Three-year Bible reading plan for 28 August 2025

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

Matthew, Chapter 9, verses 18-34

¹⁴ defendeth his disciples for not fasting, ²⁰ cureth the bloody issue, ²³ raises from death Jairus' daughter, ²⁷ giveth sight to two blind men, ³² healeth a dumb man possessed of a devil

¹⁸While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

¹⁹And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

²⁰And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

²¹For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

²²But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

²³And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

²⁴He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

²⁵But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

²⁶And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

²⁷And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.

²⁸And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

³⁰And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

³¹But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

³²As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

³³And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

³⁴But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

Read more:Matthew, Chapter 9

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9

9:18 Just dead - He had left her at the point of death, Mar 5:23. Probably a messenger had now informed himshe was dead. Mar 5:22; Luk 8:41.

9:20 Coming behind - Out of bashfulness and humility.

9:22 Take courage - Probably she was struck with fear, when he turned and looked upon her, Mar 5:33; Luk 8:47; lest she should have offended him, by touching his garment privately; and the more so, because she was unclean according to the law, Lev 15:25.

9:23 The minstrels - The musicians. The original word means flute players. Musical instruments were used by the Jews as well as the heathens, in their lamentations for the dead, to soothe the melancholy of surviving friends, by soft and solemn notes. And there were persons who made it their business to perform this, while others sung to their music. Flutes were used especially on the death of children; louder instruments on the death of grown persons.

9:24 Withdraw - There is no need of you now; for the maid is not dead - Her life is not at an end; but sleepeth - This is only a temporary suspension of sense and motion, which should rather be termed sleep than death.

9:25 The maid arose - Christ raised three dead persons to life; this child, the widow's son, and Lazarus: one newly departed, another on the bier, the third smelling in the grave: to show us that no degree of death is so desperate as to be past his help.

9:32 Luk 11:14.

9:33 Even in Israel - Where so many wonders have been seen.

NOTES

So, after all, does a miracle convince? As it turns out, not everyone and not always. Faced with manifestations of God's power, the power of the Kingdom, that Jesus made entirely obvious to everyone, it would seem impossible not to believe in the miracle. But apparently one can bear witness to the Kingdom, yet...

So, after all, does a miracle convince? As it turns out, not everyone and not always. Faced with manifestations of God's power, the power of the Kingdom, that Jesus made entirely obvious to everyone, it would seem impossible not to believe in the miracle. But apparently one can bear witness to the Kingdom, yet it is impossible to prove its reality to someone who does not want to believe. The Pharisees, for example, invent ever new explanations for something that, in essence, needs no explanation at all but only needs to be accepted. They have no wish to accept it, and therein lies the whole problem.

One might think that the Pharisees, of all people, since they professed messianic hope, should only have rejoiced at the appearance of the Messiah and the Kingdom in the world. And they probably would have, had Jesus acted as the Messiah was supposed to act according to those same Pharisees' ideas. But the problem was precisely that Jesus did not conform to those ideas and had no intention of doing so.

Then what could not fail to happen did happen: the logic of opposition demands escalation, and eventually escalation came. Previously the leaders of the Pharisaic movement had tried to explain Jesus' miracles and healings in more or less neutral terms. Now they move to direct and very serious accusations, in effect accusing the Savior of paganism and demon worship. The calculation is simple: if you strike, strike with all your strength and without restraint; if you accuse, make the accusation as difficult as possible to answer.

Nor is this merely a desire to rid themselves of Jesus. His accusers, it seems, are trying to convince not only others but themselves that they are right. To do so they need the gravest possible accusations, and it no longer matters how plausible those accusations are. In such a situation the mind will accept any argument as long as it justifies rejecting what cannot reasonably be rejected. They seek to frighten not only others but themselves, and to frighten themselves so thoroughly that there can be no road back and no one will even dare think that this Man might be from God.

Such intimidation requires a taboo that blocks, even at the subconscious level, every attempt to view the situation differently. The accusation of demon worship was just such a taboo—a taboo that became the last refuge of religiosity opposed to the Kingdom.

The story of the woman who suffered from a flow of blood and was healed by touching the edge of Jesus' garment differs somewhat from other stories of healings. First of all, what stands out here is that the woman does not address Jesus at all, asks Him for nothing, but only...

The story of the woman who suffered from a flow of blood and was healed by touching the edge of Jesus' garment differs somewhat from other stories of healings. First of all, what stands out here is that the woman does not address Jesus at all, asks Him for nothing, but only silently touches Him. In another version of this account, however, Jesus does notice her, but He does so on His own initiative, while the woman, on the contrary, tries as far as possible to remain unnoticed.

It would appear that such a desire to obtain what one wants as if secretly, without asking anything of the One from whom one expects help, should rather speak against such a person. But on closer examination everything turns out not to be so simple: the woman who suffered from a flow of blood was considered unclean, and by touching anyone at all she inevitably defiled the one she touched. It is quite understandable how a person defiled in this way would react. The risk was great and was justified only by the woman's hope for a miracle, for healing. In the case of healing there would no longer be any question of defilement: the disease had retreated, the bleeding was gone, and therefore there was nothing defiling. The healed woman would only have to perform the purification ritual and offer the prescribed sacrifice. But if healing had not occurred, the woman could have been accused of a rather serious offense.

Despite this, she resolved to act without asking permission. She evidently understood very well that by her request she would have placed the One to whom she appealed in an ambiguous position: He quite likely would not have wanted to refuse her, but by agreeing He risked defiling Himself if the healing did not take place, which would have been at least unpleasant for Him. And He could still, as the woman probably thought, simply refuse, not wanting extra problems. So she resolves to act at her own risk, fully trusting the One from whom she sought healing, and yet wanting to reduce possible problems for Him to a minimum. As we can see, she fully trusts this stranger, believes in His power, and receives her reward, being healed of the disease from which she had suffered for many years.

There is an inner logic of its own in the Pharisees' reasoning about Christ. Indeed, if this Carpenter from Nazareth casts out evil spirits and heals the sick, then there must be some explanation for it. What power is at work in Him? Why...

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