Matthew 9:18-26 Two Healings and No Payment

In both healing stories, people come to Jesus because of something they have been told about Jesus that makes them believe he can help them. Jesus doesn’t push himself on them. He waits for them to come to him. They must have heard something good about Jesus, not a message of obedience to law, but a message of comfort and healing. The church seems to do a bait and switch, by pointing to Jesus as good and kind, but once they are in, it becomes ‘you really can’t have him unless you obey the law.’ Luther points out quite distinctly – pay attention to any other healing story – that Jesus does not demand anything after he heals. Christ gives without expecting payment from us.

The first healing story as Jesus is finishing his statement that you can’t pour new wine into old wineskins. Is this first healing an example of pouring new wine into old wineskins? It is the first example of Jesus raising a person from the dead in Matthew. How would the ruler ever think Jesus had that kind of power? How can a person have so much trust in Jesus that they have no question Jesus can do something no one has ever seen a person do? He even allows Jesus the time to be diverted and heal someone else along the way. If you were trying to get a physician to heal your daughter that you believed was dead, would you let him/her stop to help someone else along the way? That’s a lot of faith.

The woman with the twelve year bleeding problem is an interesting story. Blood was considered ‘life’ itself. To be drained of blood for twelve years is like being drained of life for a long time. Luther thought blood loss is connected to feeling our sin. That’s a theological approach, but I think a death, a divorce, a traumatic and devastating event, an unfair job loss – how many things can drain life from us for a long period of time! When she finally, on her own – not with any church or small group to assist her – reaches for and tries to get close to Jesus, he heals her. To touch his cloak might be to mimic his life, as outer wear can often be understood as the actions one wears on the outside. He rewards her efforts to be like him, and life improves.

Another point to consider might be the fact that the woman, with her bleeding condition, was considered unclean. She wasn’t supposed to be in public, and as a woman even, to approach a man. Maybe that’s why she snuck up to him. In her shame, she only wanted his help, not his condemnation. I supposed that’s what most people expect from a God who expects you to do everything right. How could this rabbi grant her wish, and not expect her to follow the law as some form of payment? Did Jesus forget to tell her that’s what he expected?

Here’s a few comments from Luther on this text: (1 - #6) If we receive Christ without becoming like him in his giving without receiving payment, we are name-only Christians. Christ does the works that come from us. (1 - #8) They are deceivers in the church who preach or teach, occupied with commandments, works, and statutes which accomplish nothing. These pretend Christians burden and torment us with their commands and works. (2 - #18) In spite of what the law and all people said (about the woman considered unclean by the law and rejected), she reached out to lay hold of Christ for herself. #21 – Though she feared condemnation for her illegal actions under the law, Christ began to confirm her faith, to say she had done well in disregarding Moses and the law, that is, her unworthiness as judged by others. We should learn from this interpretation today.


Blessings - PWM