Matthew 9:18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
There are many miracles in the Gospels, and they are revealed to us in different ways. This causes opposite responses in people today. It is often the reason why people reject Jesus as the Son of God, saying they do not believe in miracles. Many of them are clergy and professors who teach the Scriptures. They fall into the trap of experience and rationalism.
Experience teaches them, they say, that miracles do not come true, because they have prayed and were disappointed. People can find a thousand ways to reject the miraculous and one excuse builds on even more. The crowds were drawn to Jesus because of His miracles and yet they also insisted on even more. The religious were antagonized by the miracles of Jesus even though they were there, hearing and seeing the truth.
Rationalism has had a major impact because the masses are given explanations that blind people from seeing the power and mercy of God. A guide at the Grand Canyon explained what the scientists said about the cause of all the beauty we saw, taking millions of years to slowly develop the national park. He paused and I said - "or the Flood." He immediately began to agree about the alternative, and he seemed far more comfortable about the divine.
People are impressed by a yard full of hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and flowers, but some seem rattled by the term Creation Garden. I told a neighbor about growing roses and he phoned his wife, saying, "We're doing it all wrong. Listen to him." All I did was explain how God instilled the complexity and did almost all the work. He asked for the book.
Rationalism means changing the perspective of all that God has given us, even though there are hundreds and thousands of ways the truth can be known and appreciated. Scholars either claim something or say they are divided.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
Jesus did not reject the man but immediately followed him, His disciples going along with Him. Those who remember each story might wonder why do they happen in different ways. Each one is given to us to increase our faith, because trust in God can be so fragile at times, powerful against His will and His work. Luther often wrote about the darkness he felt as a monk, trying to do everything right and yet tormented by the burden of the Law. I gave my four-volume Luther set to a Roman Catholic leader in worship. Years later, he wrote and said, "I still have the Luther set and I still read it." (The LCA stopped printing it. An ELS pastor got the other set I owned and still does not understand Luther.)
20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
As many know, the woman would have been known as unclean, and she was plagued by her disorder for 12 years. The more she was treated by doctors, the worse she became. This was not only a oppressive burden in her life, an unending one, but also tinged with shame, the feeling of unworthiness. So she was full of faith but also ashamed. Touching his garment, she was sure, would cure her, without bothering Jesus.
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mark 5 - 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
One of the early church fathers said, "If touching the hem of Jesus' robe can make a person whole, how much more than the receiving of the Body of Christ in Holy Communion?" That was not said to emphasize magical properties (which the Middle Ages turned into an Amazon of religious relics) but to remind us of God's powers. That is why we have holy places, to shut out the noise and distractions of the day and focus on the divine.
As I have said more than once, I go through the names of our little congregation (and others) every night and pray especially for those dealing with various difficulties. I begin by thanking God for so many blessings, especially the difficult people who did so much to make freedom of the Gospel possible. That is the odd climax of the Beatitudes - and it becomes increasingly true over time.
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
The contrast between faith and unbelief is very clear. The Savior came to help the daughter of the synagogue's leader. He told them the truth, and they laughed their heads off.
25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
Mark 5: 38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. 39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. 40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. 41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. 42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. 43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
Is that a contradiction that the fame/rumor (Romans 10, Isaiah 53) went everywhere but Jesus told them to remain quiet? The problem was not the lack of publicity but the overwhelming amount and reaction to the miracles. After all, they wanted to anoint Jesus as the Messiah but His time had not yet come.
Every part of our lives is in God's hands, with legions of angels helping in the work and the King of Kings guiding that work across the globe, the Spirit working through the Word. With faith in Christ we see and experience the miraculous. I have seen that many times.
The End
