Look at what happens when Jesus speaks! Jesus spoke, and a sick woman then had the confidence to touch the hem of His garment. Jesus spoke, and a desperate father sought out Jesus and asked Him for the impossible. Jesus spoke, and a little girl was raised from the dead. The word of Jesus does what it says. It’s no wonder then that Scripture calls Jesus “the Word made flesh” (John 1:14).
The word from Jesus, the word from the one who is the Word, does what it says. For behind that word is Jesus with all His authority and might. Consider today’s Gospel reading. Where did that woman get the faith to believe that Jesus could heal her after 12 years of doctors who could not? The word from the Word, Jesus, came and did what it does, giving her faith. Then, she acted in faith. Having the seed of faith in her heart, she then acted with courage and confidence to touch our Lord’s garment.
And where did the desperate father get the faith to believe that going to Jesus with a prayer was even worth the bother? The word from the Word, Jesus, came and did what it does, giving him faith. Then, he acted in faith. Having the seed of faith in his heart, he then acted with hope and boldness to go to Jesus and insist that He touch and resurrect his dead daughter.
Nothing in the woman, nothing in the father produced that faith. And just in case if you’re not convinced, we get a demonstration of just how powerful the word from the Word, Jesus, is. Was there anything in the dead girl, so she could choose to believe what Jesus would speak to her? She had no strong inner spirit, no will to live, that brought her back to life. No, it was Jesus’ preaching that did all that.
So, what was Jesus preaching? Did you notice how our Gospel reading started today? It began, “while [Jesus] was speaking to them…” Before the man and woman were brought to faith and before the dead girl was raised back to life, Jesus was preaching.
But what was He preaching? Jesus had said: “Your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2), “follow me” [to the Supper table] (Matthew 9:9), and “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). And then Jesus said that He was the bridegroom and the new wine for which the people had been yearning. He was the long-awaited Messiah.
That was what Jesus was speaking when the father and the sick woman interrupted Him. Only the spoken word from the Word, Jesus, gave the sick woman, and the desperate father, the faith and courage, the boldness and confidence to approach Him and expect the impossible.
Now, the woman and the father had their doubts. The father sees his dead daughter. He hears the funeral music and the noisy crowd wailing. And the woman, for 12 years she had spent all the money she had on doctors to give her relief from her illness.
And, no doubt, the woman also prayed. But the Lord didn’t heal her through doctors, like St. Luke, which is His normal way of working in this world, through people (see Sirach 38:1-9). So, the woman thinks that her Lord is not coming through for her or giving her the help she so desperately wants. But like the father, she persists.
Both the father and the woman insist that Jesus is the only one who can give the help, the peace, the comfort, the relief, and the joy that they expect from God. Why? Because our Lord’s preaching moves them to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s salvation, and God’s help.
So, the father looks beyond his dead daughter, beyond his grieving wife, and beyond his anguish and fears. The woman looks beyond her heartache, pain, and frustration with God; beyond her years of illness. She looks beyond everything in her body, every thought in her mind, every despairing doubt, every worst fear she can imagine, and everyone near her who has said that she should just give up.
In faith, they both stop listening to the naysayers from without and within, from others and even from what their feelings and thoughts are telling them. They fix their eyes, their hearts, their minds, and their hopes on Jesus. The woman insists that He is her health and salvation. The father insists that Jesus is his daughter’s life and resurrection. So, they see nothing but our Lord and His Word and rely on Him.
Look at what the spoken word from the Word, Jesus, does! It gives hope and confidence. It moves you to believe that God is not just real, but for you. It not only gives our Lord’s gifts; it even gives the hands of faith to receive those gifts. So, the word from the Word of Jesus speaks faith where it is lacking or wanting, hope where it is missing, and life in the throes of death.
So, what of us? Some of us are caught in the stranglehold of depression. You may be struggling with a sin from which you are powerless to free yourself. You may have haunted eyes, from having to stare down some unrelenting crisis. Maybe, you’re angry with God because He didn’t do what you wanted Him to do. Maybe, your back is against the wall, and you are just tired, exhausted, and worn down from all that this sinful world keeps throwing your way.
What gives you the courage and confidence to turn away from your fears and doubts, your scheming and plotting, and your desperation and self-reliance? Is it some quick fix? Is it burying your head in the sand and hoping it will all go away on its own?
No. Nothing we do or want to be done, but only what our Lord does, says, and gives will make what is wrong into what is right. Those healings from Jesus were previews of the eternal healing that our bodies will enjoy on the Last Day. That’s when Jesus will call them forth from the grave and heal them into sinless perfection.
That was what was behind all those healings that Jesus did. After all, the resurrected daughter later died. The woman who had a chronic bleeding problem for 12 years, even her healed body gave out. The father who approached Jesus, he even died. So, these healings were not about the temporary healings that Jesus did. It was all about the eternal healing that He would carry out on the Last Day when He returns in glory.
That’s why Jesus didn’t command His pastors to heal people before He ascended into heaven. Instead, Jesus commanded them to speak the word that He would give them, the word that brings someone into His eternal healing on the Last Day. That’s why Jesus commanded pastors to baptize and teach, to forgive sin, and to be the dispensers of Jesus’ body and blood in His Supper. For only the hope that we have can pull us forward to that Day, even when all you want to do is to give up and die.
Do you find it hard to believe that the word from the Word, Jesus, which now comes to you in preaching and the Sacraments can do all that? Our sinful flesh will mock and scorn that word of Jesus. Our sinful flesh will be like the crowd that laughed at Jesus. Our sinful flesh will say, “It’s not working! Nothing has changed! So I’ll just have to do it myself, since God is powerless, weak, and a liar.”
Beware: That’s the devil’s trap. He wants you to believe in yourself, instead of believing in Jesus and how He comes to you in His spoken word. The devil doesn’t want you to trust in the saving comfort and help that Jesus gives in His preached Word and Sacraments.
So, know yourself and your sinful flesh. Know your doubts, fears, and frustrations with God. And when you know that, you have joined the sick woman. She felt that she didn’t even deserve to approach Jesus. She was right. She didn’t deserve it. And neither do you and me.
But despite how she felt, how did the woman act, how did she live out her faith? She still approached Jesus, even though she sneaked up from behind and touched the hem of His garment.
Our Lord’s word dared the woman to believe that even the threads that touched Him might give her the help that she needed. And Jesus responded to her wavering faith, not with a rebuke, but with a great blessing: “Daughter, have courage, for your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22).
And the woman is healed, saved, not because she worked up the faith to believe. No, she is saved and made well only because of Jesus—even through the hem of His garment. She did not spurn His help but received it in whatever way our Lord made it available—that’s faith!
The woman will be happy just to touch Jesus’ clothing. The man will gladly take Jesus to see his dead daughter. And here we are. Jesus gives us, not cloth, but His body in bread and His blood in wine. That’s where He touches us, literally! That’s where He gives us life and salvation. For when you get Jesus, you get all that He wants to give you. In His Supper, Jesus sinks Himself—His comfort, help, and salvation—deep within your being, so, in faith, you might live for Him even as He lives within you.
Look at what the word from the Word, Jesus, does. It gives us His forgiveness in absolution. Look at what the Word, Jesus, does in His Supper. He gives us hope when all our self-generated hope has died and withered. He gives us life in the place of death. He gives and strengthens faith where it is teetering on its last leg.
So, son and daughter of God, “have courage, for your faith has made you well.” That’s all because you hear and take to heart the Lord’s Gospel, which declares and makes you His own, which puts you on the receiving end of His riches. In Him, and in only Him, do you have life and salvation. Amen.
