While
he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples. Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.” But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder, he said to them, “Make room, because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” They were ridiculing him. But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. The report of this went out into all that land.
Matthew 9:18-26
Matthew 9 [15.] Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9 [18.] While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
Matthew 9 [19.] Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples. Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.”
Matthew 9 [22.] But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
Matthew 9 [23.] When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder, he said to them, “Make room, because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” They were ridiculing him.
Matthew 9 [25.] But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. The report of this went out into all that land. As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, “Have mercy on us, son of David!”
Matthew 9 [28.] When he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They told him, “Yes, Lord.”
Meaning:
While Jesus is still answering the question about fasting (Matthew 9:14-17), a desperate father interrupts him. On the way to his house a second person in need reaches out to Jesus. Matthew tells the two stories woven together, as Mark and Luke do, though more briefly (Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56). A daughter who has lived twelve years and a woman who has suffered twelve years both find life through Jesus.
- “a ruler came and worshiped him”
Mark tells us this ruler was Jairus, a leader of the synagogue (Mark 5:22). Yet this respected man knelt before Jesus. In Matthew’s short account the girl has already died, and the father’s faith is striking: “come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” He believed Jesus was stronger than death.
- “a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years”
Under the law of Moses a woman with a continual flow of blood was ritually unclean, and so was anything she touched (Leviticus 15:25). For twelve years she had been cut off from worship and from normal contact with others. Mark adds that she had spent all she had on physicians and only grew worse (Mark 5:26). She came from behind and touched his garment.
- “the fringe of his garment”
The word means the tassel that God commanded Israelites to wear on the corners of their garments, with a cord of blue, so that they would remember his commandments (Numbers 15:38-39). As a faithful Jew, Jesus wore them. Her faith was simple, but it was directed to the right person. Later many others in Gennesaret were healed in the same way (Matthew 14:36).
- “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.”
Jesus did not let her slip away unnoticed. He turned and spoke to her publicly. The unclean woman did not make Jesus unclean; instead his purity and power made her clean. He called her “Daughter”, welcoming her into the family of God. The words “made well” can also mean “saved”. Jesus healed her body and restored her place among God’s people.
- “the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping”
At the ruler’s house the funeral had begun. Professional mourners and flute players were already there. The crowd laughed at Jesus, because they knew the girl was dead. For Jesus, death is like sleep, from which he can wake a person. He said the same of Lazarus: “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11).
- “took her by the hand, and the girl arose”
Jesus put out the mocking crowd. Elijah had prayed hard for a widow’s son, and “Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah” (1 Kings 17:22). Jesus needed only to take her by the hand. No wonder the report spread through all that land.
The Significance of Matthew 9:18-26
- No one is too unclean for Jesus
The woman had been excluded for twelve years. Jesus welcomed her and called her “Daughter”. Whatever shame or isolation a person carries, Jesus does not turn away from those who reach out to him in faith.
- Interruptions and delays
Jesus stopped for the woman, yet the delay did not stop him helping the girl. God’s timing can test our patience, but he does not forget those who trust him.
- Hope in the face of death
For believers death is not the end. Paul tells the church not to “grieve like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). The one who raised this girl will raise all who belong to him.
Cross-References:
Mark 5:34: "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease." Mark’s fuller words to the woman.
Numbers 15:38: "that they should make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments" The fringe the woman touched.
1 Thessalonians 4:14: "even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." The hope of resurrection.
Conclusion: A ruler whose daughter had died asked Jesus to come and lay his hand on her. On the way, a woman who had suffered a flow of blood for twelve years touched the fringe of his garment and was healed, and Jesus called her “Daughter”. At the ruler’s house Jesus said the girl was sleeping, took her by the hand and raised her up. Faith in Jesus brings cleansing to the excluded and hope in the face of death.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible