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Lesson 15 Matthew 2020
Verses | Matthew 9:18-38
Key verse | Matthew 9:28

Do you believe that I am able to do this?

"When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?””

There are four miracles today. They are cases of saving Jairo's dead daughter, healing a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years, opening the eyes of two blind people, and fixing a person who was demon-possessed and could not talk. Their common characteristic is that they have come to Jesus with faith. They knew and believed what Jesus was like. Also, they overcame the limit of their own desperate situation by faith, moved forward to Jesus, and sought Him persistently. Jesus has seen the faith of those who have come to him, demanded it, and blessed it. We also have many problems that we each suffer from. At this time, I pray that we will be able to hear God's voice, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”, and confess our faith.

First of all, and she will live. While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Who is this synagogue who came to Jesus without thinking about the funeral of his daughter when she died? He is Jairo, the head of the synagogue. He couldn't just let go of his dead daughter. He can resign because his beloved daughter is sick and dead, and there is no point in living anymore. Usually people do their best to fix the illness, but when the person dies, they do nothing but hold a funeral. However Jairo came to Jesus with the eagerness to save his daughter and a belief that went beyond the limits of death. When he heard that Jesus cured the leper, get rid of demons, and heal the sick by words, he believed that Jesus could save his dead daughter. He believed in Jesus as the owner of life. He said that if Jesus came and put His hand on her, she will live. He believed that Jesus, the master of life, could pass life by putting His hand on the body.

Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. See verses 20 and 21. "20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”" “Flow of blood” is a form of women’s disease, a chronic disease in which blood continues to bleed without stopping. The woman must have lost a lot of blood and suffered anemia, her face got pale, and she had no strength in everything. According to Leviticus, people with this disease are unclean, and those who come into contact with them are also unclean. So they were isolated in order to prevent them to contact with anyone else. What was life like for a woman who had hemorrhage for 12 years? In the Gospel of Mark 5:26, she suffered from many doctors and wasted everything she had. She has met all the famous doctors, but no one has been able to cure her disease. As long as there is life, there is hope. She heard rumors about Jesus while suffering from chronic disease. She has come to believe that Jesus can heal this incurable disease. She found a thin light of hope in Jesus. But there was a big obstacle for a woman to go out to Jesus. Since she had an unclean disease, she couldn't ask Jesus and reveal her disease in front of the people. But when she was desperate to recover from her illness, surprisingly, she had faith to overcome obstacles. She had a faith that she could be saved by touching Jesus' cloak. Today, amazing things happen with just one touch of a smartphone. You can get a lot of information, and you can buy the products you want in one touch. It is not difficult to recover from illness when you touch Jesus, the source of life, by faith. This woman is the origin of one touch. This was a creative faith that no one had ever had before.

This woman went through the crowd to touch the cloak of Jesus. And she touched the edge of Jesus' cloak slightly without anyone knowing. When she touched it, immediately her bleeding stopped (Mark 5:29). The disease that's been bothering a woman for 12 years was cured. Here you learn the importance of faith. If you have faith, you can be saved by just a slight touch without making a fuss. When we first see the people who believed in Jesus and gained life, they didn't know everything about Jesus from the beginning. Even though knowing about Jesus was superficial, He received that little faith and God gave them amazing grace. They do not have much knowledge of Jesus and have not been trained much, but Jesus' life is given and they enjoy the life and bear fruit. God’s work does not happen with commotion. It appears in a quiet, but powerful way. God's work is achieved through the means of faith rather than through human merits. Many people pushed and touched Jesus, but only this woman who touched him with faith was healed. Being cured is a grace on God's side, but faith on human's side. There are diverse expressions of faith. Jesus sees our faith and still makes this history of miracles.

A woman named Chun Jung Eun was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 2012. It got better through treatment, but it recurred again and spread to the lungs, airway, and lymph nodes in 2016. She is still under treatment and has received up to 81 chemotherapy treatments. She has been fighting cancer for eight years. Chun Jung Eun had no faith at first. However, with one sister's persistent recommendation, she studies the Bible and accepts Jesus. While reading the verses, Romans 10:9 came to the spirit. "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." If you believe in Jesus' cross and resurrection, you will be saved She became like a person who died of terminal cancer, but she believed that she would recover from illness if she mainly admitted to Jesus and believed in his cross and resurrection. And Isaiah 43:1: "“Do not fear, for have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." Through these words, she realized that her body belongs to the Lord and that cancer is also the Lord's gift. She read the Bible like mad, thinking of the Lord who had loved her for so long. Then, her heart was filled with Jesus. She spent her days full of joy and excited by the desire to enter heaven. She wasn't afraid of needles during chemotherapy, and she was grateful if blood vessels burst during the test. Then something amazing happened. When she took an X-ray, new bones began to appear where the cancer had gnawed. The pain has gone and new bones have grown in the pelvis. Doctors were also surprised. She was so grateful that she went to a testimony meeting without having time to eat. She doesn't read the Bible roughly. Through those words she received, the Lord's amazing ability was delivered. She has been treated for cancer 81 times, but it's a miracle she is still alive. Thanks to this grace, she is still passionately preaching the gospel.

See verse 22. "Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment." The woman thought she touched him slightly without anyone knowing, but Jesus sensed the act of her faith to the extent of surprise. So he turned and said, looking at the woman. "Take heart, daughter. Your faith has healed you." Jesus welcomed the woman as His daughter. And he comforts her by saying, "Take heart." The woman was unclean because of hemorrhage, and secretly acted against the law. Because of this, her conscience suffered a sense of guilt. Jesus did not say how unclean she is, but welcomed her as a lovely daughter. And He gave peace to the woman who feared. Furthermore, He blessed the woman's faith. Jesus was happy to see a woman who came out of faith. And He gives a reward. "Your faith has healed you." This word saves not only the disease of the body but also the soul.

When Jesus entered the synagogue’s house, people were playing pipes and were crying sadly. The Jews brought in at least two pipe players and one singing woman for the funeral. People couldn't do anything but cry sadly in the face of death. Jesus looked at them and said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” Did you ever see the people around sobbing in front of a sleeping person? Jesus sent the noisy, wailing people away in order not to wake the sleeping child. Through this, Jesus expressed His love for the sleeping child. Then the people who cried sadly laughed at Jesus. Jesus sent the crowd out and went into the room where the girl's body was laid. Jesus sent out people of distrust before He fulfilled the work of faith. And He said that the girl is not dead, but asleep. Death and sleep look the same, but in fact they are very different. Sleeping people can wake up again, but dead people do not wake up again. But Jesus saw death as sleep. We will die, but we will wake up on the day Jesus comes again. Also, there is no death in Jesus. It is because Jesus is the recipient of life. Jesus saw death as resting. Those who die without faith will be sentenced to eternal punishment, but those who die by believing in Jesus will rest and wake up again on the day Jesus comes.

Jesus, the Lord of Life, stood in front of this girl. He went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up as she was waking up from sleep. (25).
According to Jiaro's faith, when Jesus held the hand of the dead girl, life was passed on and she survived. There is life in Jesus. People who welcome and believe in Him get life. I pray that we will socialize with Jesus and live in the abundance of life every day.
Through this incident, Jesus showed that He had the power to save the dead. John 11:25, 26: "25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”" Jesus is a resurrection and a life. Jesus conquered death by being crucified and coming back to life in three days. There is no death in Jesus. You can sleep for a while, but there is no eternal death. There is only eternal life.

The enemy that has plagued humans since history is death. Death takes everything humans possess. Death is cruel in that there are no exceptions. People struggle not to die, but no matter how much money and strength, they are helpless before death. When a person is born and lives, it means that they are approaching death every day. Because of this, people live in fear as slaves to death. When people die, people get parted forever, so they mourn before death. Many people were shocked by the death of Mayor of Seoul last week. Everyone is a sinner. The wages of sin is death. When we think of sin and death, we feel like everything is in vain. But at this time, we must look to Jesus. There is forgiveness in Jesus. In Jesus, there is life overcoming death. Jesus conquered this death. Whoever believes and follows Jesus receives eternal life as a gift. Jesus, who conquered death and turned death into sleep, is the highest reward God has given to us. When we believe in and receive Jesus, we have eternal life. When we associate with him, we can live and enjoy the richness of life.

Second, Jesus opened the eyes of two blind people (27-33). It was when Jesus left there. Two blind men followed and calling out “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” There are many poor people in the world, but not pitiful like the blind. They had to live their lives in the dark. People can’t earn a proper job that most of them live by doing massage or by begging. But there are some poorer people. They are spiritual blind men. Spiritual blind people think that the visible reality is everything. Even though there is a world of faith, a world of spiritual God, they cannot see it. They do not know the wonderful love of God and the full grace of Jesus Christ. Living in spiritual darkness leads to eternal ruin.

However, the two blind men in the text did not give up in desperate and unseen reality. They were eager to open their eyes anyway. A person can overcome any obstacle if his or her wish is desperate. Blind people had hope after hearing rumors about Jesus. They believed that Jesus could open their eyes. So when they heard that Jesus was passing through, they cry out as they followed Jesus. “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” They didn't know where Jesus was going when he was passing by. Therefore, they called out loud so that Jesus could hear them in any place. “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Their persistent prayers were heard in Jesus' ears. However, Jesus just entered the house. The blind people did not give up to the end and went into the house, where Jesus was. They were about to enter even to the room where Jesus was.

Jesus asked to the two blinds. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” People didn't know what Jesus meant to do specifically. But Jesus and these blind people knew. This meant to open their eyes. They were blind, but they see by faith what Jesus will do. They came with faith that the descendants of David would open the eyes of the blind. In one word, Jesus is the creator of heaven and earth. His power extends to the realms of diseases, demons, nature and death. If Jesus says, it will be done. Jesus can make spiritual blind people see. In Korean Bible, “Do you believe that I will be able to do this?”, so it was expressed in the future tense. However, in the original language, it is in the past tense of the Poisai. To be specific, do you believe I have already cured the disease? Jesus had not yet been cured, but he wanted them to believe that they had been cured. This is a tremendous faith. They answer. “Yes, Lord.” So Jesus touched their eyes. When Jesus touched their eyes, they could deeply feel the love of Jesus. “According to your faith let it be done to you.” Then their eyes brightened.

We live with many problems. Then, when we hear the Word of the Lord, whether we eat our daily bread or listen to the Sunday message, we believe that “it will be accomplished”, when one verse comes into our mind. The Lord knows and controls all our situations. Satan says, "No, it won’t work. Even you do, it won’t work. If it doesn’t work then it won’t be accomplished,” in order to lead us to give up and fall into despair. Satan makes us to believe that we can’t make it. Then we can't. No matter how much doubt, anxiety, and fear Satan instills, the problem will be solved if the Lord is with us and helps us. If we receive the Words of the Lord and have faith, it will be done as we believed. When we have faith in the Lord, our spiritual eyes will open as well as our ears. If the Lord touches my heart and gives me grace, I see a frustrating future. When the Lord speaks to my heart, the wisdom comes up to my mind that solves the blocked problem as if bright light shines in the dark. If the Lord gives us grace, we can see the future of our meeting.

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. Jesus drove out the demon and made the man who had been mute speak. Demons prevents the words what we have to say or what we want to say. But when Jesus droved out the demons, he let the mute speak. This is the fulfillment of the foretold Bible message about the Messiah. Isaiah 35:5 prophesies. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah by fulfilling the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus still has an amazing history of healing and salvation among us. Through the Word, the disease is cured, and we are born again and became new people. Spiritual eyes open and muted mouths open. The demon instills fear and keeps us away from speaking, but when we hear what the Lord says, we can speak. We can share the good news. We may boldly preach the Word of God with the Holy Spirit fulfilled.

“According to your faith let it be done to you.” These words teach us that Jesus is the one who works according to our faith. Many people despair when facing life's difficulties, fate and limitations. But not everyone is hopeless. In despair there are people who have faith to challenge and pioneer. Faith is a gift from God. Luther said that faith does not exist without challenging prayers, just as there is no fire without heat. John 14:14 promised, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." We must pray without disappointment. We must remove the barriers of limitations placed among us and believe in God and strive for prayer. I pray that we can pray with faith and experience the power of God in real life problems.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He healed every disease and sickness. Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion on them. This was because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The crowds were ripe to harvest, but there were fewer workers to harvest. Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Today there are many who believe, but there are not enough workers. We need shepherds who can love, teach the Words of God, and help to those who are sick, hurt, and wandering around. We must pray that God will send the workers to harvest. I pray that we will first know the Lord's heart and be used as a worker to harvest.