Matthew 9:18-26 – Death is not final – the authority belongs to Jesus

These verses narrate two miracles that Jesus did. Notice that both the recipients of the miracle of Jesus were female. One was a young girl and the other a grown woman. The girl was raised from death and the grown woman was healed of a bleeding issue, a menstrual problem. According to Mark 5:42 the girl who was raised from the dead was 12 years old. And in Matthew 9:20, we know that the grown woman had suffered her condition for 12 years. Interestingly, Biblical numerologists or people who study the meaning of numbers in the Bible tell us that 12 is the number that signifies authority. 

 

Mathew seems to indicate that while Jesus was still explaining why His movement requires new mindsets and perspectives, a man of dignity came to Him in panic. This man was a leader of the synagogue. Mark 5:22 tells us that his name was Jairus. What’s highly unusual in this account is that Jairus should approach Jesus. Being a leader of the synagogue he had a certain conduct he needed to keep. How undignified it was for him to approach Jesus in his panic stricken condition. Who cares when facing a giant issue like his? His daughter had just died. His request to Jesus was, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her and she will live.”  The conjunction “but” tells us that he knew deep within, Jesus could reverse the situation. He did not even consider the fact that to touch a dead body was to touch an unclean thing. Again, who cares? Jairus’ gigantic need has obliterated all other concerns. Notice the response of the Lord. There was no hesitation. He and His disciples got up immediately and followed him home. 

 

In the meantime, the account was interrupted by the healing of that grown woman with the menstrual problem. Suffering from the 12-year menstrual problem, she was not about to let the opportunity passed. So she came from behind, pressed through the crowd to touch the garment of Jesus. The law had stipulated that with her condition, whoever she touched would become unclean, and would need to go through a cleansing process. Yet we find Jesus paused to deal with her.

 

We can be sure that it must have been trying for Jairus at this point. With his kind of problem, who won’t? But we must accept that the Lord Jesus knows better. He knows the exact timetable in God’s scheme of things. He would not allow anything to sabotage God’s schedule of events.  In life it’s always like this. Everyone who is facing a problem is anxious and would want it attended to immediately. But the Lord has His timing and schedule. He will never be a second late on time. He will always stop for those who dare to trust Him with their seeming impossible situations.

 

Returning to Jairus’ situation, when they reached his house, the mourners were already in action. Jesus told the mourners to go away for the girl is not dead but asleep. What He said seemed like a joke to them and everyone laughed at Him. They thought they knew better. They were professional mourners after all. But they failed to see that they were talking to the Lord of life. He is the One who has final authority, yes, even over death. Having sent everyone away, Jesus went into the room where the girl was, took her by the hand and she got up. And even though what happened was in a time where there was no android or I-phones, news of what Jesus did went viral and spread throughout the region.

What can we learn from the account of these two healings? With Jesus, there is nothing too great that He cannot do. And there is nothing too small or inconvenient that He would not stop to attend to. Besides, there is no situation too pressing that could disrupt His schedule. These accounts also prove that we need to come to the Kingdom with new mindsets and perspective. He desires mercies more than sacrifices. We must not allow our lives to be framed by old mindsets. We must learn to look beyond the natural. All human resources have a limit, hence our power and ability have their limit. If we dare to trust God, no matter how long and big our problem may be, in His time He will bring an immeasurable depth of experience that will far surpass our ability to think or imagine. They will all come to enrich our lives. Amen!