Take Heart With The Faith That Saves :: Matthew 9:18-26
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father, you have told us that when we call upon you in the day of trouble, you will deliver us. We know that you do this through the preaching of your Gospel and the administration of your sacraments. Grant us a steadfast faith through these means, a cheerful hope in your mercy, and a sincere love for you and one another, boldly trusting in Jesus. Amen.
[Introduction]
Our Gospel reading is a familiar story. It’s familiar because it appears in all three of the synoptic Gospels ... Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These first three books of the New Testament are called Synoptic Gospels because they are seen together. That’s what Synoptic means ... seen together. They share many of the same Words, stories, parables, miracles, accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Personally, my favorite account of today’s account is found in Mark chapter 5. When you get home today, you should read it. It’s always good to hear another version of God’s Word.
But today, I don’t want to get wrapped up in extra details. Sometimes these details are distracting. Matthew gets right to the point through great simplicity. He highlights saving faith ... Faith in Jesus. As you know ... or should know ... Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of God (Rm 10:17). It doesn’t need to be detailed. The Word of the Word-Made-Flesh is all powerful ... living and active as the evangelist to the Hebrews tells us (Hb 4:12). The Word of the Word-Made-Flesh is always working ... always doing something ... always achieving God’s Will (Is 55:11). Blessed is everyone who hears the Word (Lk 11:28).
To prove the point, listen again to today’s Gospel reading. You will hear Jesus speak, and a leader being given faith. You will hear Jesus speak, and a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years being saved. You will hear the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh working, raising the leader’s little girl from the dead. And even now ...
THE WORD OF THE WORD-MADE-FLESH GIVES YOU FAITH THAT SAVES
This is our theme. Matthew writes ...
I. [The Word that gives faith]
While he was saying these things to them, Behold, one leader came and worshiped him, saying, ‘My daughter has now ceased to be, but when you come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And after he arose, Jesus followed him, [along with] his disciples.
And behold, a woman bleeding for twelve years came forward behind him, [and] she touched the tassels of his garment, for she said [to] herself, ‘If only I can touch his garment, I will be saved.’ When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has [and will continue to] save you.’ And the woman was saved from that hour.
Then, while Jesus came into the house of the leader and saw the flutists and the crowd making a commotion, he was saying, ‘Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they mocked him. But when the crowd had been cast out, he went in and seized her by the hand, and the girl was raised. And his fame went out into that whole land (vv 18-26).
II. [Where did their faith come from?]
Wow! Where did the woman get such faith to believe that Jesus could heal her when doctors had failed her for 12 years? I’ll tell you ... She heard the Word from the Word-Made-Flesh just minutes before our reading began. Jesus had just told the Pharisees that those who are strong don’t need a physician, instead [it’s] those who are suffering. ... I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mt 9:12-13). The woman had heard the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh, and knew our Lord would hear her groan and intercede on her behalf. She heard the call into his Divine Service, and she came. That’s faith. Faith responds to the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh.
And where did the desperate father get the faith to believe that by boldly turning to Jesus ... by boldly falling on his face at the feet of Jesus ... by boldly worshiping Jesus alone ... was even worth the effort? I’ll tell you where he got that faith, he had listened to Jesus’ teaching about the Divine Service. Again, immediately before our Gospel reading, that’s what Jesus was doing when he said, Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them (Mt 9:15)? Upon hearing the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh, the leader grew boldly confident that Jesus would serve him too. That’s faith. Faith receives the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh.
These two people ... this man and this woman ... came from very different places in life. The woman didn’t have courage to face Jesus but was content with simply trying to touch a tassel on his garment. The man came directly to Jesus, making a clear request in prayer, knowing that, because my redeemer lives, death has no power over us (v 18; LSB 461:7b). The woman had been isolated from her family, her community, her church for twelve years because her bleeding had made her unclean. The man was a prominent figure in his family, community, and church. He was seen and heard. According to Mark 5 and Luke 8, he even had a name. She didn’t. He was bold. She was timid. He was an insider. She was an outsider.
Yes, the man and woman came from very different places in life ... but they both had faith.
III. Faith ... What is faith?
I can’t think of a word that is more misunderstood than faith. We talk about it all the time. Maybe you even have Hebrews 11:1 memorized so that you can define faith using the Word of God. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
But what does that mean? We talk about faith as if it’s something you choose for yourself ... something that you can strengthen or enhance within yourself ... something that is a quality of yourself ... or a quantity within yourself. We say things like ... he had a bold faith ... she had a quiet faith. They say faith is blind. And they assign this word to all religions. But if any of that is true, there is no difference between true faith and false faith.
So listen instead to Saint Paul in Ephesians 2 ... Faith is not of yourself. It is a gift of God (v 8). That means there is only one faith ... the Christian faith. And nothing in the woman ... nothing in the man ... produced the faith that saved them. The Word of God is the author and perfecter of faith. As he says through the prophet, I, I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid that man dies? (Is 51:12)
Just in case you’re still not convinced, he proves the point in our Gospel reading. The man’s little girl was dead. She couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t say anything. She could not by her own reason or strength believe in Jesus. She could not come to Jesus. She could not pray to Jesus. She did not have a strong spirit. In fact, she had no will to live.
But then the Word-Made-Flesh, who is always achieving the purpose for which he came ... conquered the sin that isolated a woman for 12 years. ... He conquered the sin that brought death to a man's daughter. ... He conquered death itself. ... He gave us repentance and real hope in the process. Jesus said to the woman, Take heart, daughter: Your faith has saved you. ... And then in his Divine Service, he grasped the hand of the girl, and she was raised from the dead.
IV. Jesus gives all of us faith so we will receive his salvation.
Do you find it hard to believe that the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh, which now comes to you through preaching and the Sacraments, is able to do that? To save you ... even now? To give you what you need most when you need it ... the forgiveness of sins?
Our sinful flesh mocks and scorns the Word ... just like that crowd did at the end of Matthew’s Gospel reading. Our sinful flesh mocks the very idea that the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh actually gives us eternal life now. We say things like ... if baptism saves us now ... if we have eternal life now ... why are we dying? We say things like ... only God can announce the forgiveness of sins. We say things like ... Bread and wine aren’t actually the body and blood of Jesus that saves us, are they? I don’t actually eat Jesus’ body and blood, do I?
These doubts are the work of the devil. The devil wants you to believe in yourself, instead of having faith in the Word ... in what the Word-Made-Flesh says. The devil wants you to trust your own preparations. The devil wants to isolate you from the community through your own disunity. But the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh says baptism now saves you (1 Pt 3:21), and I AM the Living Bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live into the ages. And the bread that I will give, my flesh, is for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). More than that, the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh says reunite yourselves with your brother, always forgiving them (Mt 18:22).
[Conclusion]
You can do this because the Word of the Word-Made-Flesh has freed you from sin, death, and the devil by living without sin for you, by shedding his blood for you, and dying on a cross for you ... And then by rising from the dead as the firstfruits in the resurrection. He is now risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! ... Yes, I know that my Redeemer lives.
The Faith that the Word has given you has saved you because it receives what he gives in his Divine Service when he comes to you and turns to you and sees you in your hour of need. Trust this Word of the Word-Made-Flesh. He will heal you. Trust this Word of the Word-Made-Flesh. He will feed you. Trust this Word of the Word-Made-Flesh. He will raise you.
Take heart, child. Your faith has saved you ... in Jesus’ name. Amen.