Matthew 9:18-34 (Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-46)
Sometime after Jesus spoke to the Pharisees at Matthew's house, a ruler from the synagogue, Jairus, comes to Jesus and says "My 12 year old daughter is sick to the point of death, but I know if you lay your hand on her, she will live." Jesus says He will go to her. While He is going to Jairus' house, a sick woman from the crowd touches the hem of His clothes She's full of faith that's all it would take to end this 12 year sickness. Jesus senses her touch and confirms that it's her faith that has healed her. During this exchange a servant from Jairus' house comes and says it's too late, the little girl has died. Jesus can hear the mourners beginning their routine, complete with music and commotion. He says "She's not dead, just asleep"; the others scoff because He isn't there!! Jesus telss her to get up and she gets up and walks. (Matthew covers two healings that Mark and Luke do not--two blind men and a mute man. The Pharisees, ever the skeptics, say that Jesus is casting out demons by the power of Satan.)
More familiar stories--The ruler's daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. One who has had only 12 years of life, and the other who has had 12 years of misery. The woman with the discharge of blood has spent everything she has to get answers, but nothing has helped. A bleeding disease would make her unclean, so she would not be able to have contact with family or friends, and would be an outcast. She comes up behind Jesus, then full of fear and trembling, she kneels before Him and tells Him her whole story. Jesus says to her "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And she immediately was well. The little girl has passed away, according to the crowd, but Jesus by His own authority says get up. Jesus has authority over sickness, sin, and death. Stories that we've heard our whole lives in Sunday School, but to these two, words of life, miracles.
When Jesus says "Do not fear, only believe", that should change us. We live in a fearful time; there are so many dynamics, changing daily. We want to see the immediate healing that these two families saw. But if we don't, then what? "If I lost it all, would my hands stay lifted to the God who gives and takes away?" ("I'm still yours" by Kutless) The charge from Jesus to believe instead of fear comes BEFORE the miracle. I pray to come out on the other side of trials with a heart empty of fear and full of belief in the Only One who can say to me "Arise".
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