At first glance, the three stories we heard in Matthew 9:9-13,18-26 don’t have much in common. We have a tax collector, a woman with a bleeding disorder, and a man with a sick daughter. What could they possibly have in common? If we look deeper, we find that they are all sinners, or sick people.

Tax collectors and sinners are linked together twice in Matthew 9:9-13. Both groups were ostracized from pious Jewish society-the tax collectors for political and ethical reasons, and the sinners for religious and cultural reasons. Jesus broke down all such prejudices and divisions, reaching out to each person with mercy and love.

Tax collectors were among the most hated people in this society. Rome was a foreign empire taxing them into oblivion. Tax collectors were traitors, unprincipled Jews who worked for Rome and pocketed the profits for personal gain. Many were very wealthy and had their identity tied to money. The money they collected was often partly extorted for personal gain and partly a tax for Rome. This made tax collectors both thieves and traitors to the Jewish nation.

Matthew lived in Capernaum and was a tax collector for the Roman government, so the Jews regarded him as a traitor and crook. Jesus’ calling of Matthew to be one of His disciples shows that Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus crossed the moral and social barriers of His time. He welcomes outsiders, just like He welcomed Matthew, Jairus and the woman. His love is not based on their previous occupation, moral life, or social standing.

Jesus calling Matthew to be a disciple places the authority of Christ over occupation. We have one vocation as followers of Jesus and that is to be disciples. This vocation supplies the directive for choice of occupation as well as for the character of our work in an acceptable occupation. Jesus showed love and acceptance by His willingness to sit down with sinners and associate with them. This is friendship evangelism, for we cannot win sinners to the Lord if we keep ourselves from them.

Using the analogy of physical health to represent spiritual health, Jesus told the Pharisees-who thought they were well-that He came to call the sick, or those who realized their sinfulness. Because the tax collectors and “sinners” realized their need for a Saviour, Jesus was able to save them.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, thought they were righteous because of their adherence to manmade laws, when in fact God had already judged their sacrifices as worthless because they did not show mercy to others. They were sick, but they did not realize that they were sick. They did not want to be healed. The Pharisees focused on the outward, ritual, and ceremonial aspects of God’s law-to the neglect of its inward, eternal, and moral precepts. In doing so, they became harsh, judgmental, and self-righteously scornful of others. Matthew, on the other hand, realized that he was sick and showed it by accepting Jesus’ call to follow Him. Matthew left behind everything, including his job.

Legalism is a slippery slope that many of us can fall into. One of the flaws of humanity is the sinful lean towards self-reliance. Many of us have been trained from childhood to “pull up our bootstraps,” “go big or go home,” and determine that we can do anything we put our minds to. While these famous sayings encourage us onward with resilience when faced with hard times, they can also lead us down the road of becoming a self-made man or woman.

Jesus called himself a physician. He was in the midst of those in need of healing. For sinners, healing comes in repentance, a turning from that which is evil and harmful, and a turning towards that which is good, true, and restorative. It may well be that, in the presence of Jesus, listening to this rabbi, these sinners and tax collectors are taking a step towards health. As is always the case, healing has a social dimension. Living in sin, profiting from oppression, they live in a world where each is ranked according to their wealth and influence, their ability to profit in a society which is sick with injustice. Should they hear and follow Jesus, they will also find healing in a community which treats them with the currency of mercy and kindness.

In Mark’s and Luke’s version of the healing of Jairus’ daughter, Jairus says that his daughter is dying. In Matthew 9:18-23, Jairus says she has died, and this is reinforced when, upon arriving at Jairus’ home, a group of flute players had already started the wake for this little girl. The mourners who mocked Jesus for saying that she was merely sleeping were soon silenced as Jesus raised the little girl up to full health. Because Jesus looked beyond what people could see to what God sees, the people ridiculed Him. Faith often looks ridiculous to those who don’t have it. God does what no one else can. Jesus has power over disease and death.

Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to heal his daughter. To fall at someone’s feet and to beg him is a sign that you desperately need what that person has to offer. At this point in Jesus’ life, the leaders of the synagogues were not deeply hostile to Jesus. Rather than being hostile to Jesus, Jairus was desperate for the healing power that lived in Jesus, just like the woman with the hemorrhage was desperate for that same healing power.

The woman’s severe hemorrhage made her ceremoniously unclean according to Leviticus 15:25-27. She came as one person in need, resolved that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak, she would be healed. This act of faith was noticed by Jesus, and He said to the woman, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” Jesus’ declaration that her faith had made her well and his subsequent reference to her as “daughter” indicate this was a healing that included salvation.

Her faith seems to have been a superstitious faith but that didn’t stop Jesus from healing her. Very often, our faith does not measure up to the church’s definition of a high quality of faith. This woman’s faith was not complex, theologically sophisticated, or religiously stylish. Her faith was simple, and seemingly superstitious, but that was okay with Jesus. She approached Jesus, shaking with fear, fell down before Him and told it all. She told Him the whole truth about what she had done. That is what God wants from us. God wants us to tell Him the whole truth about ourselves and our need for healing.

Jesus reaches across the Israelites’ purity codes. Jesus does not disobey the Old Testament Law, but he does touch ritual impurity. Jesus does not initiate contact with either the woman or Jairus. He practices the art of following.

Jesus became the Great Physician and Healer because He healed both sick bodies and sick souls/emotions/minds. Jesus came to heal those who were sick physically and sick emotionally/spiritually/mentally. Jesus did not invite people who thought they were religious but people who knew their need of God. God wants to heal the hearts and souls of the sick. He wants genuine devotion to Him that results in beneficial action toward others. Religious activity means nothing without devotion to God and a real concern for others.

The woman and Jairus came before Jesus because they had nowhere else to go, no other options. Jesus responded with compassion and met them where they were. He was quick to extend His healing power to them. He restored what seemed to be lost. He did not leave them untouched in their desperation and pain but answered their faithful reach with wholeness. Faith is not about clarity or certainty, but about simply reaching out to Christ who is merciful and full of grace. As we witness Jairus and the woman reaching out in faith, we are invited to trust that even at the end of our options, Jesus is still at work.

These stories present a vision of a God whose power is found in love and healing, not in control or determinism. God is not the source of the woman’s or child’s illness. Illness is not a result of God’s moral or metaphysical will. God is not out to get us. He is out to heal us. He wants us to have abundant life, and seeks wholeness of body, mind, spirit, relationships and politics. The goal of these stories is not to help us look back with amazement, but forward with faith. The God who spoke still speaks. The God who forgave still forgives. The God who came still comes. He comes into our world. He comes to do what we can’t. He comes to move the stones we can’t move.

Let us pray. Compassionate God, we come before you today as our most authentic, vulnerable selves, with heavy burdens on our hearts. Maybe some of us have run out of options and we have nothing left to lose. Give us the courage to reach out in faith to you, trusting that you meet us there in our pain and despair. AMEN

(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Matthew 9 verses 9-13,18-26 Jesus, the Healer and Caller.)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah. David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1296-1297)
2. Augsburger, M.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 24: Matthew (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; p.18)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010; pp. 1308-1311)
6. Greg Carey, “Commentary on Matthew 9:9-13,18-26.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
7. The Rev. Edward Markquart, “Gospel Analysis, Matthew, the Tax Collector.” Retrieved from www.sermonsfromseattle.com
8. Megan Conner, “Breaking Free from a Works-Based Faith.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com
9. Bobby Schuller, “Jesus Has Pity.” Retrieved from www.hourofpower.org
10. Ron Moore, “Fresh Start: Making a Break.” Retrieved from info@ronmoore.org