Title Matthew 9:18-26
Jesus said to the flute players and weepers, “Go away,” and then said, “This girl is not dead, but is sleeping” (verse 24). Then the people who heard it said that it was ridiculous and laughed at it. Why would Jesus refer to the dead girl as sleeping? Is it really because the girl wasn't dead, she was just sleeping? Were people so stupid that they couldn't tell the difference between sleeping and dead? If the girl had really been sleeping, Jesus would not have had to come to the house. The girl was obviously dead. But for Jesus, death was not the end. Even death for Jesus was something that could be overcome as easily as waking up from sleep, so I think the girl expressed "sleep". It can be understood as an expression of the will of Jesus to raise the girl who is already dead, but raises them up like a sleeping child. Jesus did what he had said and made the girl alive.
But as Jesus was going to the house to save the girl, another thing happened. It was a woman who had been suffering from a blood clot for 12 years, believing that she could be saved just by touching Jesus' cloak, came behind Jesus and touched the edge of Jesus' cloak. .
These two stories in today's text reveal to us the divinity and power of Jesus more clearly than ever before. Jesus, who healed all kinds of sick people, is shown in this story as the One who raises even the dead. Jesus, who ruled over sickness, wind, waves, and demons, is revealed in this story as the One who rules even death.
This story shows us that nothing is impossible with Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, which tells the same story, the woman with the hemorrhage is introduced as follows: "Then a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for twelve years, and who could not be healed by anyone/ came behind Jesus and touched the edge of his clothes, and the bleeding began. It stopped immediately.” (Luke 8:43-44) Judging from the fact that Luke, who was a doctor, said, “A woman who could not be healed by anyone,” it can be seen that this woman was diagnosed with an incurable patient. But the woman's incurable disease was healed by Jesus. This story is telling us that the impossible in the world is possible in Jesus.
There is one more thing in common between these two stories. It is the belief of the dead girl's father and the woman with a blood clot. The dead girl's father believed that if Jesus came and laid his hands on the dead daughter's body, she would come back to life. The woman suffering from a blood clot believed that she could be saved just by touching the cloak of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus gave them all the grace of salvation. Our faith does not save us. Salvation is only through the grace and power of Jesus Christ. However, our faith is the means of receiving the grace of salvation. Faith is the channel and opportunity through which God gives us the grace of salvation. It was not because of the magical effect of touching the edge of Jesus' clothes that the woman suffering from a hemorrhage was saved. It was the grace that Jesus bestowed on her because of her faith. Salvation comes from God and comes through faith.
Although we will celebrate communion today, the sacrament itself does not have any saving power. The act of ceremonial participation in the Lord's Supper and mechanically receiving and drinking bread and wine does not save us. Salvation is given to us by God through the grace of Jesus Christ on the cross. Faith is the way to possess that saving grace as our own. The confession of faith that Jesus Christ washed away our sins and saved us by dying on the cross for us, and that if we accept him now as the Son of God and our only savior, we will receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, the sacrament is the confession of our faith. To make it a means of grace. Without this faith, the sacrament of receiving bread and wine would be nothing but a ridiculous theatrical act without the presence of Jesus Christ or the work of God's grace.
Let's all become children of God who enjoy God's amazing and limitless grace of salvation through Jesus Christ with upright and strong faith.