Matthew 9:18 - Meaning and Application

We have here two stories joined together: the raising of Jairus’s daughter, and the healing of the woman with the constant bleeding, which happens as Jesus is on his way to Jairus’s house. Matthew places the healing of the woman in the middle of the other story, almost like a parenthesis. Christ’s miracles came one after another, closely linked, because the work of the one who sent him was his daily work.

He was called to these good works while he was speaking the words before this, in answer to the Pharisees’ objections, when he was still speaking these things (Matthew 9:18). We may think this interruption was a welcome one. It broke off an unpleasant debate, and though debate is sometimes necessary, a good man will gladly leave it for a work of worship or mercy.

Here is the ruler’s approach to Christ (Matthew 9:18). A certain ruler, meaning a ruler of the synagogue, came and worshiped him. Had any of the rulers believed in him? Yes, here was one, a church ruler, whose faith exposed the unbelief of the others. This ruler had a daughter, about twelve years old, who had just died, and this loss in his family moved him to come to Christ. When trouble comes, we should go to God. The death of our relatives should drive us to Christ, who is our life. It is well if anything does.

When affliction enters our homes, we must not sit stunned. Like Job, we should fall down and worship. Notice his humility in this appeal. He came himself with his request and did not send a servant. It is no shame for even the greatest rulers to come personally to the Lord Jesus. He worshiped him, bowed before him, and showed him all due respect. Those who want mercy from Christ must first give honor to Christ.

Notice also his faith. “My daughter has just died,” he said, and though any other healer would now be too late, Christ was not too late. No earthly medicine can help after death, but Christ is a physician even after death, for he is the resurrection and the life. “Come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” This was beyond nature’s power, because once life is lost, it does not return by itself. But it was fully within Christ’s power, because he has life in himself and gives life to whom he wills.

Today Christ usually works through ordinary means, through nature and not against it. So we cannot make exactly this same request in faith now. While there is still life, there is hope and room for prayer. But when our friends are dead, the matter is settled. We will go to them, but they will not come back to us. Yet while Christ was on earth and working miracles, such confidence was not only allowed, it was highly worthy of praise.

Next we see Christ’s readiness to go with him (Matthew 9:19). Jesus immediately rose, left his company, and followed him. He was willing not only to raise the girl, but also to honor the ruler by coming to his house to do it. He never said to the descendants of Jacob, “Seek me in vain.” He refused to go with the royal official who said, “Sir, come down before my child dies” (John 4:48-50), but he did go with this ruler of the synagogue, who said, “Sir, come and my child will live.”

Christ used different ways in his miracles, and this likely matched the different hearts of the people who came to him. He knew what was in man, and he knew exactly how to deal with each one. When Jesus went with the ruler, his disciples went too. He did not take them for show, or to make a display, but so they could witness his miracles. Later, they were to preach his doctrine, and they needed to see his works.

Now comes the healing of the poor woman’s bleeding. I call her poor, not only because her condition was sad, but because she had spent all she had on doctors and got no better. That made her misery worse in two ways. First, she had once been well provided for and was now emptied out. Second, she had spent her money trying to regain her health and still had not regained it. She had been sick with a constant flow of blood for twelve years (Matthew 9:20). This disease was wearing her down and weakening her body. It also made her ceremonially unclean, so she was shut out from the temple courts. Yet it did not keep her from coming to Christ.

She came to Christ and received mercy on the way, while he was following the ruler whose daughter had died. This would encourage the ruler and help him keep trusting in Christ’s power. Christ is so gracious that he considers the weakness of believers and meets them in their need.

Notice the woman’s great faith in Christ and in his power. Because of the nature of her illness, modesty would not let her speak openly to Christ for healing, as others did. But by a special movement of faith, she believed that he had such overflowing power to heal that even touching his garment would cure her. Perhaps there was some mixture of imagination with her faith, because she had no example for this way of coming to Christ, unless she was thinking of Elisha’s bones bringing life to the dead man (2 Kings 13:21). Yet whatever weakness there was in her understanding, Christ was pleased to overlook it and accept the sincerity and strength of her faith. He can take the honey and the honeycomb together (Song of Solomon 4:11).

She believed she would be healed if she could touch even the hem of his garment, the very edge of it. There is power in everything that belongs to Christ. The holy oil used to anoint the high priest ran down to the edges of his garments (Psalm 133:2). There is such fullness of grace in Christ that from him we may all receive (John 1:16).

Now notice Christ’s kindness to this woman. He did not hold back his healing power, though he could have. He allowed this shy woman to receive a cure without anyone else knowing, though she could not imagine that he did not know. She was ready to slip away, since she had what she came for, but Christ was not willing to let her go so quietly. He wanted not only to show his power in her healing, but also to show his grace in her comfort and public honor. The triumph of her faith would become her praise.

He turned to look for her (Matthew 9:22), and soon found her. This is a great encouragement for humble Christians. Those who hide themselves from people are known to Christ. He sees their quiet prayers to heaven, even when they are most private. Then he put joy into her heart by saying, “Daughter, be of good cheer.” She may have feared that she would be rebuked for coming secretly, but instead she is comforted.

He calls her daughter, speaking to her with a father’s tenderness, just as he had called the paralyzed man “son” (Matthew 9:2). Christ has comfort ready for the daughters of Zion who are troubled in spirit, as Hannah was (1 Samuel 1:15). Believing women are Christ’s daughters, and he is glad to claim them as his own.

He tells her to be of good comfort. If Christ calls her daughter, she has good reason to take heart. The comfort of God’s people rests on their adoption, their being received as God’s children. When Christ says, “Be comforted,” his word brings comfort with it, just as his word, “Be healed,” brings healing. It is Christ’s will that his people be comforted, and he has the right to command peace into troubled hearts, creating the fruit of the lips, peace (Isaiah 57:19).

He also honors her faith. Of all graces, faith gives the greatest honor to Christ, so he especially honors faith in return. “Your faith has made you whole.” In this way, she received a good report through faith. And among believers, Christ often gives the greatest honor to the humblest ones. That is what he does here with this woman, who had more faith than she realized.

She had good reason to be comforted, not only because she was made well, but because her faith had made her well. In one sense, this means she was spiritually healed. Faith had brought about the pardon of sin and the work of grace in her soul. We can be deeply comforted in earthly blessings when they come with spiritual blessings like these. Food and clothing are sweeter when, by faith, we are fed with the bread of life and clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Rest and sleep are sweeter when, by faith, we rest in God and live at peace in him. Health and prosperity are sweeter when, by faith, our souls are prospering and healthy too (Isaiah 38:16, 17).

Her bodily healing was also the result of faith, her own faith, and that made it a truly happy cure. Some who were freed from demons were helped by Christ’s sovereign power, and some by the faith of others, as in Matthew 9:2. But here Christ says, “Your faith has made you whole.” Temporal blessings are real comforts to us when we receive them by faith. If, while seeking mercy, we prayed in faith, looked to God’s promise, depended on it, desired the mercy for God’s glory, submitted to God’s will, and found our hearts enlarged in faith, love, and obedience, then we may rightly say it was received by faith.

When Jesus came to the ruler’s house in Matthew 9:23, he saw the crowd and the musicians making noise. The house was in confusion, as death always brings to a family. The practical cares that arise then, especially when the dead is to be buried respectfully and taken out of sight, can sometimes help grief not to rule completely. The neighbors had gathered to mourn the loss, comfort the parents, and help with the funeral, which the Jews did not usually delay long.

The musicians were there, according to the custom of the Gentiles, playing sad tunes to deepen the sorrow and stir up mourning. In this way, they fed a grief that tends to grow beyond bounds. Heathen custom makes sorrow heavier, while Christianity seeks to soften it. Or perhaps the musicians were trying to distract the family and cheer them up, but songs for a heavy heart can feel like vinegar on a wound. The parents, who felt the loss most deeply, were silent, while the people and musicians, whose grief was partly outward, filled the house with noise. The loudest grief is not always the truest grief. The most sincere sorrow is often the one that keeps itself hidden. This detail is mentioned to show that the girl was truly dead in everyone’s judgment.

Jesus rebuked the noise and confusion, saying, “Make room.” Sometimes, when worldly sorrow takes over, it is hard for Christ and his comfort to enter. Those who harden themselves in grief, and, like Rachel, refuse to be comforted, should hear Christ saying to their troubled thoughts, “Make room.” Make room for the Consolation of Israel, who brings strong comfort, strong enough to overcome confusion and sorrow if he is allowed into the heart. Jesus then gives the reason they should not keep distressing themselves and each other: “The girl is not dead, but sleeping.”

This was especially true of this girl, who was about to be raised to life. She was truly dead, but not to Christ, who knew what he would do and what he could do. He had determined to make her death like sleep. There is little difference between sleep and death except for how long it lasts. In that sense, death is only a very short sleep, like one night’s rest. God gives life to the dead, and he can speak of things that do not exist as though they do (Romans 4:17).

In a broader sense, this is true of all who die, especially those who die in the Lord. Death is a sleep. People in every nation and language use that softer word to describe what is dreadful and unavoidable. Even of wicked kings it is said that they slept with their fathers, and of those who will rise to everlasting contempt, that they sleep in the dust (Daniel 12:2). This does not mean the soul sleeps. The soul remains active. It is the body that lies in the grave, still and silent, hidden in darkness. Sleep is a short death, and death is a long sleep.

But the death of the righteous is in a special way like sleep (Isaiah 57:2). They sleep in Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:14). They rest from the work and burden of this day, and they rest in hope of a joyful waking in the morning of the resurrection. Then they will wake refreshed, wake to new life, wake to be richly clothed and crowned, and wake to sleep no more.

This should also soften our grief when our dear relatives die. We should not say, “They are lost,” for they have only gone ahead of us. We should not say, “They are slain,” for they have only fallen asleep. The apostle Paul calls it foolish to think that those who sleep in Christ have perished (1 Corinthians 15:18). So we should give room to the comfort that the covenant of grace, God’s saving promise, brings from the life to come and the glory that will be revealed.

Could it be thought that such a comforting word from the mouth of the Lord Jesus would be mocked as it was? “They laughed him to scorn.” These people lived in Capernaum and knew Christ’s character. They knew he never spoke carelessly or foolishly, and they had seen many mighty works from him. So if they did not understand what he meant, they should at least have stayed quiet and waited to see the result. Christ’s words and works may be hard to understand, but that is no reason to despise them. We must honor the mystery of God’s sayings, even when they seem to go against what we think we know best.

Even this ridicule helped confirm the miracle, because she was so plainly dead that saying otherwise seemed absurd. The people were put out before Jesus raised the girl to life (Matthew 9:25). Mockers who laugh at things too high for their understanding are not fit witnesses of Christ’s wonders, whose glory lies not in display, but in power. The widow’s son at Nain and Lazarus were raised openly, but this girl was raised in private. Capernaum had already looked lightly on the lesser miracle of healing sickness, so it was not worthy to see the greater miracle of restoring life. Such pearls were not to be thrown before those who would trample them.

Christ went in and took her by the hand, as if to wake her and help her rise, keeping with his own picture of her as asleep. The high priest, who pointed ahead to Christ, was not allowed to go near the dead (Leviticus 21:10-11), but Christ touched the dead. The Levitical priesthood, the Old Testament priesthood tied to the law of Moses, had to leave the dead in their uncleanness and keep its distance, because it could not help them. Christ, however, has power to raise the dead, so he is above any uncleanness and is not afraid to touch them. He took her by the hand, and the girl arose. The miracle was done easily and completely, not by prayer as Elijah and Elisha prayed (1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:33), but by a touch. They acted as servants, while he acted as the Son, as God, the one to whom the power over death belongs.

Jesus Christ is Lord over souls. He calls them out, and he calls them back, whenever and however he pleases. Dead souls are not raised to spiritual life unless Christ takes them by the hand. It happens in the day of his power. He lifts us up, or we stay where we are.

The miracle was soon known everywhere, even though it had been done in private (Matthew 9:26). News of it spread through that whole region. Christ’s works are often talked about more than they are considered and put into practice. Those who only heard reports of Christ’s miracles were answerable for them too, just as the eyewitnesses were. We today have not seen Christ’s miracles, but we have an accurate record of them. On that evidence, we are bound to receive his teaching. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed (John 20:29).