  For most of us that came when we were baptized and heard the words about Jesus inviting children to have a life with him and the kingdom of heaven belonging to little children and Jesus wanting us to be his disciples through baptism. 

And believing in Jesus we have received the forgiveness and new life he earned for us on the cross.  Our faith is sustained by that same message in Word and Sacrament. 

Just like the woman that day, our faith has made us well—not because faith in any old thing matters—not because it is a work that deserves God’s reward--but our faith has made us well because it has laid hold of Jesus just like that woman laid hold of his garment.

So that there is no confusion about this, or any doubt in our mind about how faith works to receive rather than create, Jesus shows us just exactly where the power lies as he raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead. 

St. Matthew writes that:  When Jesus came to the ruler'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 arose.

            So who was right?  Were the mourners right or was Jesus.  Was the girl really only asleep or was she dead?  Jairus knew that she had died and that is why he came to Jesus.  Her friends and family knew she died, that is why they were mourning.  They knew what they could see—that the girl was dead.

But Jesus knew that, in his presence, death is transformed into a peaceful rest from which we will waken just as surely as we got up for church this morning.  With Jesus there, there was no need for the professional mourners—no need for the tears—no need for the grief—for his powerful life is greater than death. 

Jairus had sought out Jesus by faith.  The woman with the flow of blood reached out to Jesus by faith.  And  just so that there was no confusion then or now about what faith is (whether it is power we exercise to get what we want or whether it is a gift of God that receives what Jesus gives) Jesus took the girl by the hand and she  rose from the dead

The little girl did not do this—Jesus did it.  It was not her fervent prayers that raised her from the dead-- but the Savior’s touch.  She did not reach out to him—he reached out to her. 

That’s the power of Jesus.  Death has to give way to life.  Uncleanness has to give way to holiness.  Stormy seas are calmed.  Devils are defeated.  Sins are forgiven.  So it is for us.

Our faith has made us well not because it is the act of believing that is praiseworthy in God’s sight—that simply turns faith into a work must we do. 

Our faith has made us well not because it is some power in us that enables to create the reality we want—that is heresy that makes us into God. 

But rather our faith has made us well because of who and what it lays hold of—the person and work of Jesus Christ.  May the Holy Spirit grant us an ever deeper faith in him as we hear his words and receive him in Holy Communion!  Amen.