According To Your Faith

Matthew 9:18-34, Key verse 9:29 

“Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’”

1. Who interrupted Jesus and what was his request (18)? What was the man’s attitude toward Jesus and what did he believe? What did Jesus do (19)? 
2. Who came up behind Jesus and what did she do (20)? What did she believe (21)? How did Jesus receive and bless her faith (22)? What was the result?  
3. What did Jesus find when he entered the ruler’s house (23)? What did Jesus say and how did they respond (24)? What did Jesus do next and with what response (25-26)? What do these miracles tell us about Jesus?  
4. Who followed Jesus and what did their cry indicate (27)? After they went indoors, what did Jesus ask and how did they reply (28)? How did Jesus bless their faith (29-30a)? What did Jesus sternly warn, and what did they do (30b-31)? 
5. Who was brought to Jesus next (32)? What did Jesus do for him (33a)? What were the contrasting reactions of the crowd and of the Pharisees (33b-34)? How did faith play a role in these healings? 

According To Your Faith

Matthew 9:18-34, Key verse 9:29 

“Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’”

Today we get a passage that’s jam-packed with miraculous healings by Jesus—four in total, healing five people. As a teacher, I believe that it’s very good for learning when we meditate on multiple examples of the same phenomenon, because when we do that, turning over all the details of each case, the deeper principle behind all of them can take root in our mind. In regard to these healings specifically, we want to know what is the principle by which all these people were so greatly blessed by Jesus, because we also want to be blessed. Spoiler alert: the principle behind all these healings is faith. These people were all healed by Jesus but also through the working of their faith. So what kind of faith can we have and what would that look like when it’s expressed in our actions? Let’s pray for insight today into how we can be blessed according to our faith.

I. A father’s faith and a woman’s faith (18-26)

Today’s passage continues directly on last week’s passage, as we can see in our first verse, 18, which begins, “While he was saying this…” What was Jesus saying? We studied it last week in Msn. Paul’s message. Jesus was teaching the disciples of John the Baptist why it made sense for his disciples to not fast like John’s disciples did. It’s because the bridegroom, Jesus, was with them! The presence of Jesus in our life can bring joy like that of a wedding banquet. What a valuable lesson to learn. But Jesus’ teaching was interrupted. While he was saying this, it says, “...a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.’” 

What a heartbreaking event for any parent to have to go through. A synagogue leader was a respected figure in the Jewish community. If he was a good leader he would have been a shepherd for the people in his town. But now his love as a father for his daughter overrode all other concerns, and he humbly came to Jesus, kneeling down and asking for help.

In the passages in Mark and Luke’s gospels which seem to be about the same event, the synagogue leader’s daughter had not died yet at the time he first came to Jesus, but he received news of her death while they were on the way. Nonetheless, the spiritual point is the same: this synagogue leader had faith to hold on to hope when it seemed all hope was gone. 

What was the content of this synagogue leader’s faith? What did he believe? Very specifically, he believed that if Jesus came and put his hand on his daughter, even though she had already died, she would be restored to life. We know that Jesus could heal at a distance with just a word, that he did not necessarily have to come and touch someone. That’s easy for us to say, given the benefit of our hindsight, of having a much clearer picture of who Jesus is and what he can do. But undeniably, the synagogue ruler’s faith was great, believing that Jesus even had power to reverse death.

How did he get such faith? As a synagogue leader, he would know from Bible study that such things were possible with God. The prophet Elijah raised a widow’s son from the dead. But knowing in your head and having living faith are two different things. The synagogue ruler applied his faith to his real-life situation. He expressed his faith through a humble prayer, through asking Jesus to restore his daughter. 

Maybe it’s true that most of the time our faith only really grows when it really has to, when we face a life crisis. But for that to even happen, the seed of faith should have been planted before by the word of God. Ultimately, though, to exercise faith is a choice we can make anytime. Whatever our current set of problems is, or the problem of someone we care about, we can do what this synagogue ruler did, humbly coming to Jesus and asking for help, exercising faith not in ourselves but in what he can do. 

Now let’s look at Jesus’ response to that faith. Look at verse 19. “Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.” Jesus did not contradict the synagogue ruler but honored his faith as it was expressed, changing his own plans go visit his house. Jesus’ heart was moved at the suffering of a father’s heart and he was willing to bless the faith that he had. The verses says the disciples came along too, so they would be witnesses of what Jesus would do.

The second miracle in this passage also begins as an interruption. While Jesus was on the way to the synagogue ruler’s house, verse 20 says, “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.” As we’re told in the other gospels, there was now a large crowd of people following Jesus wherever he went. You might even call it a throng, pressing in on him every direction. Among the people was this woman, who hoped to be healed by Jesus of a condition that had been causing her suffering for twelve years non-stop.

But it may have seemed impossible for her to get that help from Jesus. She was just one person out of the thousands who were all looking to get something from Jesus. What is more, because of the nature of her bodily affliction, in that society she would be considered ceremonially unclean and would not even be permitted to approach Jesus. If she tried, she could expect to be not helped but driven away and maybe also punished. 

In spite of this, however, she took action to get help from Jesus. Her action was different from that of the synagogue leader. It doesn’t look that noble or courageous: she snuck up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched his clothes. Why did she do this? Verse 21 tells us plainly what she was thinking. “She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’” When she heard about Jesus and saw the works that God was doing through him, she understood that divine power for mercy and healing was manifested in the person of Jesus. When she truly believed this, she realized that even she had a way to get help from Jesus. Thus her action of touching the edge of Jesus’ cloak, even though it seemed to be lacking in forthrightness, was an act of faith.

So what happened? Because this touch of Jesus’ clothes was an act of living faith, Jesus sensed it. The other gospels tell us that he could feel power coming out from him. In spite of the fact that Jesus was continually being brushed up against by so many people in the crowd, he stopped, turned around, and found this particular woman. What did he say to her? Let’s read verse 22. “Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.” 

Last week we saw, in Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man, how Jesus’ priority was on spiritual healing, before physical healing. The physical healing of the paralyzed man primarily served as a sign of the good news of forgiveness of sins which saves and heals us spiritually. Jesus is doing the same thing here for this woman. He doesn’t let her get away without acknowledging what has happened when she touched him—not to punish her, but to reward her faith with something even greater than what she was seeking. Jesus blesses her with the same words he gave the paralyzed man, “Take heart,” and he calls her “daughter.” He wants her to have peace and joy, knowing that she is accepted and loved as a daughter of God. This is salvation. By these words Jesus healed her spiritual wounds as well as her physical ailment. Otherwise, she might have felt that she had stolen something from Jesus. Jesus also told her that it was her own faith that healed her. As we saw, the woman’s faith made a way for her to obtain help from Jesus when it seemed impossible.

Nowadays, of course, we don’t have physical access to touch Jesus. That’s no limitation, however, because Jesus is risen and at the right hand of God interceding for us. We don’t need to find some rare relic, a piece of cloth or something that touched Jesus; that would be a big misunderstanding of what this passage teaches. What we need is this woman’s faith which can overcome obstacles and make personal spiritual contact with Jesus. 

Now we pick back up the thread of the the synagogue leader’s and his great struggle of faith for his daughter. How difficult it must have been for him to hold on to his faith that his daughter could be raised, especially with the added delay of Jesus stopping to bless the woman who was healed. In verse 23 we see Jesus arrive and enter the house, where some kind of funeral or mourning rituals have already started. It says Jesus observed a “noisy crowd” and people playing pipes. Jesus really didn’t like this, we can tell because in verse 24 we see Jesus use words he very rarely uses: “Go away.”

What was wrong with what these mourners were doing? You can’t blame them for thinking the girl is really dead. I think the problem was with the tone of their observance. With their sorrowful wailing and playing, they seemed to be in sympathizing with the family’s grief, but they were really just bowing down before the power of death. The mourners were creating an atmosphere of unbelief. Though they didn’t have the full gospel yet, even faithful Jews at that time knew about the hope of resurrection from the dead. That faith should have been reflected in their funeral ceremony, but it was not. So as Jesus sends the mourners away, he teaches them, “The girl is not dead but asleep.” When we have hope in the resurrection, death is not final but just a time of sleep. 

Now Jesus would perform his greatest miraculous sign so far. It was not the kind of thing he would do in front of an unbelieving crowd, just to amaze them. But in order to bless the never-giving-up faith of the girl’s father, and teach his disciples resurrection faith, Jesus went in to the room, took the girl by the hand, and she got up (25). Miracles like this were not the main thing Jesus wanted people to know about him, but despite Jesus’ efforts to keep it private, news about the girl’s resurrection spread all through that region (26).

Here we learn that faith Jesus can bless should be resurrection faith. The power of Jesus’ grace overcomes even the sting of death. Jesus gives us a spiritual resurrection of salvation when we are dead in sin, and also the bodily resurrection after we sleep for a while, when he comes again. In general, resurrection faith means holding on to hope and believing anything is possible with God even after all hope seems to be lost. 

The actions of the synagogue leader and the woman with the bleeding condition were different based on the context and who they were. But they were both expressions of faith in action, and they both received what they sought (and more!) from Jesus.

II. Blind men’s faith and friends’ faith (27-34)

The next healing in this passage is of a condition that no earthly medicine could remedy: blindness. Look at verse 27. “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’” Again, we want to look for the faith expressed in how these men sought help from Jesus. Similar to the woman who was just healed, it seemed to be difficult for these men to get to Jesus because of the crowds. They couldn’t squeeze between the people and sneak up behind Jesus like she did, because they were blind. But the urgent need they felt to get help from Jesus still motivated them to find a way. So they followed as close as they could to Jesus and yelled. Their eyes didn’t work but their mouths worked just fine, so they called out “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

I’m sure it was annoying to the other people in the crowd. It is yet another disruption to whatever Jesus might be trying to do or teach in that moment. But if we look at the content of the blind men’s words, we see some expression of real faith here as well. First of all, what they asked for is mercy. This shows that even though they were yelling loudly, ultimately they were humble. They were not demanding that Jesus had to heal them because of all the suffering they had gone through in being blind. They were only pleading for mercy. Secondly, there is the title by which they addressed Jesus: “Son of David.” This shows that they believed Jesus not just to be a prophet with healing gifts, but the promised Messiah descended from David who was the object of all Israel’s hope. There was a prophecy in Isaiah indicating that the Messiah would be able to heal even blindness. Isaiah 35:4-5: “say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.’” 

So these two men also had their own faith that they expressed in the way they sought Jesus. Having two seeking Jesus together can also help, because they can encourage each other to persevere. If one of the two gave up, the other might get healed without him, and they couldn’t let that happen.

Interestingly, Jesus did not heal these two right away, but kept walking, letting everyone hear the noise they were making. But when Jesus stopped at the next place, at someone’s house, and went indoors, he had these two brought in to him (28). Before healing them, however, Jesus quizzed them. He said in verse 28, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus wanted some additional verification that their yelling was really from faith. It shows that to Jesus, faith is the single qualification for being healed. The two blind men might have been offended that Jesus questioned whether they really believed he could heal them. But they were humble, so they answered Jesus’ question with “Yes, Lord.” They believed Jesus could heal even blindness and they called him their Lord. Thank God, they passed the test. Jesus touched their eyes and he explicitly stated the principle that we’ve been seeing in this whole passage: “According to your faith it will be done to you.” At that moment their sight was restored.

What do you think it means in a broader sense, “According to your faith it will be done to you?” What does it mean to you personally? It almost sounds unbelievable. Does it mean that whatever we believe Jesus will do for us, he will do? I think so, yes, but real belief, real faith, is actually not an easy thing. So of course it’s not like we can just use Jesus as a vending machine, that if we believe he will give us a new Lamborghini it will be waiting out in the parking lot after church. I mean, does anybody really believe Jesus will do that?

Also, we need to understand that not all physical diseases and afflictions will be healed in this world. If someone is not healed of a physical problem or dies of a disease, it doesn’t mean they didn’t have faith. The Bible clearly teaches us, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Our current bodies are perishable; nothing will change that.

What we really have to ask ourselves, then, is what faith is for. Real faith is a fruit of struggling and growing a lot. God in his omnipotence and omniscience could simply do the best thing for us without us even asking. In fact, in many ways he already does that. But in our spiritual life, God wants us to grow in our own understanding what our real problem is, what we really need, and how we can use the gifts he gives us to bless the world while we are here. When we grasp that clearly, with the help of the word of God, we can have one mustard seed of real faith. We can receive conviction to come to God boldly with our clear prayer topic. That will be different for different people. But according to that faith that we personally possess, Jesus will indeed bless us beyond our expectation and use us greatly. 

In my own case, I needed many years to understand why I needed Jesus to restore me from my academic failures and what the real purpose of that would be for his kingdom. The fruit of my years of struggle with an unfulfilled prayer topic was to go deeper in what it really meant to be a good student and what the gift of a PhD was really for. I mean, I had the words “professor shepherd” in my mouth from the beginning, but there’s actually a lot to learn about what that really should mean. But I now consider myself living proof of the phrase “According to your faith it will be done to you.” 

We’ll cover the final healing of today’s passage briefly. It gives us yet another perspective on faith. This person in need couldn’t even do what the blind men did, because his affliction was that he could not speak! Furthermore, it says his condition was a result of demon-possession. Demons definitely don’t want anything to do with Jesus, so how could he possibly get healed? The answer is, his friends brought him to Jesus. It doesn’t say the ones who brought him to Jesus were his friends, but they proved they were real friends by doing that. Faith should not be just about ourselves. Jesus will also work according to our faith to help those around us with their painful life problems when we see them with compassion. 

Today we saw how Jesus healed and blessed people according to someone’s faith. Genuine faith can have different kinds of visible expressions, but it’s always based on absolute determination to get the help we need from Jesus. Faith itself can make a way to get help from Jesus when it seems impossible. But often we need more conviction about what we really need to ask Jesus for. So we have to keep growing through Bible study, reflection and small actions to put our faith to the test. May God grow our faith and then bless us abundantly according to that faith.