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18 While He spoke 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." 19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. 20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. ~ Matthew 9:18-22
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 9 where the Lord Jesus continues to reveal the difference between His kingdom and all others. His kingdom often comes to us in our desperation and as an interruption. In fact, the Lord Jesus came as an interruption to the lives of Mary and Joseph. And, over time they learned this was the greatest interruption of them all. Through Christ's conception God interrupted time with eternity. The divine interrupted the carnal and Christianity was given birth through the most noted interruption of them all.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "While He spoke 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.'"
According to Mark the man who approached the Lord Jesus was Jairus who was the ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum. Jairus had to overcome his prejudice toward the Lord Jesus in order to go to Him and asked of His help. Jairus was made very desperate because his twelve year old daughter had died. When we are this desperate, we are more prone to embrace the very valuable characteristic of humility. Suffering always involves a certain measure of desperation. And, it is out of such a context that we are most likely to look up to the Sovereign One for His unfailing help.
Jairus was the most important religious person in the city of Capernaum. He supervised all the worship of the synagogue there. Even though his daughter had died, Jairus believed if he could just get the Lord to touch her, she would come back to life. Jairus, believing the Lord Jesus could resurrect his daughter, fell down before the Lord Jesus and worshipped Him. This word "worship" is used 13 times in this gospel. Interestingly, the number thirteen is the number used in the Bible denoting bonding multiplicity into oneness. The meaning of the number thirteen is the bonding of many into one. In this passage the many included Jairus and this unnamed woman.
Jairus went to the Lord Jesus and asked, "come and lay Your hand on her and she will live." Life, he desperately hoped, was to be found in the touch of the Lord Jesus. As we study the Gospels, we often see the Lord Jesus reaching out with his hand to touch people. He touched Peter’s wife’s mother and took away her fever. He touched the eyes of two blind men and gave them sight. He touched the ears and the tongue of a deaf mute and gave him the ability to hear and speak. And, He touched a leper and made him whole. One touch from the Lord Jesus Christ is worth a lifetime of struggles.
In v.19-21 of today's passage we read, "19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. 20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, 'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'"
The Lord Jesus responded to Jairus' request by moving in the direction of his house. It was at that point that the interruption came. While en route, a woman with a twelve year physical ailment touched the hem of the robe of the Lord Jesus. The word "touch" literally means "to grab hold of." It is the same word used in John 20 where Mary held onto the Lord Jesus before His ascension. This unnamed woman with her twelve year old problem reached out and clutched the Lord Jesus, desperate for a change within. And, the Lord mercifully delivered her from her flow of blood.
The bleeding this woman was experiencing made her unclean and unfit for worship in the synagogue over which Jairus presided. Essentially it made her an outcast. According to the Law of Moses, if she had touched anyone in her condition, they also would have been pronounced unclean. To prevent that from happening she was required to yell "unclean" so that others would not touch her. But, like Jairus, she was desperate for the touch of the healing hand of the Lord Jesus. She had spent her life’s savings on physicians to no avail. In her final attempt at hope, she fell down behind the Lord Jesus and she held onto Him for sheer life.
The emphasis in this chapter is on that which the Lord Jesus touched. While Jairus wanted the Lord Jesus to touch his twelve year old daughter, the woman with the ailment of twelve years wanted to touch the hem of His garment. Jairus risked his position by associating with the Lord Jesus, while this woman risked being thrown out of the city by touching the Lord Jesus. They both knew that this was the risk they had to take, for they had both run out of options. The intensity of the touch of God on our lives has to do with how we value His presence in our lives.
In v.22 of today's passage we read, "But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, 'Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.' And the woman was made well from that hour."
What a contrast here. While this dear woman had this issue of blood for twelve dark years, Jairus' twelve year old daughter had brought him twelve years of light. This interruption for Jairus became the interruption of the flow of blood that this lady had dreamed of for such a long time. I find it quite instructive that the number 12 in the Bible is a symbol of the intersection of our faith and the kingdom of God. In total, the number 12 appears 187 times in the Bible. That day the faith of this desperate woman intersected with the divine rule of God and she was made whole. And ironically, the death of this little twelve year old girl revealed the Lord Jesus as the light who overcomes the darkness. Although we often think His arrival in our lives is an interruption, when we give Him time, He will reveal that He is the One for whom we are most desperate.
