Introduction

1. Faith in the Healer. This passage presents a story within a story—two plot lines, one within the other. Two people approach Jesus, each in a unique way, each seeking healing, each seeking healing by a different means. But what unites them in one story is that each has faith in the Healer, Jesus Christ. And to each of these supplicants who had suffered so much, Christ graciously grants their request, so their hearts overflowed with joy, and your hearts should too, if you have faith in the Healer.

2. Questions. Along with its simplicity and news of great joy, this passage also raises very difficult questions.

   1. Healing for everyone? Was Jesus willing to heal everyone who asked? Will He heal everyone who asks today? What is different today?

   2. Faith healing? And when Jesus said to this woman, "Your faith has made you well," does He mean if you only believe today, you will be healed? This is what the preachers in Pentecostalism's "Faith healing" movement proclaim—Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Peter Popoff. They say Jesus doesn't heal everyone today, but if you truly believe, or if you only work up enough faith within you, then you will be healed. The sad result of the faith healers' teaching is that if you weren't healed, it is because you didn't have enough faith. It's your fault you weren't healed. I tell you, that teaching is a trap from which you cannot escape!--because it simply does not work; you won't be healed that way. You'll never have enough faith to convince Jesus to heal you. You'll never have enough faith in this life to become worthy of receiving the blessing of healing. I believe to interpret Jesus' words "Your faith has made you well" in this way misses the point of this passage. It is important to answer several questions that will clarify what Jesus meant in these words: What heals you? Is faith the determining factor? Does faith itself heal a person? Or is it God who heals? Does God use faith as a means to healing, or does God use other means?

   3. Faith is important! Clearly Jesus and Matthew want us to learn something from this passage about the importance of faith. Faith is so important that for this woman, Jesus said her faith made her well. How did her faith make her well? The answer is that she had faith in the Healer.

3. Outline. We will consider this passage under the following headings.

   1. The Ruler's Faith vv. 18-19

   2. The Woman's Faith vv. 20-21

   3. The Woman's Healing v. 22

   4. (The Ruler's Daughter's Healing vv. 23-26)

Body

1. The Ruler's Faith vv. 18-19 First we see the Ruler's faith in vv. 18-19.

   1. The Ruler's Address v. 18 The ruler addressed Christ in v. 18.

      1. Text

         • 18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."

      2. His Humility. Notice this man's humility. Though he was a ruler of the synagogue, and elder, a shepherd of God's people, he bowed his knee to Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd and Ruler of all rulers.

      3. His Faith. But more importantly, notice his faith. He asks Jesus only to "lay your hand on her," nothing more, trusting that Jesus will bring her back to life.

      4. The Diversity of Means. Notice also the diversity of means. Sometimes Christ healed with a word; sometimes He healed with a touch. The means by which Christ healed is not the key to how a person can be healed. What is the key is that it is Christ who healed.

   2. Christ's Readiness to Heal v. 19 Notice also Christ's amazing readiness to heal. We see this in v. 19.

      1. Text

         • 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples.

      2. He stopped in the middle of teaching, and went with the ruler. Like the Coast Guard motto "Always Ready," Jesus was "always ready" to heal. Christ healed many during His earthly ministry. This shows us the compassionate heart of God—during Christ's earthly ministry He was ready and willing to heal anyone who asked Him personally. Now ask yourself, will He do the same thing today? Scripture doesn't tell us He healed everyone who prayed to Him for healing. There is a key difference between this ruler and us—the ruler asked within the context of Christ's earthly ministry and the founding of the church, but we ask from outside the context of Christ's earthly ministry and the founding of the church. During the foundational ministry of Christ and His apostles, miracles of healing were foretastes of glory, signs of the kingdom, proved the authority of Christ's message and the reality of His power, and most importantly, drew people to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. That was their function, their purpose. So will Christ heal you today when you ask Him? Actually, He doesn't need to! He already healed many, and today scripture still proclaims to you the message of those healings: believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. "But," you might say, "maybe He doesn't need to heal, but I need to be healed!" Let me ask you a question you may not want to answer—when you need to be healed physically today, would you rather be healed today, or trust the Healer today? Which do you want first—healing, or the Healer? If you want healing first, you won't have the right kind of faith in the Healer, and won't receive the healing which He gives. But if you want the Healer more than healing, He may not heal you today, but He will in the end.

      3. That is a key issue in this passage. Which did the ruler want first—healing, or the Healer? Which did the woman want first—healing or the Healer? They wanted healing and they got it. But the only reason they sought healing from Christ is that they believed He was the Healer. They trusted Jesus for everything, so when they saw His willingness to heal, they were bold to ask Him for that blessing. They wanted Jesus first, and healing second.

      4. Another key issue in this passage is that while within the context of Christ's earthly ministry He was remarkably willing to immediately heal anyone who asked, outside that context He is not.

         • It is not that He doesn't care about you. Rather, His saving purposes are not only or even primarily to heal immediately. He also has incredibly good purposes which only suffering can accomplish. Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. It humbles us, convicts us of sin, teaches us to trust God, gives us ability to comfort others.

         • But there is a greater reason why Jesus doesn't primarily heal immediately today. He only heals some immediately, but He will heal all in the end. You see, everyone He heals today will still die. Everyone He heals today will still fall ill again. Everyone He heals today still lives in a fallen world of full sin and misery. Healing your body is not the only blessing Jesus must bring. He intends to heal you body and soul, to resurrect you never to die again, even to place you within a new heavens and a new earth! In order to get you there He intends to build His church throughout this age of suffering, to save your souls today and yes, transform your lives on this earth today, but with the greater goal of bringing you to a perfected life in glory. Today He tells you, "In this world you will have suffering, but take heart, I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

2. The Woman's Faith vv. 20-21. We see the ruler's faith in his words. We see the woman's faith in her actions in vv. 20-21.

   1. Text

      1. 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,

      2. 21 for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well."

   2. The ruler suffered the death of his dear daughter at the tender age of 12. This woman suffered a weakening and wasting ailment in her body for 12 years, had spent all her money on physicians to no avail, so had both lost her money and not regained her health. Her condition was incurable. What is more, it made her ceremonially unclean. She could not take part in the worship services. She suffered under the ceremonial law as a symbol of the evil of sin, and of the necessity of separating ourselves from its uncleanness. It is striking that in her timidity she chose to touch the one part of Jesus' garment which God had made a symbol of holiness—"the fringe of His garment." That symbol of holiness removed her symbolic unholiness, and in reality, the Holy One made her clean.

   3. The symbolism of the ceremonial law in this passage highlights the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. The high priest would have been made unclean had this woman touched him. But Christ, our Great High Priest, both healed her and made her clean. Jesus would have been made ceremonially unclean by touching the dead body of Jairus' daughter as well, but also in her case He was immune to the evil of death and in fact proved victorious over it. "O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?" (1 Cor. 15:55)

   4. Like the ruler, this woman has whole-hearted trust in Jesus. Though she is timid, she knows Christ's greatness. She knows that though she is weak, Christ is strong, so she comes to Him for help.

3. The Woman's Healing v. 22. In v. 22 we read of the woman's healing.

   1. Text

      1. 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.

   2. Christ's Favor. See how kindly and graciously Christ helps this poor woman. He encourages her, saying "Take heart!" He speaks to her tenderly, calling her "daughter." And He accepts and approves of her faith while promising her cure, saying "Your faith has made you well."

      1. Christ calls special attention to this woman's faith. Her faith was not strong; it was not praiseworthy in itself, because she is clearly described as being timid. You see her timidity in that she comes up behind Him, trying not to be observed, and avoids speaking to Christ and thereby revealing the embarrassing nature of her affliction. Yet amidst her timidity she still has faith. It is not the strength or even praiseworthiness of her faith that healed her, but rather it was the object of her faith that healed her. Christ's point to this woman in need of encouragement is this: "Woman, because you believed in me, you are healed. You had so many reasons not to come to me, but you did come, because you believed I could heal you. Though your faith was small, it is what brought you to me, and I want you to fan that small ember of faith into a flame. Remember that today you believed in me!" Her faith made her touch His garment, and she believed not that it was her faith, but Christ, who had the power to heal her. She said, "If I only touch his garment." His garment. Her faith looked to Christ alone for all she needed. It was not her faith itself that healed her. Rather, she had faith in the Healer.

         • James 5:15-16 explains more of how this works, and these verses have also been twisted by the faith healing movement. James says "The prayer of faith will make the sick person well" and "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It is wrong to think these verses mean your faith, your righteousness, or your prayer causes or guarantees that you will get what you ask for. What is right to take from these verses is that the way faith makes you well is that because you believe God is the one who heals you, you ask God to make you well. Faith makes you well not because faith has a power, but because your faith is in God, who has the power to heal. That fact that it is God, and not your faith, that has the power to heal, is made plain by the fact James tells us to pray to God. Yes, it must be the prayer of a believer, or God will not hear your request! But more importantly, your prayer, and your faith, must be directed to God. That is the true nature of prayer, and the true nature of faith. At their essence they express utter dependence on God. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God. (WSC 98) Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation. (WSC 86) The faith healing movement tells you to only believe, and you will be healed. But faith is not the direct cause of healing, a ticket, a bribe, or a guarantee of healing. Rather, faith is how you receive and rest upon Christ, the Healer. And if you trusted Christ to heal immediately during His earthly ministry, you should be willing to trust Christ to heal in His good time during His heavenly reign over the church age as we await the final consummation of His saving work in the bodily resurrection and new heavens and new earth. God does heal the sick even today, waiting for us to pray to Him, with faith in Him as the Healer, and through that means of a prayer of faith God does make sick people well. He will keep His promises to the uttermost, but He will do it in His time. He will protect you from the deadly pestilence finally and fully when "He will wipe away every tear from [your] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4)

         • This passage does not give you the failed promises of the faith healing movement, but it does give you the promise that healing comes through faith in the Healer, Jesus Christ. In the midst of the new Jerusalem, the leaves of the Tree of Life will be "for the healing of the nations." (Rev. 22:2) God promises you "I know the plans I have for you...plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11) And that is a promise He will surely keep.

Conclusion

1. Application to Communion

   1. The Lord's Supper is a visible sign to remind us of Christ during His bodily absence, to increase our weak faith.

   2. It is also a seal of God's grace to us in Christ, which means it actually conveys to us the benefits of salvation. It is only effectual in conveying God's grace when it is received by faith. But it is not faith which makes it effectual; rather, it is Christ our Savior whom these outward elements represent, and His Holy Spirit, who makes this sacrament effectual. It is not the strength of our faith which brings us the healing streams of God's grace in this meal, but the strength of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And our faith is not in the bread and the wine, or even in the ceremony, but our faith is in Christ.

   3. The sacrament's operation is not magic, as if the physical elements contain power within themselves, but rather it operates in a personal, covenantal, and spiritual manner. The words "Hocus Pocus" come from the way Roman Catholics celebrated the Lord's Supper for centuries—the priest would turn his back to the people and break the bread while facing the Lord, supposedly sacrificing Christ's body again and offering it to the Lord on behalf of the people, and while doing these actions the priest would recite Christ's words, "This is my body..." which in Latin are "Hoc est corpus meum...." The common people didn't know Latin, so thought the priest said "hocus pocus." Not understanding Christ's words or believing on Him whom the bread and wine signify, the people believed the bread and wine had a magic power to heal from sin and suffering, which they don't! Only Christ has that power. I see a parallel in the faith healing movement—the faith healing TV shows are incredibly similar to a magic show! Benny Hinn might as well be David Copperfield or the Amazing Kreskin. Performing miracles by the magician's own power. Reading minds, levitating bodies, healing the sick, raising the dead. For the glory of the magician and the shame of the unbeliever. That kind of religion is all too human, all too worldly, compared to the true religion of Jesus Christ. Faith in the magic power of bread and wine, faith in the power of the magician, faith in the power of faith itself, pales in comparison to faith in Jesus Christ, the Eternal God who alone has power to heal and to destroy! This bread and this wine are not your Savior! They represent your Savior, whom you must trust by faith. Seek Him, and Him alone, in this meal, and you will find that there is a healing that comes by faith, but it only comes by faith in the Healer, and not in anything else.