The Pursuit of Your Salvation :: Matthew 9:18-26
As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way: What is the first commandment? You shall have no other Gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things (SC I 1).
It never ceases to amaze me how many people in the world say they have faith, say they are a Christian, say they believe in God, say that their worship of God is the most important thing they do. It never ceases to amaze me when they, in turn, say their Christian life is all about their faith, their dedication, their worship, their prayers, their praise, their tradition, their God. Then I remember the first commandment. There is only one True God.
Too many Christians in our world think that a person needs to know a lot about Jesus in order to come to him and relate to him. They think that because they attend a church with the name Christian in it, or a church affiliated with Christianity, they are therefore God-fearing Christians. There are others who feel that God has something to do only with those who have a close personal relationship with him. They think that his true followers will behave differently, be more pious, more prayerful, more like Jesus ... everyday. That, they say, is a pure sign of being a true follower ... They turn their approach to Jesus into the reason for their salvation. Then I remember the first commandment, remembering that only the True God saves.
Today, our Gospel reading from Matthew Chapter 9 paints quite a different picture than the one the world talks about. Matthew tells us about a Jesus who transcends our understanding of God in the flesh (8:27), a Jesus who breaks so-called tradition (8:11), a Jesus who gives us confidence and courage in him (9:2, 22), a Jesus who redefines worship, and gives brings peace amid all of our wailing at the news of death.
The Gospel According to Matthew today is telling us of the remarkable truth that ...
IT IS JESUS WHO PURSUES US FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE TO SAVE US AND DELIVER US TO ETERNAL LIFE IN THE RESURRECTION.
This is our theme. When you heard the Gospel reading earlier, did you miss that part? Or were you too caught up in the faith of the man whose daughter had just died and the faith of the woman who had been cut off from her family for more than a decade because she was bleeding all that time? Were you captivated by their faith, of what they did in coming to Jesus, of the efforts they made in approaching their Lord?
I don’t know if you caught it or not, but there’s something very special and unique that happens in our Gospel reading ... and it has almost nothing to do with the man and the woman ... of what they are doing. Matthew shows us a Jesus who turns to us, follows us, comes to us, seizes us, heals us, makes us whole unto salvation ... the Jesus who raises us into eternal life.
1. Today, we see the One True God who fulfills his name sake by saving us.
What an amazing thing to see and hear today! Jesus is pursuing us like nowhere else in scripture. Everywhere else, Jesus is being followed (8:1,18,23,34) ... sometimes to their detriment ... but today Jesus follows us, turns to us, seizes us, and saves us.
By trying to make Koine Greek readable, sometimes our English translations just gloss over those fine points. Don’t doubt for a second the truthfulness of the ESV. We use a faithful translation. But there is something more happening today that is easily overlooked in translation and by how the lectionary has been set. So today I want you to hear an amplified literal reading from Matthew chapter 9 again ... only from the PSV ... the Pastor Smith Version.
Matthew writes ... While he was still telling them [about what proper worship looks like], Behold, when one leader came to [Jesus, he bowed low in worship], saying, “My daughter has now reached the end (a euphemism for passing away), but when you come, lay your hand upon her, and she will be alive.” So when he arose, Jesus and his disciples began to follow him. And behold, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, when she came toward [him] from behind, she touched the edge of his garment because she was telling herself, “if only I touch his garment, I will be saved.” Then when Jesus turned and saw her, he said, “Be confident, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And the woman was saved from that hour. And when Jesus came into the house of the ruler and saw the flute player and a crowd thrown into distress, he said, “All of you, make room, for the little girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they mocked him. But when the crowd had been expelled ... he seized her hand and the little girl was raised. And the fame of this went out into all that land.
Did you hear that? The leader didn’t just take a knee ... he fell to his knees, prostrating himself, bowing low ... face down ... singing our Introit before Jesus. He saw in Christ the author of life, that is body and soul, not just our bios. He knew that when Jesus comes, like confess today, his little girl who’s just met the end of her life, won’t just live ... but that Jesus will raise her from the dead ... just like he does for us in baptism! This is what true worship looks like.
In a similar way, the woman wasn’t just saved by faith ... she was saved by faith in Jesus. She saw in Christ the true God. She was a true Christian, knowing it is Jesus who makes us whole unto salvation. She believed in The Christ, the One who takes away the suffering of sin and restores us into fellowship with God and each other. Many people think they have God when they have everything in abundance ... food, drink, clothing, shoes, houses, homes, land, animals, money, goods ... all that we need, especially our health. They trust in those things as proof they believe in the true God. But the woman had a faith that saw in Christ the God who saves.
Others say we shouldn’t expect too much of Jesus ... he was just a good man with a good word about good living. They question whether he can help me cope with my troubled marriage, my wayward child, my alcoholic spouse, my bad heart, my failing body. They think that because Jesus ascended into the heavens and isn’t standing here in front of us, that our problem is out of God’s hands ... that we need to just grin and bear it ... that our pastor is too busy for me ... that this service is about what we are doing for God ... giving our goods ... how we are serving God ... how we are worshipping God ... giving him our time. Then we say, see God how pious I am.
2.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent. Turn away from yourselves and your self-reliance. Stop looking toward your own piety to give you comfort, thinking that your salvation depends on you just reaching out to God. Today, recognize that God has come to you. Our Lord Jesus Christ is pursuing you. He stops what he is doing to serve you in his divine service, to raise you to new life through the baptism he poured out upon you, and to nourish you with his feast of forgiveness that has no end. He has come to you to proclaim his word of peace. Jesus longs to make you well ... completely and fully unto salvation ... through his means of grace.
That is exactly what he did for both the man and the woman in our reading, starting with the faith he gave them. The woman was wrong to think that she just needed to reach out and touch Jesus to be saved. Just like we are wrong when we think it is our renewed devotion to him that saves us. But she was absolutely right in keeping her faith uniquely in Jesus, trusting and hoping in him, that he alone makes us well unto salvation. The same held true for the man.
3. Jesus goes out of his way to raise all of us to new life.
On the way to the eschaton ... that is, the final event in God’s divine plan ... the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting ... Jesus set us all free from the sin and death that devours this valley of sorrows in which we live. He has delivered the forgiveness of sins for us all.
Like the woman who had been cut off from her family for twelve years ... our Lord Jesus was cut off from the world, suffering in the most excruciating way, being nailed to a cross for your sin. He who knew no sin shed his blood for you, suffering for you, covering you. He faced God’s wrath alone for you. He was scorned and abandoned. Jesus died on his cross for you.
But now Christ is risen out of the dead and has become the firstfruit of those having fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:20), just like the little girl in our reading. He has taken hold of your lives ... you who have been given true faith in him through baptism ... you who are bearing the fruit of his salvation, rising to new life in worship. Jesus is making all things new for you.
Because of this, you can hear the word of Christ to the woman, and know these words are for you, too. Be confident, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters ... confident in the faith God gave you through the baptism he poured out upon you ... confident in the feast he delivers to you ... confident in his word of absolution ... Confident that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is in you, has saved you; it has made you completely whole here in time and finally into eternity. The God who made the heavens and the earth, our Lord Jesus, the Word made Flesh, our Immanuel ... behold, he is with you always, even unto the end of the age.
It never ceases to amaze me how the world misses this point. The world thinks life is all about your piety, your prayer, your efforts. And they will laugh at you, as they laughed at Christ. They will persecute you and marginalize you for your confession. They will scorn you for your faith in God’s word and sacraments.
But stay true to your confession ... knowing that Jesus pursues you to save you. That he is taking hold of you and raising you. He is making you wholly and completely well so that, in the words of Paul in today’s epistle so that we can fear, love, and trust in God above all things. He has empowered us to do this, according to his glorious strength, for all patience and forbearance with joy, so that we can give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you into the share of inheritance of the saints in light ... in Jesus’ name.