18As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.”19So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him.20Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe,21for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
22Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music.24“Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him.25After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up!26The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.
27After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
29Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”30Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.”31But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.
32When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus.33So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. “Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel!” they exclaimed.
34But the Pharisees said, “He can cast out demons because he is empowered by the prince of demons.”
Matthew groups his miracle stories together, and I decided to take the whole group. I always wonder so much about miracles. Why don’t we see them very often any more? It was such a huge part of Jesus’ ministry, but our churches almost never talk about them or expect to ever see them. We are even reluctant to pray for them. Why? I don’t know the answer. I’ve heard all kinds of theories, but none are very convincing. What do you think?
Faith. That is what we see here. In every miracle someone comes to Jesus believing He will change their life. The first man’s daughter was dead. The old woman had been bleeding for so many years I would have given up. And at that time a woman by herself in that crowd would have been treated with such disrespect. For her to touch Jesus was almost criminal. Most people at the time assumed the blind men were blind because of their sins so these men were outcast coming to Jesus. And lastly, even the demon possessed find in Jesus enough hope to overcome their possession and be free.
Where did these people get such awesome faith? Paul speaks of faith as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Is faith like this simply a gift given by God to whomever He chooses? Or does faith like this come from being beaten so far down and crushed so thoroughly that it is all we have left? Do we need to be emptied completely before we can be filled with faith? If that is the case, should we pray to be beaten down and thoroughly crushed?
Lastly, we need to discuss the reaction of the Pharisees. They see good, and rather than acknowledge and believe, they convince themselves and others it is really evil. Learn two lessons from this. We can all do exactly the same thing they did. Admit it, we are not always happy to see others succeed even when it is a good thing. Secondly, expect others to do this to you if you ever step out and start doing God’s work. If no one in your life is seeing your good deeds as evil, you probably need to stretch your faith and let Jesus do a few more “miracles” through you. Beginner’s Online Bible Study *obbs*
I do always find it interesting that what one person calls a miracle, another person can give criticism or doubt about. Miracles happen around us all the time…..but we have to recognize them as that. And when we share a miracle we are or have experiences, you can be there will be doubters. We even tend to doubt some of the miracles others tell us about or at least not re-share them incase they are not true. Recently I have received an e-mail from several different sources about a host that was soaked in water to disintegrate it because it needed to be dispensed of. After a while, the host appears to have expelled the blood of Christ. This is a miracle if you choose to see it and believe it, but if you don’t want to, you can find plenty of questions to ask. I think Jesus was onto something, too, when he told them not to tell anyone, because people tend to question or find excuses not to believe that something is a miracle. And the bigger the miracle, the more doubt there is. But lots of little miracles tend to get explained away with logical explanations, too. God is doing miracles all around us ALL the time. He performs a miracle when someone seesa need and steps forward to fill it. Her performs a miracle when an unexpected or forgotten check arrives just in time. He performs a miracle when each new baby is born! But they are miracles if we can see them as miracles!!!
Whoa, that was thought provoking! Though scripture does talk about a time coming when good would be called evil and evil good; I have definitely seen this around me. But it is nothing new since Jesus dealt with it also. Thanks for your comments!